18 25 26 27 Correct # 12 67 61 64 4 32 8 11 10 2 56 Correct % 10.8% 60.4% 55.0% 57.7% 3.6% 28.8% 7.2% 9.9% 9.0% 1.8% 50.5% Pre-Test Result in Percentage 100.0% 80.0% 60.0% 40.0% 20.0% 0.0% 5 6 7 12 13 14 17 18 25 26 27 Fig. 1. Percentage of the students with the correct answer in pre-test.The data in Table I and Fig. 1 shows that four problems (6, 7
successfullypass the course. These challenges inhibit the students’ ability to complete the necessaryrequirements for transfer in a timely manner, if they are able to complete them at all. We havechosen to address these issues by developing a pre-semester physics “bootcamp” to give studentsthe necessary study skills and practice working with physics content before they start theirphysics course. Additionally, we incorporate directed support during the semester to continuedeveloping the student’s ability to succeed.Physics Jam is a 1 to 2 week free program offered to all students taking first or second semesterphysics. During the program, students work on reviewing math concepts they will need to besuccessful in their physics course, developing study
methods.IntroductionGroup project/activity based teaching is an interesting concept and is in practice at severalinstitutions1-5. How much these activities influence learning has been controversial6-9. As in othercolleges, at our institution most of the engineering students take Engineering Physics 1 and 2. Aspart of Engineering Physics course requirement, weekly group projects and a final group projectwere assigned. In order to do the weekly in class group activity, we assigned 5 members to ateam and gave them a problem to work on as a team within a given time. At the end of theallocated time, the group had to submit a solution package with the names of the team members.During the course of the project, students were allowed to have a round table discussion
- versity, Campus Monterrey. Finally, she has worked in the industry in the sector of Telecommunications performing engineering design and implementation on wireless networks. c American Society for Engineering Education, 2016 Fis-Mat Integrated Physics and Mathematics: A proposal for a curricular sequenceAbstractThis proposal is a project in an early stage. The curricular sequence consists of designing andimplementing three integrated courses of Physics and Mathematics corresponding to the firstthree university courses for those disciplines. The first integrated course, Fis-Mat 1 (short forPhysics and Mathematics in Spanish), combines the first course of Physics and
of position, velocity, andacceleration functions in terms of derivatives and integrals.For 19 years students in the introductory calculus-based physics course at the University ofDetroit Mercy were assessed using a variation of a problem introduced by Arons 1 in Part II of histext. In a previous work on using operational definitions, we examined the results of thisassessment for 8 sections of the introductory course. In this paper we extend the work anddisaggregate the student population by gender. We provide students a chance to cooperativelycorrect examinations. We believe this practice improves student learning and has implicationsfor the administration of fair and equitable assessments of that learning.Student populationThe University of
grouplaboratory. Typically the classroom experience is comprised of lectures and it is fairly commonfor the laboratory and lecture to be administered by different individuals.While this structure may be effective at processing students through the science courses, studieshave shown that it has some significant educational disadvantages. Over the past severaldecades, physics education research has shown that students were not learning the conceptsand/or were not engaged by the methods used in “traditional” physics education.1-4 Those andother studies have motivated a significant amount of research on physics education and muchprogress has been made. A significant body of physics education research has focused ondeveloping and incorporating classroom
offer courses that are geared towards the non-major, most often these courses are traditional physics courses and are taught within the NaturalSciences portion of the general education core of courses. Changing Views of the Universe(Changing Views) is a course that is somewhat unique in that it is taught by physics faculty andeven has a physics prefix on its listing in our course catalog. The uniqueness of this course isthat it is not taught within the Natural Sciences core of general education courses. Rather,Changing Views is taught as part of the Traditions that Shape the Western World portion of ourgeneral education core of courses. This curricular area is best described as:1 “The rich traditions that shape the Western world convey
