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2015 Oklahoma Research Day Full Program, Northeastern State University

Oklahoma Research Day Abstracts

This document contains all abstracts from the 2015 Oklahoma Research Day held at Northeastern State University.

Phys 231: Electric And Electronic Circuits—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Xiaoshan Xu

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

In this portfolio, I employed a backward design teaching approach on the course PHY231 (Electric and Electronic circuit). I first decide the course objectives and choose the teaching strategies and activities emphasizing student engagement and feedbacks. The effectiveness of the teaching strategies and activities are assessed throughout the course; the adjustments are made accordingly. The results are analyzed at the end of the semester. The assessments indicate that the course objectives are fundamentally achieved and the teaching strategies are effective.

The objectives of the course are:

1. Students will reinforce their understanding in electricity and magnetism.
2. Students will learn theory of …

Sustainability Research Through The Lens Of Environmental Ethics, Daniel Clifford Fouke, Sukh Sidhu, Robert J. Brecha

Physics Faculty Publications

Two core courses in the curriculum of the University of Dayton’s Sustainability, Energy, and the Environment minor, Sustainability Research I and II, were developed out of the frustration one author, Daniel Fouke, experienced while teaching a traditional course on environmental ethics for the Department of Philosophy. The often-overwhelming nature of environmental problems tended to demoralize both the instructor and the students. Seeking a way to integrate ethical analysis of complex problems with the search for solutions, two courses were proposed that would be team-taught by a philosopher and a scientist or an engineer.

Development of the courses was initially funded …

Team Analysis And Review: Using Group Assessment For Learning, Kayt E. Frisch

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

Team work is widely reported to be a highly desired skill by prospective employers and professional schools. To help my students develop teamwork skills I have been using group quizzes called “Team Analysis And Review” (TAARs) in my introductory algebra-based physics course. A TAAR takes the full 50-minute class period and the students will review the material on the quiz three times during the period: individually, in an assigned group, and finally as a whole class. The individual TAAR allows the student to identify personal gaps in their understanding of the material. The group TAAR encourages peer instruction and offers …

Weaving Experimental Skills Throughout The Introductory Laboratory, John Zwart

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

The laboratory portion of an introductory course sequence can be used to meet a wide variety of goals ranging from illustrating phenomena studied in class, to building intuition about how the physical world works, to confronting the unexpected. Helping students develop experimental skills is a crucial goal that needs to be addressed in lab, especially in light of the fact that most introductory textbooks do not specifically address this topic. Important skills that students should learn in lab include how to analyze data, how to communicate results and the art of designing an experiment. This presentation will discuss how we …

Promoting And Assessing Student Metacognition In Physics, Alistair Mcinerny, Andrew Boudreaux, Mila Kryjevskaia, Sara Julin

Physics & Astronomy

A scaffolded metacognition activity was incorporated into the laboratory component of the introductory physics course at Western Washington University (WWU) and Whatcom Community College (WCC). Each week, students wrote reflectively to contrast their initial and current understanding of a specific physics topic, and described the "trigger" events that led them to change their thinking. Goals were to enhance conceptual understanding as well as the depth and quality of student reflection. A coding scheme was developed to evaluate student reflections. We present the scaffolded activity and coding scheme, as well as preliminary findings about changes in student reflection over time and …

An Integrated Multidisciplinary Nanoscience Concentration Certificate Program For Stem Education, Karen S. Martirosyan, Mikhail M. Bouniaev, Malik Rakhmanov, Ahmed Touhami, Nazmul Islam, Davood Askari, Tarek Trad, Dmitri Litvinov, Sergey E. Lyshevski

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications and Presentations

Integration of nanoscience and nanotechnology curricula into the College of Science, Mathematics, and Technology (CSMT) at the University of Texas at Brownsville (UTB) is reported. The rationale for the established multidisciplinary Nanoscience Concentration Certificate Program (NCCP) is to: (i) develop nanotechnology-relevant courses within a comprehensive Science, Engineering and Technology curriculum, and, to offer students an opportunity to graduate with a certificate in nanoscience and nanotechnology; (ii) to contribute to students' success in achieving student outcomes across all college's majors, and, improve the breath, depth and quality of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) graduates' education; (iii) through NCCP, recruit certificate- …

An Ethnographic Study: Becoming A Physics Expert In A Biophysics Research Group, Idaykis Rodriguez

Idaykis Rodriguez

Expertise in physics has been traditionally studied in cognitive science, where physics expertise is understood through the difference between novice and expert problem solving skills. The cognitive perspective of physics experts only create a partial model of physics expertise and does not take into account the development of physics experts in the natural context of research. This dissertation takes a social and cultural perspective of learning through apprenticeship to model the development of physics expertise of physics graduate students in a research group. I use a qualitative methodological approach of an ethnographic case study to observe and video record the …

