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

department to engineering physics students fora long time. Previously, our microcontroller course centered on Intel 8086 chips and the ISAbuses. Students learned 8086 assembly language and how to interface a PC with the externalworld via the ISA buses through various peripheral devices, including timers, RS232 serial ports,and interrupt subroutines. Software coding and debugging were performed under DOSenvironment using command-line instructions. Obviously the content of this course had stayedin the 1980’s and had not evolved with new generations of hardware and software. During ourdepartment’s internal curriculum review process for our 2006 ABET accreditation visit, wereached consensus that this course needed major revision to reflect the current

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

problem, students must write a detailed discussion comparing and contrasting theresults of the simulation with their manual analysis. This last step is critical for helping studentsadequately reflect on what the simulation is producing and whether or not the results are sensibleand in reasonable agreement with their manual analysis. Experience has shown that these kindsof exercises truly reinforce for students the distinction between simple device models used inmanual analysis and more detailed device models used in computer simulations. They alsoprepare students for professional practice by helping them gain basic proficiency with circuitsimulation software.IV. ConclusionWe believe that CAD software is a useful tool in teaching science and

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

? Page 15.46.94. A change in the planet's reflectivity can change its effective temperature. For a onepercent increase in reflectivity (that is 0.34 rather than 0.33 for the albedo), how muchdoes the ground temperature decrease with NO change in optical depth.5. Venus has an effective temperature of 240K, but its surface temperature is 700K!Find the atmospheric optical depth that is required to accomplish this.Extra Credit Calculation: To make our calculation easy, we have divided theatmosphere into layers of equal optical depth. In the real atmosphere, these layers wouldhave different thickness since the optical depth depends on the mass of the layer and thedensity of air decreases with altitude. The density of air in the Earth's atmosphere, d

Conference Session

Innovations in Teaching Physics or Engineering Physics

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Teresa Larkin, American University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Physics & Physics

- 8hours) is set aside to read them and provide each student with written feedback. This writtenfeedback is absolutely essential. Numerous studies have pointed out the importance and value ofprompt and thoughtful feedback to students [27 – 31]. When students take time to reflect ontheir writing and on the instructor’s comments, the folder becomes a highly effective tool inhelping them uncover and then wrestle with their misconceptions while the learning is takingplace. The nature of the free-writing assignments varies depending on the goals and objectivesfor a particular topic or content area. For example, for some free-writing assignments studentsare asked to explain a problem or a concept that was highlighted or discussed during a

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

plan to expand the activity with a homework assignment thatincludes current-voltage characteristic analysis along with problems related to the concept ofsheet resistance and the necessity for current carrying grids. The derivation of the 0.25 fillfactor, presented earlier, should be a suitable problem for upper level physics or engineeringstudents. To understand solar cell operation and device optimization it is important for studentsto investigate the relationship between sheet resistance and resistivity. Many students aresurprised to find that the sheet resistance (Ω/□) is a useful quantity because it is independent ofthe size of the square. Topics including optical absorption and anti-reflection coating areappropriate at this level. With