. The author initially implemented this approach to employ highimpact learning practices in the classroom. Flipped Classroom Pedagogy 1 This class was operated in “blended” fashion where there was an online component (instructional media) and regular class meetings. The regular meetings did not include lectures, but instead involved oneonone and group problem solving. The instructor’s role in these meetings was to guide students, explain difficult and confusing concepts, and interact with each student individually or in small groups during each class meeting. The flipped format for
Kirchhoff’s voltage lawis always true despite its obvious violation of Faraday’s law of induced EMF. The danger of thispremature specialization of engineering education becomes apparent when engineers from onediscipline work in teams with engineers from other disciplines and find they have no commonunderstanding of problems outside of their own engineering discipline. 2The authors have collaborated in teaching an advanced survey course on the physical sciencefoundations of engineering to graduate engineering students in an engineering leadershipprogram. The elevator speech on why such a course is needed goes as follows: 1) mostengineering students take all of their basic science courses during their Freshman year, 2) mostof them don’t like those
module test tries also varied by the difficulty of the module material. While theaverage test tries per module averaged in the range from 1 to 2 for most modules, the averagetest tries was significantly higher for three of the 17 modules. The average tries per module forthese three modules ranged between 2.3 to 2.5. The three modules included introductorymechanics topics that often challenge students:Module 6: Applications of Newton’s Laws (frictional forces in a moving system, circular motion)Module 10: CollisionsModule 14: Oscillation and Simple Harmonic MotionIt was hypothesized that a possible “snowball effect” would limit the weakest students from
reported in this paper. Comparison of differentsession’s opinion regarding the mastering physics will also be analyzed in the paper. Thisparticular study was done for Engineering Physics 2, which covers mainly electricity andmagnetism.IntroductionIncorporating online based techniques with traditional teaching is an interesting idea and is inpractice at several institutions1-2. How these activities impact learning varies 3-5. Like othercolleges, at our institution most of the engineering students take Engineering Physics 1 and 2. Aspart of Engineering Physics 2 course requirement6-7, weekly homework assignments were given.Grading homework assignments submitted by a large student body by Teaching Assistants is notpractical. To deal with this issue
this approach allows students toanalyze and formulate rules for the non-linear behavior of RC circuits that involve lamps.7 Theredesigned experiments have been closely modeled after the text Physics by Inquiry.3The DIRECT Assessment InstrumentThe DIRECT assessment is a 29 question multiple choice text that is designed to measurestudent understanding of various topics in dc circuit analysis. A copy of DIRECT is available bycontacting the authors in reference 5. The DIRECT authors identify 11 learning objectives thatare to be assessed by a combination of questions on the test. We list those learning objectivesbelow: 1. Identify and explain a short circuit (more current follows the path of lesser resistance) 2. Understand the functional two
a linecharge with limited length. Instead of using Coulomb’s law directly, one can calculate theelectric potential first and then find the gradient of this function. Although the closed formsolution can be derived by hand calculation, working out the integral is pretty challenging, letalone the gradient. However, this can be done easily by using SAGE, and the code is shownbelow (the linear charge density and the factor of 1/(4πε) are skipped). The charges areuniformly distributed along z-axis and its length is 2 centimeters, with the coordinates of the twoends at -0.01 and 0.01, respectively. sage: d = 0.01 sage: x,y,z,zp = var('x, y, z, zp') # zp is source variable for integral. sage: func = 1/sqrt(x^2 + y^2
this article, reflection through journal writing wasimplemented in a Conceptual Physics class in a community college setting, which is rarely seenin literatures. The description of the study, preliminary data and results are presented.II. Description of the studyThe typical PH101 Conceptual Physics course has three 50-minute lectures and one 1 hr 50minute long laboratory per week. The official textbook for the course is “Conceptual Physics” byPaul Hewitt. Students are generally required to write lab reports for each lab they do but they do Page 24.1152.4not do any other writing except homework for lectures. Regular student-centered lectures
Page 24.1173.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2014 Teaching Vectors to Engineering Students through an Interactive Vector Based GameAbstractIn recent years, science and particularly physics education has been furthered by the use ofproject based interactive learning.1 There is a tremendous amount of evidence2 that use of thesetechniques in a college learning environment leads to a deeper appreciation and understanding offundamental concepts. Since vectors are the basis for any advancement in physics andengineering courses the cornerstone of any physics regimen is a concrete and comprehensiveintroduction to vectors. Here, we introduce a new turn based vector game
