July 26–30, 2014
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Monday afternoon
PST1B12: 9:15-10 p.m. Preparing Students for Research
Experiences Through Instructional Labs in Electronics
Poster – Heather Lewandowski, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309;
Benjamin Pollard, Noah Finkelstein, University of Colorado
Electronic laboratory courses are a common component of many upper-
division lab curricula, but are often not given adequate attention compared
to the Advanced Lab. We began a project to develop goals, curricular ma-
terials and structure, and assessments to transform the junior-level course
at the University of Colorado to prepare students to more easily transition
into a research lab. A unique component of this work was to use interviews
with a large number of graduate students working in experimental research
labs to help develop content and skill goals for our electronics course.
PST1B13: 8:30-9:15 p.m. Squeezing Research into the Junior
Physics Lab
Poster – Karen A. Williams, East Central University, 1020 E. 6th Ada, OK
74820 USA
This poster is in response to the call for papers for “research-like experi-
ences for all students.” In my Junior Physics laboratory course I give the
students an odd real-world problem to solve. It must be something ‘off the
wall’ so that the solution can’t be found on the Internet. They must design
the research and work in groups where each group completes part of the
work. Each week they meet to decide what work must be done next by the
following group. I feel that this mimics real-world research in industry
and forces teamwork and planning. After this project I have the students
choose a project of their own to work on. They prepare a Powerpoint
presentation of this research for their final exam. Often this research can
be polished and expanded into a project that can be presented at student
research symposiums. Student reaction to this new way of “doing lab” by
doing research is positive. Many of our students are first-generation college
students who know very little about research. They seem more at ease
when it comes to applying for REU’s after doing some research.
PST1B14: 9:15-10 p.m. Student-built Lab Equipment via an
Arduino and Modeling Instruction
Poster – Nathan T. Moore, Winona State University, Winona, MN 55987-
0838;
Andrew Haugen Winona State University
What would the introductory physics class be like, if, at the start of the
term, every student bought an ultrasonic motion detector at the bookstore
along with the latest edition of Serway? In the talk I’ll describe how we’ve
experimented with this idea by having our students purchase an Arduino-
based “labkit” containing a microcontroller and a variety of cheap sensors.
In two separate semesters we’ve had students create and deploy data acqui-
sition systems with varying degrees of success. Given that many students
don’t arrive at the university with knowledge of programming, we’ve found
that Modeling Instruction may provide a suitable intellectual framework
for the inclusion of DIY lab apparatus. Briefly, students create models for
how the sensors behave and report measurements, and then the students
deploy these models to solve context-rich problems. The poster will present
a lab using GPS antennae’s in this DIY lab equipment context.
PST1B15: 8:30-9:15 p.m. The Magnetic Drive for a Foucault
Pendulum Revisited
Poster – Herbert Jaeger, Miami University, Department of Physics, Oxford,
OH 45056;
A Foucault pendulum is a popular and decorative item found in many
science buildings around the country and the world. Typical specimens are
long with a heavy bob and various ways to indicate its precession through-
out the day. The fact that even a heavy pendulum will eventually stop is
overcome by including a mechanical or magnetic drive of some form.
Miami’s Physics Department is moving into a new building later this year,
and we will take our Foucault pendulum with us. We will use that oppor-
tunity to upgrade our magnetic drive system and also design a detector for
perform better in lecture. The course structure involves pre-lab online
quizzes over notes emphasizing concepts related to the experiment, group
discussions, PhET simulations prior to actual measurements, checkpoints
for instructors to determine group and individual progress during the lab,
post-lab homework, and lab exams. Improvements between pre- and post-
test scores using the Conceptual Survey of Electricity and Magnetism plus
four additional problems on circuits from a Brief Electricity and Magnetism
Assessment are reported and compared to results of traditional instruction.
PST1B07: 8:30-9:15 p.m. Independent Measurements of Q
Factor of a Damped Oscillator
Poster – Steven R. Jackson, Princeton University, Jadwin Hall, Princeton, NJ
08540;
Farzan Beroz, Katerina Visnjic, Princeton University
We present a novel mechanical oscillations lab developed for an introduc-
tory calculus-based physics course at Princeton University. The lab is an
ISLE (Investigative Science Learning Environment) application experiment
in which students are guided to design two independent experiments to
measure the Q factor of a damped oscillator consisting of a mass attached
to a spring and submerged in water. One method measures Q by driving
the oscillator and comparing the low-frequency oscillation amplitude to
that at resonance. Another measures Q from the amplitude decay rate of
free oscillations. They consider assumptions made in the calculations for
the two measurements, some of which are shared, and others that are not.
Taking experimental uncertainties into account, they decide whether the
measurements agree. If not, they identify which assumptions significantly
affect their results and cause the discrepancy. In addition, students receive
hands-on experience with the phase shift of a driven damped oscillator.
PST1B08: 9:15-10 p.m. Integrated Science Labs at Spelman
College
Poster – Donald G. Franklin, Spelman College/Mercer University Hampton,
GA 30228;
Spelman College has been and continues to work on a unified approach to
the science labs. The best examples are with Nerve cells. We go over cellular
processes in physics labs and it comes out as series and parallel circuits.
The chemistry and biology is the Sodium/Potassium Exchange. The Nerst
equation is started in biology and finalized in physics. Our students see that
a dialog exists between professors, and can respect physics in the process,
rather than see it as a hurdle to jump on their way to graduation!
PST1B09: 8:30-9:15 p.m. MagLev Track Using off-the-Physics-
shelf Lab Equipment*
Poster – Richard A. Zajac, Kansas State University - Salina, 2310 Centennial
Road, Salina, KS 67401-8196;
Science Olympiad,
1
a national K-12 science competition, relies heavily on
regional institutions to implement and administer dozens of individual
competition events for area middle- and high schoolers. Limitations of
time, resources, and personnel can require hosting institutions to creatively
repurpose traditional lab equipment while conforming to national competi-
tion standards specified by unifying build descriptions, especially when spe-
cialty ordering is prohibitive. A quick and thrifty repurposing of the PASCO
dynamics track (or equivalent) to fit the MagLev event specifications is
presented as an example. The development of new setups for Science Olym-
piad events subsequently broadens the number of available applications of
regular lab equipment within the undergraduate physics lab curriculum.
*MagLev cart by Merry Lewis and Colby Johnson, Salina South High School, Salina
KS 67401.
1.
PST1B10: 9:15-10 p.m. Experimenting with Musical Instruments
Poster – Michael C. LoPresto, Henry Ford Community College, Dearborn, MI
48128;
Examples of student laboratories on the physics of brass, woodwind, and
string musical instruments based on research on the mechanisms by which
the instruments produce musical pitches.
