Science and Mathematics Education Commons^™

Question 1: Clock Variation; Question 2: Recycling Coffee Pods, Larry Weinstein

Physics Faculty Publications

The article presents questions and answers regarding the impact of gravity on pendulum clocks and the recycling of coffee pods.

Exploring The Neural Mechanisms Of Physics Learning, Jessica E. Bartley

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents a series of neuroimaging investigations and achievements that strive to deepen and broaden our understanding of human problem solving and physics learning. Neuroscience conceives of dynamic relationships between behavior, experience, and brain structure and function, but how neural changes enable human learning across classroom instruction remains an open question. At the same time, physics is a challenging area of study in which introductory students regularly struggle to achieve success across university instruction. Research and initiatives in neuroeducation promise a new understanding into the interactions between biology and education, including the neural mechanisms of learning and development. These …

Question 1: Kale; Question 2: Hurricane Angular Momentum, Larry Weinstein

Physics Faculty Publications

A quiz concerning the amount of kale needed to provide calories for a person in a year and the angular momentum of Hurricane Florence when it made landfall.

Solutions For Fermi Questions, November 2018: Question 1: Kale; Question 2: Hurricane Angular Momentum, Larry Weinstein

Physics Faculty Publications

The article presents questions and answers related to physics estimations including the amount of kale needed to provide the right amount of calories in a year, and the angular momentum of Hurricane Florence.

Question 1: Automobile Air Conditioning; Question 2: Falling Leaves, Larry Weinstein

Physics Faculty Publications

The article focuses on the questions on physics regarding automobile air conditioning and calculating the number of leaves to fall in U.S.

Solutions For Fermi Questions, October 2018: Question 1: Automobile Air Conditioning; Question 2: Falling Leaves, Larry Weinstein

Physics Faculty Publications

The article presents questions and answers related to topics including automobile air conditioning and falling leaves.

Question 1: Plastic Straws; Question 2: Casino Sevens, Larry Weinstein

Physics Faculty Publications

The article offers questions on 1) the impact that American plastic straws have on the environment, and 2) the probable longest streak of consecutive sevens in casino craps games in the entire history of Las Vegas, Nevada.

Temperaments And Learning Styles Vs. Academic Performance Of First-Semester Physics Students, Shel Randall

Shel Randall

How Middle Level Science Teachers Visualize And Translate Motion, Scale, And Geometric Space Of The Earth-Moon-Sun System With Their Students, Jennifer Wilhelm, Merryn Cole, Cheryl Cohen, Rebecca Lindell

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education Faculty Publications

[This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Astronomy Education Research.] We examined teachers’ spatial-scientific reasoning and the alternative conceptions they held regarding Earth-space content. While participating in a professional development (PD) workshop, teachers engaged in an integrated mathematics and science project-based unit designed to foster spatial reasoning and improve lunar-related conceptual understanding. The Purdue Spatial Visualization Test-Rotation (PSVT-Rot) and the Lunar Phases Concept Inventory (LPCI) were used to assess understanding. We found the teachers held similar alternative conceptions as their students. Moreover, we discovered that teachers had limited understanding of the Earth-Moon-Sun scale, motions, and geometric configurations. To …

Investigating Student Understanding Of Vector Calculus In Upper-Division Electricity And Magnetism: Construction And Determination Of Differential Element In Non-Cartesian Coordinate Systems, Benjamin Schermerhorn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Differential length, area, and volume elements appear ubiquitously over the course of upper-division electricity and magnetism (E&M), used to sum the effects of or determine expressions for electric or magnetic fields. Given the plethora of tasks with spherical and cylindrical symmetry, non-Cartesian coordinates are commonly used, which include scaling factors as coefficients for the differential terms to account for the curvature of space. Furthermore, the application to vector fields means differential lengths and areas are vector quantities. So far, little of the education research in E&M has explored student understanding and construction of the non-Cartesian differential elements used in applications …

Echoes Of The Past: The Effect Of Background Experience On Far Transfer, Graham H. Hummel-Hall