, students can quickly forget them because we usually do not use them daily inour busy life.However, if the professor or instructor adds some comments that for any soil/rock larger than thelength of his or her foot or 12 inches, the soil/rock is defined as boulder, the students will have alonger and maybe even a lifelong memory of boulder size in the USCS soil classification.Next size boundary is 3 inches length, about one of a person’s figure length, also equal to 1 foot(12 inches) divided by number four (#4 sieve). So any rock/soil larger than 3 inches, a finger’slength, but smaller than 12 inches or one foot is considered as cobbles.The number 4 sieve, roughly 5 mm (4.75mm) is approximately the width of a person’s pinkyfinger nail width.So if the
so they can fully appreciate their capabilities as well as their limitations. Studentassessment has shown that our approach greatly enhances understanding of helical antennasystems and has caused significant increase in student enthusiasm for selected topics in antennas.Introduction The helical antenna was invented by Dr. John D. Kraus in the 1940s [1]. The uniquedesign has given this type of antenna several advantages over other directional antennas. Theseadvantages include universal polarization, relatively high gain, broad band capability -withrespect to both directionality and SWR- greater immunity to multipath interference, as well ashaving a relatively simple structure and feed system. Helical antennas are widely used in
, studieshave shown that it has some significant educational disadvantages. Over the past severaldecades, physics education research has shown that students were not learning the conceptsand/or were not engaged by the methods used in “traditional” physics education.1-4 Those andother studies have motivated a significant amount of research on physics education and muchprogress has been made. A significant body of physics education research has focused ondeveloping and incorporating classroom techniques that reduce or eliminate lecture and replace itwith active learning methods.5,6 Often the focus of the active learning strategies has been tomove away from methods that lead to students memorizing facts and mimicking solutions andtoward developing
second semester. These metrics will be used to compare the effectiveness of the MLMs on both an individual and department wide basis.KeywordsMultimediaLearningModules,Prelectures,PhysicsEducation,PhysicsPedagogy.IntroductoryPhysics,EngineeringPhysics.1. Introduction Over the last twenty years, numerous advances in physics education research(PER) as well as the development of non-traditional learning tools have changed thelandscape of STEM education [1]. A short time ago, the most widely accepted approachto physics education was the traditional lecture, supported by a hands-on laboratorycomponent, with typical homework exercises. Demonstrations and group work added anactive component to these techniques, but the overall learning
Paper ID #20358Analysis of reasoning paths of engineering studentsProf. Genaro Zavala, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico & Universidad Andres Bello, Santiago,Chile Genaro Zavala is Full Professor of Physics and Director of Educational Innovation in the School of Engi- neering and Sciences at Tecnologico de Monterrey. Also, he is currently collaborating with the School of Engineering of the University Andres Bello at Santiago, Chile. Professor Zavala is National Researcher Level 1 of the National System of Researchers of Mexico and leads the Physics Education Research and Innovation Group. He works with the
. The laboratory exam measured student ability to work with an air track or with electric field equipment, both commonly used in undergraduate physics education. Results illustrate that large percentages of students majoring in technology, and in the health sciences, need to improve their basic math skills and their ability to use laboratory equipment to meet the expected learning outcomes. 1) Introduction This paper presents assessment results on how well three groups of STEM students learned aparticular set of outcomes expected across physics courses. The assessment was conducted atthe end of the fall semester of 2014 at the Queensborough Community College (QCC); QCC ispart of the City University of New York (CUNY). In the fall
anyphysics program.b. State of the program at the time of evaluationWith these goals in mind, we began by evaluating the physics program as it was structured at thetime in order to identify changes that would be beneficial to the program. We began byexamining the course load and major requirements to determine whether the requirements for amajor at American University were appropriate to the skills and background expected of physicsmajors. Part of this assessment was comparing these requirements to those of comparableuniversities across the nation.Prior to the 2003-2004 agademic year, physics majors had the option of following one of twotracks: applied (chemical) physics or computational physics. Both tracks required six physicscourses (see Table 1
