Conference Session

Programmatic Issues in Engineering Physics

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jonathan Bougie, American University; Philip Johnson, American University; Nathan Harshman, American University; Teresa Larkin, American University; Michael Black, American University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Physics & Physics

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

Conference Session

Innovations in Teaching Physics

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Robert Ross, University of Detroit Mercy; Eswara Venugopal

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Physics & Physics

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

Conference Session

Technology in the Physics Classroom

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Sabina Jeschke, University of Stuttgart; Olivier Pfeiffer, Technische Universitat Berlin; Thomas Richter, Technische Universitat Berlin; Harald Scheel, Technische Universitat Berlin; Christian Thomsen

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Physics & Physics

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

Conference Session

Programmatic Issues in Engineering Physics

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Denise Martinez, Tarleton State University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Physics & Physics

. 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

Conference Session

Technology in the Physics Classroom

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Gerald Rothberg, Stevens Institute of Technology; Pavel Boytchev, Sofia University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Physics & Physics

an experimental setup to observe the temperature of water as it is heated in a calorimeterfrom ice at low temperatures to liquid to vapor at high temperatures. A mercury thermometer isincluded as well as digital instruments for measuring time, temperature, heater voltage and massof water in the liquid state. When the experiment is running the student sees the readings of theinstruments changing and the liquid rising in the thermometer.Figure 1. Softlab setup to measure temperature of water as heated. The buttons on the left side call up a variety of instruments, which the student connects ashe wishes, and provide for other substances besides water. More instruments and substances willbe added as development continues. The experimental

Conference Session

Technology in the Physics Classroom

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Gerald Rothberg, Stevens Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Physics & Physics

few might be useful. Table 1 summarizes the grades of all students having taken the course, 233 beforeintroducing the wireless technology and 298 after. At any one grade level the before and afterresults do not differ significantly. There is, however, a consistent shift of a few percent in gradesfrom F and D to C and A. The grading scale is not curved, it is absolute, and the gradeboundaries did not change during the project. The fact that grades have not declined, and mighthave improved slightly, despite the increased emphasis on concepts and increased reliance on the Page 12.170.3textbook is evidence of the benefits to me, the

Conference Session

Innovations in Teaching Physics

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Radian Belu, Wayne State University; Alexandru Catalin Belu, Wayne State University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Physics & Physics

computationalresources and time. Page 12.1547.2The paper is organized as follows. Section 1 of this paper is reserved for introduction andwe will sketch the finite difference methods, section 2 and 3 are reserved for thepresentation of the discrete formulation of mechanics and electrodynamics, and wereview some of the engineering applications of this approach in section 4. Thepedagogical implementation of such formulations is discussed in section 5, and the lastsection is reserved for conclusions, discussion and future work.1.1 Finite Difference MethodsThe finite difference methods was developed by A. Tom in the early 1920s under the title“methods of squares” to solve