Physics Education Research (PER) Division provides a forum for the research on pedagogical techniques and strategies that will help students learn physics more effectively and help instructors to implement these techniques. This also includes the best scientific practices like active learning which will provide every student in a class an equal opportunity to learn. For more information on PER, the following resource is useful: https://www.aapt.org/aboutaapt/history/AAPT-History-PER.cfm
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Session Schedule
Please look below for detailed schedule.
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Abstract Number: ANPA2022_0101 Presenting Author: Christopher Fischer (Invited) Presenter's Affiliation: University of Kansas Title: Helping traditionally under-served populations by changing the pedagogy of introductory physics Show/Hide Abstract We have developed a new curriculum for introductory physics that shifts the initial focus of instruction away from forces and the associated vector mathematics, which are known to be problematic for students, to the scalar quantity energy, which is more closely aligned with their previously established intuition, and associated differential and integral calculus. I will present the results of a longitudinal study demonstrating that implementation of this calculus-enhanced �energy-first� curriculum improved performance in downstream engineering courses for students with lower ACT math scores.
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Abstract Number: ANPA2022_0102 Presenting Author: Arbin Thapaliya Presenter's Affiliation: Franklin College Title: Teaching ultrasound to undergraduates using project-based learning approach Show/Hide Abstract In this talk, we will present about a unique collaboration between a physics faculty, a librarian, and a physician in developing and teaching an ultrasound course in a primarily undergraduate institution. The course followed the Project-Based-Learning (PjBL) approach in which students, by way of argumentation and research, actively and collaboratively engaged in solving real-world and personally meaningful problems. As such, Information Literacy skills were naturally incorporated throughout all of the PjBL projects that students worked on in this course. In preparation for these projects, students learned about basic principles behind ultrasound, as well as the basic operation, controls, and features of an ultrasound equipment. They were also trained to develop ultrasound skills to identify normal anatomy of musculoskeletal, cardiovascular, and abdominal organs and structures. We will present about the opportunities, challenges, and success of this course.
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Abstract Number: ANPA2022_0103 Presenting Author: Puskar Chapgain Presenter's Affiliation: Southern Arkansas University Title: Does Peer-Assisted Instruction for University Physics Help Improve Student Learning? Show/Hide Abstract Supplemental Instruction (SI) is a teaching method adopted by academic institutions to strengthen and extend learning opportunities beyond regular classroom lectures. The supplemental instructor is a junior or senior level student with a track record of a sound knowledge of the material and works closely with the students seeking help. The SI leader is free to provide different teaching/learning strategies to foster problem-solving skills and critical thinking behavior. While the supplemental instructor is independent in conducting the learning sessions, they work closely with the course instructor. In this work, we investigate the efficacy of the SI model in the university physics at Southern Arkansas University using data from ten years. Furthermore, we discuss how this additional teaching pedagogy elucidates to successful completion of the physics class, retention in the department/university, and the overall academic success through the peers� support.
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Abstract Number: ANPA2022_0104 Presenting Author: Simon Rees Presenter's Affiliation: WPI Student, Rudra Kafle Title: Supplementing the Learning of Physics with the Focused Instruction of Graphicacy Show/Hide Abstract Graphicacy, or proficiency in using and making graphs, is a useful skill in academia and industry. However, it has been shown in past research that high school students are not learning, or perhaps not understanding, how to read graphs� specifically kinematic graphs of displacement, velocity, and acceleration. My MQP project was based on this notion, and was an investigation into ways to help students become more proficient in graphicacy. I had the opportunity to teach physics at Leominster High School (LHS). The approach for the project was to teach the regular curriculum with a greater focus on graphing and graphing methods for solving physics problems. The results were measured with a pre and post test which assessed students� confidence in graphing, their ability to graph kinematics scenarios, and their ability to draw conclusions from more complex graphs. Results of the posttest were better than the pretest in all categories. These results are promising and demonstrate that if teachers have a more focused instruction on graphicacy supplementary to their normal curriculum, student understanding of graphicacy
itself may increase.
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Abstract Number: ANPA2022_0105 Presenting Author: Anna Mederer Presenter's Affiliation: Worcester Polytechnic Institute Title: Scaffolding Writing in Physics Labs Show/Hide Abstract Communicating physics is an essential learning outcome for undergraduate physics courses because it facilitates the synthesis of students� ideas, is a useful professional skill, and is the basis of sharing knowledge with a broader community. Physics lab courses are an ideal setting to learn these communication skills. Writing is an important subset of communicating physics, which has been explored in the �Framework of Goals for Writing in Physics Lab Classes� from Hoehn and Lewandowski. The overall goal of this project is to use this framework to understand how students acquire writing skills in physics, to structure labs to support learning those skills, and to measure the effectiveness of scaffolding writing skills into the lab sequence. At our institution, we are restructuring the lab sequence to scaffold writing skills. We collected and analyzed student writing samples and open response feedback surveys and will present preliminary results.
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