Conference Session

Engineering Physics and Physics Division Technical Session 1

Collection

2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Teresa L. Larkin, American University

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Physics and Physics

community and they know that I would never ask them to participate in ademonstration in which they will look foolish in front of their peers. In no time, I will havestudents jumping up out of their seats to take part in a demonstration. I also let them take outtheir phones and take pictures when we do demonstrations. Students really enjoy this.Example from Physics 230 (Changing Views of the Universe)The second and third short writing examples come from the Physics 230 course and were givennear the start of the Spring 2020 semester. These examples are illustrated in Figures 2 and 3.The example shown in Figure 2 was distributed on the first day of class. Students wereinstructed to submit their responses electronically prior to the second day of class

Conference Session

Engineering Physics and Physics Division Technical Session 3

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Teresa L. Larkin, American University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Physics and Physics

understandingof a particular topic at a particular point in time. These scores can also help students to confrontany misconceptions they might have about a given idea or topic in physics. PCV scores can beprovided by an instructor, or students can use them to provide feedback to their peers. Examplesof how these free-writing activities can be used to boost student understanding and potentiallylead to enhanced ability to solve conceptual physics problems will be shared. Time-saving tipsfor assessing these assignments as well as ideas for adapting this type of writing-based approachin other physics and engineering courses will be shared.Introduction and Motivation for StudyGood communication skills, especially writing-based skil1s, are essential for

Conference Session

Engineering Physics and Physics Division Technical Session 3

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John Yukio Yoritomo, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; Nicole Turnipseed, University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign; Maxx Joseph Villotti, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; Aric Tate, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; Kelly Searsmith, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; Matthias Grosse Perdekamp, University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign; Paul Prior, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; Julie L. Zilles, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Physics and Physics

, scaffolding the development of the research paper, and assigning some peer review.Yet, no instruction was given on how to effectively revise, resulting in nominal improvementbetween versions of many papers (based both on assessment and instructor perceptions). Ourwork suggests that Phys 280 contained, at least in an embryonic stage, writing learning goalsmore sophisticated than “to enable [a student] to improve [his or her] writing skills,” but thatthese learning goals had not been explicitly communicated to students or fully articulated ininstructional practice.The grading scheme used in Phys 280 before participation in WAE was based on point-deductions. Many sections were devoted to formatting specifications (e.g., -4 points for wrongheader format

Conference Session

Engineering Physics and Physics Division Technical Session 1

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Calvin S. Kalman, Concordia University; Franco La Braca, Concordia University; Mandana Sobhanzadeh, Mount Royal University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Physics and Physics

discussing alternative ideas. The major goals of using labatorials in introductory physics labs are to improve theoverall student experience in the lab and to help students: (1) gain a better understanding ofphysics concepts; (2) investigate applications of physics principles in real life; (3) evaluate theirpreconceptions and compare them with their observation; and (4) interact with their peers and thelab instructor in a collaborative learning environment. The impact of labatorials in conjunction with reflective writing [11], an activity thatallows students to metacognitively examine textual material, on students’ epistemological beliefswas also explored by Author [12], and it was found that such a combination of interventions

Conference Session

Engineering Physics and Physics Division Technical Session 2

Collection

2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Nathaniel Raymond Nunez, University of Detroit Mercy; E. Prasad Venugopal, University of Detroit Mercy

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Physics and Physics

thenutilized when students test original hypotheses that are extensions of the original research. Theappropriate standard for these research questions continues to be their worthiness for publicationor presentation, thus training the writing and speaking skills of students.Our REU ModelAt the University of Detroit Mercy, we designed a pilot project based on this model. Anundergraduate student researcher was tasked with reproducing and extending a physicslaboratory experiment published within the pages of The Physics Teacher or the AmericanJournal of Physics. These journals have well-deserved reputations within the physics communityfor peer-reviewed, research-based innovations in undergraduate teaching and research. Theycontain a wealth of ideas and

