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Articles 1 - 12 of 12
Full-Text Articles in Physics
Reinvigorating A Technical Countering Weapons Of Mass Destruction Distance Learning Graduate Certificate Program, James C. Petrosky, Gaiven Varshney, Jeremy Slagley, Sara Shaghaghi
Reinvigorating A Technical Countering Weapons Of Mass Destruction Distance Learning Graduate Certificate Program, James C. Petrosky, Gaiven Varshney, Jeremy Slagley, Sara Shaghaghi
Faculty Publications
Current Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction (CWMD) demands can be divided broadly into policy and science. The science of chemical, biological, and radiological/nuclear weapons informs the limits of development, production, employment, operation, detection, risk characterization, human and material protection, and medical intervention. In short, the science of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) should precede and inform the development of policy. It is to this end that the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) CWMD program was re-established, providing a technical educational option for practitioners to understand the science behind a very technically challenging subject.
Relative Impacts Of Different Grade Scales On Student Success In Introductory Physics, David J. Webb, Cassandra A. Paul, Mary A. Chessey
Relative Impacts Of Different Grade Scales On Student Success In Introductory Physics, David J. Webb, Cassandra A. Paul, Mary A. Chessey
Faculty Publications
In deciding on a student’s grade in a class, an instructor generally needs to combine many individual grading judgments into one overall judgment. Two relatively common numerical scales used to specify individual grades are the 4-point scale (where each whole number 0–4 corresponds to a letter grade) and the percent scale (where letter grades A through D are uniformly distributed in the top 40% of the scale). This paper uses grading data from a single series of courses offered over a period of 10 years to show that the grade distributions emerging from these two grade scales differed in many …
Using The Real-Time Instructor Observing Tool (Riot) For Reflection On Teaching Practice, Cassandra Paul, Emily West
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 …
Equity Of Success In Clasp Courses At Uc Davis, Cassandra Paul, David Webb, Mary Chessey, Wendell Potter
Equity Of Success In Clasp Courses At Uc Davis, Cassandra Paul, David Webb, Mary Chessey, Wendell Potter
Faculty Publications
We have recently described the reformed introductory physics course, Collaborative Learning through Active Sense-Making in Physics (CLASP), for bioscience students at UC Davis and argued that the course was more successful than its predecessor (Physics 5) by several measures. Now we examine the effects of these courses for different student ethnic groups. We find that, compared to Physics 5, students of most ethnic backgrounds were more successful in CLASP. We also find that students from ethnic groups underrepresented in STEM who took the CLASP course were more likely to graduate as STEM majors. We discuss possible features of CLASP that …
Energy Tracking Diagrams, Rachel Scherr, Benedikt Harrer, Hunter Close, Abigail Daane, Lezlie Dewater, Amy Robertson, Lane Seeley, Stamatis Vokos
Energy Tracking Diagrams, Rachel Scherr, Benedikt Harrer, Hunter Close, Abigail Daane, Lezlie Dewater, Amy Robertson, Lane Seeley, Stamatis Vokos
Faculty Publications
Energy is a crosscutting concept in science and features prominently in national science education documents. In the Next Generation Science Standards, the primary conceptual learning goal is for learners to conserve energy as they track the transfers and transformations of energy within, into, or out of the system of interest in complex physical processes. As part of tracking energy transfers among objects, learners should (i) distinguish energy from matter, including recognizing that energy flow does not uniformly align with the movement of matter, and should (ii) identify specific mechanisms by which energy is transferred among objects, such as mechanical work …
The Real-Time Instructor Observing Tool For Future Teachers, Cassandra Paul
The Real-Time Instructor Observing Tool For Future Teachers, Cassandra Paul
Faculty Publications
Current educational research shows that students achieve higher learning gains in science classrooms when interactive techniques are used. As a result, we are seeing more high schools and institutions of higher education adopt interactive courses. Unfortunately, it's difficult for future teachers to envision interactive science courses because their experience as students has been dominated by traditional lecture. New educators need to know what interactive science classrooms look like, so that they can model this experience in their own classrooms. The Real-time Instructor Observing Tool (RIOT), a computer application that allows an observer to quickly categorize classroom interactions, can help with …
Grading By Response Category: A Simple Method For Providing Students With Meaningful Feedback On Exams In Large Courses, Cassandra Paul, Wendell Potter, Brenda Weiss
Grading By Response Category: A Simple Method For Providing Students With Meaningful Feedback On Exams In Large Courses, Cassandra Paul, Wendell Potter, Brenda Weiss
Faculty Publications