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Far transfer is the application of knowledge learned in one setting to a problem in a very different setting. This multi-method study looked at far transfer in humans and whether it could be facilitated, inhibited, or remain unaffected by the number of courses or years a student at a university spent learning about the subject matter of the knowledge being transferred. Through quantitative and qualitative analysis of pretest and post-test data from an introductory undergraduate earth science course, I found that students with more physical science background experience more frequently engaged in successful and accurate transfer of physics information to …

Solutions For Fermi Questions, April 2018: Question 1: Automobile Air Use; Question 2: Personal Air Use, Larry Weinstein

Physics Faculty Publications

The article presents questions and answers regarding the use of oxygen by a person and an automobile which is produced by garbage.

Question 1: Automobile Air Use; Question 2: Personal Air Use, Larry Weinstein

Physics Faculty Publications

The article presents questions and answers regarding the usage of oxygen in a gasoline powered automobile and the time taken to use the amount of oxygen produced in a garbage by a single person.

Solutions For Fermi Questions, March 2018: Question 1: Air Pressure On Waves; Question 2: Weight Of Toner, Larry Weinstein

Physics Faculty Publications

The article presents questions on the difference in air pressure at the crest and trough of ocean waves because of the Bernoulli effect and the difference in weight between a 100-page printed document and 100 blank pages.

Fermi Questions, Question 1: Air Pressure On Waves; Question 2: Weight Of Toner, Larry Weinstein

Physics Faculty Publications

The article presents questions on the difference in air pressure at the crest and trough of ocean waves because of the Bernoulli effect and the difference in weight between a 100-page printed document and 100 blank pages.

Using The Real-Time Instructor Observing Tool (Riot) For Reflection On Teaching Practice, Cassandra Paul, Emily West

Faculty Publications

As physics educators, we are constantly looking for ways to improve our practice. There are many different kinds of professional development opportunities that have been shown to help us with this endeavor. We can seek assistance from professionals, like mentor teachers or centers for faculty development, we can attend workshops to learn new curricula or pedagogical skills, and we can engage in learning communities to develop shared visions and become more reflective educators.1However, when these activities end, what can we do on our own to continue to improve? How can we track our improvement? And perhaps even most …

Revitalizing Labs For Physics 115, Kayli Wood

Summer Community of Scholars Posters (RCEU and HCR Combined Programs)

No abstract provided.

Expectations And Experiences In A Modern Physics Laboratory Course, Helen Mae Cothrel

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This study examines students’ expectations for and experiences within a modern physics laboratory course. The course instructor and several students were interviewed using a semi-structured protocol at the beginning (pre) and end (post) of the semester. Interviews were video-recorded, then transcribed to text. This thesis presents the results of three students’ interviews as case studies; their interview transcripts were adapted to a more narrative style for inclusion in this report. An interpretation of each student’s responses from pre- to post-interview is given, followed by conclusions which incorporate all three students’ interviews. Particular attention is paid to students’ ideas about experimenting …

Question 1: Throwing Out Energy; Question 2: Blood Pressure, Larry Weinstein

Physics Faculty Publications

The article presents two questions on the amount of energy wasted by Americans whenever they throw out unused ice in their drinks, and why is blood pressure measured on the upper arm.

Solutions For Fermi Questions, May 2018: Question 1: Throwing Out Energy; Question 2: Blood Pressure, Larry Weinstein

Physics Faculty Publications

The article provides answers to questions including the amount of energy wasted when Americans throw out unused ice from their drinks, and why blood pressure is measured on the upper arm.

Gender Fairness Within The Force Concept Inventory, Adrienne Traxler, Rachel Henderson, John Stewart, Gay Stewart, Alexis Papak, Rebecca Lindell

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Research on the test structure of the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) has largely ignored gender, and research on FCI gender effects (often reported as “gender gaps”) has seldom interrogated the structure of the test. These rarely crossed streams of research leave open the possibility that the FCI may not be structurally valid across genders, particularly since many reported results come from calculus-based courses where 75% or more of the students are men. We examine the FCI considering both psychometrics and gender disaggregation (while acknowledging this as a binary simplification), and find several problematic questions whose removal decreases the apparent gender …