Conference Session

Engineering Physics and Physics Division Technical Session 3

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Yumin Zhang, Southeast Missouri State University; David K. Probst P.E., Southeast Missouri State University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Physics and Physics

traditionalhomework in engineering education occurred [1-4], but the overwhelming majority ofengineering faculty members believe that homework is an indispensable component in thecourses they teach. As an analogy, students majoring in English need to write many essays forpractice, and they cannot master the skill of writing just by learning various writing skills andreading novels. In the same way, engineering students cannot grasp the necessary knowledge andskills without the struggling process in solving homework problems [5].Almost all the publishers of the textbooks provide the solution manuals to the instructors, andunfortunately, these materials are leaked to students through the internet. Some websites eveninvite students to provide quiz and exam

Conference Session

Engineering Physics and Physics Division Technical Session 2

Collection

2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kosta Popovic, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology; Janie Szabo, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Physics and Physics

two weeks, which a student completes in a group with a partner.The class sizes range from about 10 up to 30 students, depending on the section, and each lab isscheduled for 160 minutes. Each term, between 10-15 sections of lectures and labs (each) areoffered. Given four lab exercises each term, each student is responsible for writing at least two ofthe reports, while the other partner at a minimum helps with the experimental setup and dataacquisition during the lab meeting. The students usually have one week to write-up their finalreport. The student who is not responsible for the writing of a specific lab is often of limited helpduring post-lab analysis of data, and is often not prepared for the material prior to coming to thelab

Conference Session

Engineering Physics and Physics Division Technical Session 1

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Jessica R. Hoehn, University of Colorado, Boulder; Noah D. Finkelstein, University of Colorado, Boulder

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Physics and Physics

the terms equity and equality. The students then engage in adata interpretation activity—we give them a packet of graphs that show representation in STEMalong various dimensions (race, gender, LGBTQ+ identification), and ask them to first considerwhat information they can gather from the graph and then what it means. They work together insmall groups on this activity, and then report out to the whole class about interesting things theydiscovered. Next, we conduct a notecard activity where every student writes an answer to thequestion, “(Why) does representation in STEM matter?” on a 3x5 index card. They trade cardstwice with random peers such that they end up with an anonymous student’s notecard. We thenuse this to facilitate a class-wide

Conference Session

Engineering Physics and Physics Division Technical Session 2

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Genaro Zavala, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico and Universidad Andres Bello, Santiago, Chile; Carlos Eduardo Martinez-Torteya, Tecnologico de Monterrey

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Physics and Physics

inintroductory physics [3]. At that time, the first studies were carried out in which researchersfocused on instruments (concept tests, CT) to assess those alternative conceptions [4]–[6].Nowadays, there are still efforts to build concept tests that improve on the previous CT [7], [8] orto build new tests [9].The main use of conceptual understanding research is to design appropriate AL activities oreducational strategies that improve conceptual learning [10]. In the literature, there are manyactivities which can be used for auditorium format such as Peer Instruction [11], activities forrecitation sessions [12] and for classrooms integrated with labs [13], to name a few. In numerousreferences, it has been published that using AL strategies in the

Conference Session

Engineering Physics and Physics Division Technical Session 2

Collection

2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Geraldine L. Cochran, Rutgers University; Bryce Troncone, Rutgers University; Bianca R. Evangelista, Rutgers University; Pablo J. Cueva Vera, Rutgers University; Gafar O. Tajudeen, Rutgers University; Nazeer Mosley, Rutgers University; Russell Thomas Soto, Rutgers University; Nathaniel Debebe Asefa, Rutgers University; Nkenna Opara, Rutgers University; Corey Ptak, Rutgers University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Physics and Physics

institutions opted to rapidly transition courses to online instruction in an endeavorto protect faculty and students from the public health emergency caused by COVID-19.Unfortunately, this change had the potential to create new inequities in education and exacerbatepreexisting inequities ones. The purpose of this study is to share and learn from the experiencesof students during these unprecedented times. In particular, we focus on the experiences ofundergraduate students participating in the Learning Assistant program [1-2].Learning Assistant programs are unique amongst peer leader programs because LearningAssistants receive formal pedagogical training and are integrated into the fabric of the course byinstructional faculty. This integration gives