An Ethnographic Study: Becoming A Physics Expert In A Biophysics Research Group, Idaykis Rodriguez

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Expertise in physics has been traditionally studied in cognitive science, where physics expertise is understood through the difference between novice and expert problem solving skills. The cognitive perspective of physics experts only create a partial model of physics expertise and does not take into account the development of physics experts in the natural context of research. This dissertation takes a social and cultural perspective of learning through apprenticeship to model the development of physics expertise of physics graduate students in a research group. I use a qualitative methodological approach of an ethnographic case study to observe and video record the …

Extending Positive Class Results Across Multiple Instructors And Multiple Classes Of Modeling Instruction, Eric Brewe, Adrienne L. Traxler, Jorge De La Garza, Laird H. Kramer

Physics Faculty Publications

We report on a multiyear study of student attitudes measured with the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey in calculus-based introductory physics taught with the Modeling Instruction curriculum. We find that five of six instructors and eight of nine sections using Modeling Instruction showed significantly improved attitudes from pre- to postcourse. Cohen’s d effect sizes range from 0.08 to 0.95 for individual instructors. The average effect was d = 0.45, with a 95% confidence interval of (0.26–0.64). These results build on previously published results showing positive shifts in attitudes from Modeling Instruction classes. We interpret these data in light …

Spinning Tubes: An Authentic Research Experience In A Three-Hour Laboratory, Arnold E. Sikkema, Steven D. Steenwyk, John Zwart

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

We discuss a three-hour laboratory that is a microcosm of physics research, starting with the discovery of an intriguing phenomenon, and including participation in “research conferences” and the interplay of theory and experiment. Students are given a small segment of PVC pipe marked at opposite ends with different symbols and asked to observe what happens when the pipe is placed on a horizontal surface and one end is pushed downward by a finger to initiate a rotation. Most students immediately recognize that the symbol at one end is visible while the other is not, and set about trying to understand …

Ms-115: The Notarangelo Collection Of The Louis A. Parsons Papers, Elizabeth M. Johns

All Finding Aids

The collection was created from two different sets of letters and papers related to Louis A. Parsons, obtained from Thomas Notarangelo in 2008. Notarangelo purchased the papers at auction. Both sets consisted of correspondence of both professional and personal nature; one set consisting of correspondence from Parsons’ life before he became a professor at Gettysburg, and the other focusing mainly around the issue of his dismissal from Gettysburg College in 1925. The entire collection consists primarily of the correspondence written and received by Parsons.

Special Collections and College Archives Finding Aids are discovery tools used to describe and provide access …

Senior Theses: Department Of Physical Sciences, Patrick M. Higgins, Timothy Howard, Leah Carol Ross

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

1992 Senior Theses from the Department of Physical Science at Morehead State University.

The Abundance, Diversity, and Stratigraphy of the Upper Crab Orchard Formation, Lewis County, Kentucky by Patrick M. Higgins.

The Modification of Flemion for Use in a Solid Electrolyte Battery by Timothy Howard.

Simple Analog Computers by Leah Carol Ross.

Science On The Great Plains: The History Of Physics And Astronomy At The University Of Nebraska-Lincoln, M. Eugene Rudd

M. Eugene Rudd Publications

The year 1988 marked the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Department of Physics at the University of Nebraska. While the year passed without fanfare in the department, DuaneJaecks, one of the members of the faculty, suggested to the author that it would be a good time to write a history of what is now the Department of Physics and Astronomy. He not only provided the initial impetus for the project, but has also given it his continual help and encouragement. While the initial plan was to write only a brief, informal departmental history, the project, like Topsy, grew. …

Christian Commitment And Scientific Theories, Wytze Brouwer

Pro Rege

No abstract provided.

Certainty And Chance In The Physical Sciences, Wytse Van Dijk

Pro Rege

No abstract provided.

Antithesis In Physical Science, Russell W. Maatman

Pro Rege

No abstract provided.

Science Foundations: A Science Program For The Non-Science Student. Technical Report No. 4., James Shymansky

Educator Preparation & Leadership Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

A Study Of The Physics Curriculum Of Ouachita Baptist University, James Mccarty

Honors Theses

The purpose of this paper is to compare the physics curriculum of Ouachita Baptist University with those of several other colleges with the ultimate goal of finding what changes, if any, should by made. Four colleges and universities were used for comparison. Hendrix College is a Methodist college which had an enrollment of 757 during the 1965-66 school year. State College of Arkansas is a state-supported school with 3,129 students during the same year. Little Rock University is a private school which is aided by the city of Little Rock, Arkansas. It had 2,851 students in 1965-66. Southwestern at Memphis …