As instructors, we want our students to develop a deep understanding of course material, and feedback is essential in their sense-making process. Providing effective individualized feedback to students in large courses is especially difficult. While researcherssuggest,1 and many instructors of large courses are,2,3incorporating interactive techniques that allow peer feedback, studies have shown that it's important for students to also have direct feedback from the instructor.4 Since the requirement for individualized feedback is difficult to meet during class time in large courses, providing effective feedback on exams and quizzes takes on added importance. Some instructors choose to …
Variation Of Instructor-Student Interactions In An Introductory Interactive Physics Course, Emily West, Cassandra Paul, David Webb, Wendell Potter
Variation Of Instructor-Student Interactions In An Introductory Interactive Physics Course, Emily West, Cassandra Paul, David Webb, Wendell Potter
Faculty Publications
The physics instruction at UC Davis for life science majors takes place in a long-standing reformed large-enrollment physics course in which the discussion or laboratory instructors (primarily graduate student teaching assistants) implement the interactive-engagement (IE) elements of the course. Because so many different instructors participate in disseminating the IE course elements, we find it essential to the instructors’ professional development to observe and document the student-instructor interactions within the classroom. Out of this effort, we have developed a computerized real-time instructor observation tool (RIOT) to take data of student-instructor interactions. We use the RIOT to observe 29 different instructors for …
Students Talk About Energy In Project- Based Inquiry Science, Benedikt W. Harrer, Virginia J. Flood, Michael C. Wittmann
Students Talk About Energy In Project- Based Inquiry Science, Benedikt W. Harrer, Virginia J. Flood, Michael C. Wittmann
Faculty Publications
We examine the types of emergent language eighth grade students in rural Maine middle schools use when they discuss energy in their first experiences with Project-Based Inquiry Science: Energy, a research-based curriculum that uses a specific language for talking about energy. By comparative analysis of the language used by the curriculum materials to students’ language, we find that students’ talk is at times more aligned with a Stores and Transfer model of energy than the Forms model supported by the curriculum.
Productive Resources In Students’ Ideas About Energy: An Alternative Analysis Of Watts’ Original Interview Transcripts, Benedikt W. Harrer, Virginia J. Flood, Michael C. Wittmann
Productive Resources In Students’ Ideas About Energy: An Alternative Analysis Of Watts’ Original Interview Transcripts, Benedikt W. Harrer, Virginia J. Flood, Michael C. Wittmann
Faculty Publications
For over 30 years, researchers have investigated students’ ideas about energy with the intent of reforming instructional practice. In this pursuit, Watts contributed an influential study with his 1983 paper “Some alternative views of energy” [Phys. Educ. 18, 213 (1983)]. Watts’ “alternative frameworks” continue to be used for categorizing students’ non-normative ideas about energy. Using a resources framework, we propose an alternate analysis of student responses from Watts’ interviews. In our analysis, we show how students’ activated resources about energy are disciplinarily productive. We suggest that fostering seeds of scientific understandings in students’ ideas about energy may play an important …
Elements Of Proximal Formative Assessment In Learners’ Discourse About Energy, Benedikt W. Harrer, Rachel E. Scherr, Michael C. Wittmann, Hunter G. Close, Brian W. Frank
Elements Of Proximal Formative Assessment In Learners’ Discourse About Energy, Benedikt W. Harrer, Rachel E. Scherr, Michael C. Wittmann, Hunter G. Close, Brian W. Frank
Faculty Publications
Proximal formative assessment, the just-in-time elicitation of students' ideas that informs ongoing instruction, is usually associated with the instructor in a formal classroom setting. However, the elicitation, assessment, and subsequent instruction that characterize proximal formative assessment are also seen in discourse among peers. We present a case in which secondary teachers in a professional development course at SPU are discussing energy flow in refrigerators. In this episode, a peer is invited to share her thinking (elicitation). Her idea that refrigerators move heat from a relatively cold compartment to a hotter environment is inappropriately judged as incorrect (assessment). The "instruction" (peer …
Student Explorations Of Quantum Effects In Leds And Luninescent Devices, Lawrence Escalada, N. Sanjay Rebekki, Dean A. Zollman
Student Explorations Of Quantum Effects In Leds And Luninescent Devices, Lawrence Escalada, N. Sanjay Rebekki, Dean A. Zollman
Faculty Publications
We developed activity-based instructional units to introduce basic quantum principles to students with limited physics and mathematics backgrounds. To emphasize the practical applications of contemporary physics, we introduced concepts using the contexts of light-emitting devices such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs), fluorescent lamps, and glow-in-the-dark toys. As our standard of living becomes more dependent on the latest developments in science and technology, our students' literacy must be at a level that enables them to make educated decisions on science- and technology-related issues and their everyday applications. Students need to have at least a basic understanding of 20th-century physics and its applications …