Conference Session

Innovations in Teaching Physics or Engineering Physics

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jennifer Franck, California Institute of Technology; Ted Yu, California Institute of Technology; Juan Pedro Ochoa-Ricoux, California Institute of Technology; James Maloney, California Institute of Technology; Angela Capece, California Institute of Technology; Luz Rivas, California Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Physics & Physics

in any state or U.S. territory. In 2008 the program received391 applications but narrowed it down to 30 students, with an 8% acceptance rate. Thiscompares with a 17% acceptance rate of freshmen into Caltech. Selection criteria includeSAT/PSAT scores, high school transcript, student essay, and letters of recommendation fromteachers. Students are expected to have completed pre-calculus, excelled in their science andmathematics courses, and show interest and aptitude in science and engineering.The instructors are selected in February and meet regularly in the preceding months to create achallenging and engaging curriculum personalized to the team’s expertise. Caltechundergraduate students serve as residential counselors and are in charge of non

Conference Session

Innovations in Teaching Physics or Engineering Physics

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Radian Belu, Drexel University; Alexandru Belu, Case Western Reserve University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Physics & Physics

potentials with given boundaries conditions, dielectrics andpolarization.Figure 1: The straight filamentary conductor with the finite length crossed by the electric current (leftpanel), 3D image the magnetic field in the case of the straight filamentary conductor with the finitelength (right panel).The fundamental concern of electromagnetism is to solve Maxwell’s equations, and much of the courseon this subject is devoted to vector calculus. To calculate an electric field and/or a magnetic field, wecan perform integration directly from Coulomb’s law and Biot-Savart Law, using the functions of theCAS mathematical library. For example with Maple, we can concentrate on physics, such asdistinguishing the coordinates of the source point and the field

Conference Session

Programmatic Issues in Physics or Engineering Physics

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Teresa Larkin, American University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Physics & Physics

AC 2009-1689: PEER REVIEW FROM A STUDENT PERSPECTIVETeresa Larkin, American University Teresa L. Larkin is an Associate Professor of Physics Education in the Department of Physics at American University. She also serves as Faculty Liaison to the Pre-engineering Program. Dr. Larkin received her B.S. and M.S. degrees in Engineering Physics from South Dakota State University in Brookings, SD in 1982 and 1985, respectively. She received her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction with special emphasis in Physics and Science Education from Kansas State University in Manhattan, KS in 1997. Dr. Larkin’s research interests primarily involve the assessment of student learning in introductory

Conference Session

Innovations in Teaching Physics or Engineering Physics

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Warren Turner, Westfield State College; Glenn Ellis, Smith College

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Physics & Physics

evaluations were positive. “I was surprised by how much Ilike physics” was an often-repeated student comment. One enthusiastic student remarked, “Ifound this course extremely valuable. I am a very visual learner so the hands-on project andgraphical focus of the course was exactly what I needed. I really think this course wasexcellent.” The Test of Understanding Graphs in Kinematics Test12was administered to arandom sample of students before and after their exposure to the kinematics curriculum. Theaverage possible gain was 43% of the total score. The average gain for the sampled students was Page 14.657.917% of the total score—thus they had achieved