Conference Session

Programmatic Issues in Physics or Engineering Phys

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Chih-Hsiung Ku, National Dong-Hwa University, Taiwan(R.O.C.); Wen-Cheng Chen, National Dong-Hwa University, Taiwan(R.O.C.)

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Physics & Physics

changing world. For example, knowledge and skills fromscience, technology, engineering, and mathematics—the so-called STEM fields—are crucial toeveryone, and all students should be educated to be “STEM-capable” 1. However, there are manyfactors affecting students’ learning performance in school, such as students’ attitude, motivation,and self-efficacy.Motivation is a crucial factor affecting students’ learning in school. It can be defined as anyprocess that initiates and maintains learning behavior. Motivation is important for learningbecause students can not learn unless they are motivated 2. Therefore, motivation could beviewed as an essential pre-requisite and co-requisite for learning.Attitude can be considered as a learning outcome. It is

Conference Session

Innovations in Teaching Physics or Engineering Physics

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Teresa Larkin, American University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Physics & Physics

focus on how writing can be used with a minimal investment of time.Finally, the importance of effective instructor feedback will be discussed along with ways toprovide that feedback in such a way that students have time to adjust their thinking while thelearning is actually taking place.I. INTRODUCTION A primary purpose of teaching is to promote and enhance student learning. However,traditional teaching methodologies have clearly been shown to put students in a role of passiverather than active learning [1]. Traditional instructional methods have also been shown to bevery inadequate in terms of promoting deep learning and long-term retention of importantconcepts. Students in traditional classrooms acquire most of their “knowledge

Conference Session

Innovations in Teaching Physics or Engineering Physics

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

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

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Physics & Physics

time-consuming version of thisactivity involves the frame-by-frame analysis of the readings of a bathroom scale filmedin a moving elevator.1 The development of computer-interfaced force probes simplifiedthe data collection and allowed for forces on small objects (2 kg) to be measured in anelevator2. As we describe below, the Vernier FP-BTA Force Plate, LabPro interface andLoggerPro 3 software3 allow us to take this experiment to an entirely new level bymaking the student the focus of the experiment and utilizing their kinesthetic sense toincrease learning and motivation4. Not only is it possible for students to accuratelymeasure the forces—and consequently the motion—of the elevator ride; now they canalso see these graphs in real-time while

Conference Session

Programmatic Issues in Physics or Engineering Phys

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Evan Lemley, University of Central Oklahoma; Baha Jassemnejad, University of Central Oklahoma; Matthew Mounce, US Navy; Jamie Weber, Parsons; Sudarshan Rai, Unknown; Willy Duffle, University of Central Oklahoma; Jesse Haubrich, University of Central Oklahoma

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Physics & Physics

significant studies1,2 concerning senior engineering capstone experiences have beenconducted in North America since the 1990's. The study by Todd et al.1 was conducted in 1995and included a array of 360 responses from engineering departments. There are many interestingfindings in the report, including the small number of programs with interdepartmental seniordesign courses and that a significant number of capstone experiences were individual rather thanteam projects. The authors suggested two “areas of improvement in engineering education,”including and increased practice of teamwork and involving industry in order to give studentspreparation for “real-world engineering practice.” There is little doubt that this study impactedengineering programs to

Conference Session

Innovations in Teaching Physics or Engineering Physics

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jian Peng, Southeast Missouri State University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Physics & Physics

, computer architecture, and peripheral hardware issues are discussed throughout thecourse so that the students gain a working knowledge of these topics. Hands-on learning isemphasized through simulation, hardware and software labs, and a final project. Also weemphasize the system-level design, high-level language, and connections between the Clanguage, assembly, and the underline hardware architecture. The outcomes of this course haveshown that this approach (1) inspires engineering physics students to be interested inmicrocontrollers, (2) provides students with a less compartmentalized view of manyhardware/software topics, and finally (3) underscores the importance of system-level design withjust enough understanding about individual components or

Conference Session

Programmatic Issues in Physics or Engineering Phys

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Randy Buchanan, University of Southern Mississippi; Christopher Winstead, University of Southern Mississippi; Anton Netchaev, University of Southern Mississippi; Steven Allee, University of Southern Mississippi

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Physics & Physics

vented to the building exterior. Figure 1 shows the general layout of the testfixture hardware. Page 15.860.2  Gas Exhaust  Cryo Valve  Flow  Thermocouple 3 and 4  Thermocouple 5 and 6  Pressure  H2HSensor 2Scan  Thermocouple 7 and 8 Flow Tube  He H2

Conference Session

Programmatic Issues in Physics or Engineering Phys

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Yumin Zhang, Southeast Missouri State University; David Probst, Southeast Missouri State University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Physics & Physics

and the dielectric material,students designed many kinds of sensors. The simplest one is a pressure sensor based on aparallel capacitor, which is shown in Fig.1. The distance between the two capacitor plates isrelated to the external pressure; the higher the pressure, the larger the capacitance. On the otherhand, the idealized theoretical model often assumes the electric field is confined between the twoplates, but the simulation result shows clearly there is a wide range distribution of the fringefield. In addition, students can also investigate the electric charge distribution on the plates,electrostatic potential energy density and the total capacitance. Fig. 1. Potential and field around a parallel plate

Conference Session

Innovations in Teaching Physics or Engineering Physics

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Robert Ross, University of Detroit Mercy

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Physics & Physics

could also be used in anappropriate upper level electrical or chemical engineering course. Subsequently, we describesome future plans for the activity which, along with some other curricula, may culminate in theintroduction of a stand-alone nanotechnology course and possibly a minor in nanotechnology. Page 15.61.2Device Physics of a Thin Film Organic Solar Cell Incorporating the Fullerene, C60Shown below in Figure 1 is a schematic representation of a thin film polymer solar cell1incorporating the fullerene C60. Commercial glass substrates coated with indium tin oxide (ITO)with a sheet resistance of about 10Ω/□ are used to form the anodes. The

Conference Session

Innovations in Teaching Physics or Engineering Physics

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

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

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Physics & Physics

computer through a mix of numerical analysis, analytical models, andprogramming to solve otherwise intractable problems. It is a skill that can be acquiredand refined - knowing how to set up the simulation, what numerical methods to employ,how to implement them efficiently, when to trust the accuracy of the results. In the lasttwo decades, however, computational physics has largely been neglected in the standarduniversity physics curriculum1-5. In part, this is because it requires balanced integration ofthree commonly disjoint disciplines: physics, numerical analysis, and computer Page 15.46.2programming (Figure 1). The lack of computing hardware