Impact of Reflective Writing and Labatorials on Student Understanding of Force and Motion in Introductory Physics

In this paper, we examine a way to deal with alternative student conceptions about force and motion in a university level introductory physics course. The course combines Reflective Writing, an activity that engages students in textual material metacognitively, and Labatorials, an in-class active learning intervention. Semi-structured interviews and student writing provide evidence of conceptual change

University Physics Volume 2

University Physics is a three-volume collection that meets the scope and sequence requirements for two- and three-semester calculus-based physics courses. Volume 1 covers mechanics, sound, oscillations, and waves. Volume 2 covers thermodynamics, electricity and magnetism, and Volume 3 covers optics and modern physics. This textbook emphasizes connections between theory and application, making physics concepts interesting and accessible to students while maintaining the mathematical rigor inherent in the subject. Frequent, strong examples focus on how to approach a problem, how to work with the equations, and how to check and generalize the result.https://commons.erau.edu/oer-textbook/1002/thumbnail.jp

Three Active Learning Strategies to Address Mixed Student Epistemologies and Promote Conceptual Change

Novice science learners or introductory science students vary greatly in their understanding of the nature of science. For example, many students do not conceive of scientific knowledge as a highly ordered, coherent, knowledge structure that contains a set of interrelated ideas. Such a framework enables the learner to relate new material to prior knowledge and, if warranted, assimilate the new material within the framework. Many students have strong beliefs that knowledge is conveyed by authorities, such as the instructor and the textbook. Also many student's own knowledge structure is fragmented or “in pieces,” as described by diSessa. Fortunately, this portrayal is not valid for all students. Many other students enter the classroom with productive intellectual values and possess, or can quickly develop with little prompting, alternative, and coherent conceptions that conflict with target ideas. These students are able to relate new material to prior knowledge and, if warranted, assimilate new material into pre-existing conceptions. The challenge of contemporary science education reform is therefore to address the diverse needs of a “mixed student epistemology” classroom. In this paper we review three instructional strategies that show promise to address this challenge in the context of an introductory physics classroom: (1) the Reflective Writing and Labatorial interventions of Kalman et al. (2) the Conceptual Conflict Collaborative Group and Critique approaches of Kalman and Rohar, and (3) the integrated Elicit-and-Challenge and Bridging Technique strategies of Lattery. Each approach stresses the need for students to critically examine their own ideas in relation to target course ideas and discuss their ideas with peers. The second and third approaches emphasize the important role of the history and philosophy of science in science teaching. The aim of such efforts is not only to convey subject-matter content knowledge, but also to shape the student mindset, metacognitive practice, and understanding of the nature of science

Hyperon signatures in the PANDA experiment at FAIR

We present a detailed simulation study of the signatures from the sequential decays of the triple-strange pbar p -> Ω+Ω- -> K+ΛbarK- Λ -> K+pbarπ+K-pπ- process in the PANDA central tracking system with focus on hit patterns and precise time measurement. We present a systematic approach for studying physics channels at the detector level and develop input criteria for tracking algorithms and trigger lines. Finally, we study the beam momentum dependence on the reconstruction efficiency for the PANDA detector