InstrumentDIRECT was designed to evaluate student understanding of direct current circuits. It is a 29question multiple-choice examination that has been given to hundreds of students nationwide.Versions 1.0 and 1.1 are discussed in detail in reference 8. We obtained version 1.2 from theauthors of the study and subsequently administered that version. It is our understanding that thedifferences between versions 1.1 and 1.2 are minor. Below we reproduce the learning objectivesidentified by the authors of the DIRECT test: 1. Identify and explain a short circuit (more current follows the path of lesser resistance) 2. Understand the functional two-endedness of circuit elements (elements have two possible points with which to make a connection) 3
macroscopic ef-fects. A rigorous proof of this model was given by Onsager many years later.6III. Magnetism in Virtual LaboratoriesThe Virtual Laboratory VideoEasel developed at the TU Berlin focuses on the field of statisticalphysics and statistical mechanics7,8. Implementing a freely programmable cellular automaton9,VideoEasel is capable of simulating various models of statistical mechanics and related fields.Figure 1. The Ising Model in the virtual Figure 2. Hysteresis loop of the Ising modellaboratory VideoEasel for low temperatureMeasurements are performed by tools freely plugged into the experiment by the user, allowing toobserve magnetization, entropy, free energy or other measuring quantities. When
. Page 12.747.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2007 First Time Accreditation of a Multi-disciplinary Engineering Physics ProgramAbstractIn 2006, Tarleton State University successfully achieved ABET accreditation of EngineeringPhysics, its first engineering program. This Engineering Physics program is a multidisciplinaryengineering program with emphases in electrical engineering, computer engineering, andmaterials physics. Several challenges above and beyond the proof of continuous improvement inCriteria 1-8 had to be overcome to accomplish this accreditation. Tarleton State is a traditionallyliberal arts school and serves a predominantly rural area with only a few local engineeringindustries
theenhanced class experience, successes, and shortcomings of the project-based peer-evaluation method used in the classroom. The effectiveness shown in the Optics andMeasurements classes indicates that this teaching approach is more generally applicableto other project-based courses.INTRODUCTIONTeaching engineering and science without laboratory sessions is both challenging and ofdiminished value. It has been reported that project based learning increases interest in thetaught topic, as well as the students’ skills [1, 5, 8]. Epistemological beliefs andinstructional goals can also be related to the use of laboratory activity [6]. Engineering Page
- questionnaires.TABLE 1: Multiple–choice results collected from questionnaires given before theworkshop. The results indicate the percent value for each answer.1. A car is moving along a horizontal highway in astraight line at a constant rate of 25 m/s. Itsacceleration is 47 [A][A] 9.8 m/s2 0 [B][B] 9.8 m/s. 41 [C] – correct answer[C] zero. 12 [D][D] 25 m/s.2. A ball is thrown straight upward. What is theacceleration of the ball at the highest point?[A] zero 53 [A][B] 9.8 m/s2 , upward 12 [B][C] 9.8 m/s2, downward
methodology for assessing student achievement in one of the Physicscourses in the calculus-based Physics sequence, and the results we obtained for the past twoacademic years. Achievement of each Student Learning Outcome was determined quantitativelyusing a spreadsheet program. A special focus was placed on Student Learning Outcomes directlyrelated to the a)-n) ABET required program outcomes for Mechanical Engineering programs. Wefound the methodology to be very helpful in assessing topics of difficulty for students, and year-to-year trends in student learning.1. IntroductionDirect assessment of student learning outcomes1 is a practice now embraced by a majority ofcolleges and universities with ABET accredited engineering programs. The way
complementary MOS transistors (CMOS) in order toachieve high-density circuits with both high-speed and a reduced power budget. Thesefactors are also how we define much of our classroom dialogue in all forms of electrical andcomputer engineering.Driven by demands for smaller, faster, and more extensive circuits, MOS device dimensionshave been reduced to sub-micron levels [1]. At these sizes a few volts of potential producesextremely high electric fields, a factor that is both beneficial and problematic. The highfields are what enables the desired qualities of the MOS device. But the high fields also pushthe analyses well beyond most of the simple physics, which has its laws and roots in low-field laboratory benchwork. So classroom descriptions of the