2,576 research outputs found
Computation across the curriculum: What skills are needed?
Computation, the use of a computer to solve, simulate, or visualize a
physical problem, has revolutionized how physics research is done. Computation
is used widely to model systems, to simulate experiments, and to analyze data.
Yet, in most undergraduate programs, students have little formal opportunity to
engage with computation and, thus, are left to their own to develop their
computational expertise. As part of a larger project to study how computation
is incorporated in some undergraduate physics programs (and how it might be
incorporated further), we convened a mini-conference and conducted a series of
interviews with industry professionals, academic faculty, and employed
bachelor's graduates who make use of computation in their everyday work. We
present preliminary results that speak to how participants developed the
requisite skills to do professional computational work and what skills they
perceive are necessary to conduct such work.Comment: 4 pages; accepted to 2015 Physics Education Research Conference
Proceeding
On the Prevalence and Nature of Computational Instruction in Undergraduate Physics Programs across the United States
A national survey of physics faculty was conducted to investigate the
prevalence and nature of computational instruction in physics courses across
the United States. 1246 faculty from 357 unique institutions responded to the
survey. The results suggest that more faculty have some form of computational
teaching experience than a decade ago, but it appears that this experience does
not necessarily translate to computational instruction in undergraduate
students' formal course work. Further, we find that formal programs in
computational physics are absent from most departments. A majority of faculty
do report using computation on homework and in projects, but few report using
computation with interactive engagement methods in the classroom or on exams.
Specific factors that underlie these results are the subject of future work,
but we do find that there is a variation on the reported experience with
computation and the highest degree that students can earn at the surveyed
institutions.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure
Rubric Design for Separating the Roles of Open-Ended Assessments
End-of-course assessments play important roles in the ongoing attempt to
improve instruction in physics courses. Comparison of students' performance on
assessments before and after instruction gives a measure of student learning.
In addition, analysis of students' answers to assessment items provides insight
into students' difficulties with specific concepts and practices. While
open-ended assessments scored with detailed rubrics provide useful information
about student reasoning to researchers, end users need to score students'
responses so that they may obtain meaningful feedback on their instruction. One
solution that satisfies end users and researchers is a grading rubric that
separates scoring student work and uncovering student difficulties. We have
constructed a separable rubric for the Colorado Classical Mechanics/Math
Methods Instrument that has been used by untrained graders to score the
assessment reliably, and by researchers to unpack common student difficulties.
Here we present rubric development, measures of inter-rater reliability, and
some uncovered student difficulties.Comment: 4 pages, PERC 2014 Proceeding
Assessing Student Learning in Middle-Division Classical Mechanics/Math Methods
Reliable and validated assessments of introductory physics have been
instrumental in driving curricular and pedagogical reforms that lead to
improved student learning. As part of an effort to systematically improve our
sophomore-level Classical Mechanics and Math Methods course (CM 1) at CU
Boulder, we are developing a tool to assess student learning of CM 1 concepts
in the upper-division. The Colorado Classical Mechanics/Math Methods Instrument
(CCMI) builds on faculty-consensus learning goals and systematic observations
of student difficulties. The result is a 9-question open-ended post-test that
probes student learning in the first half of a two-semester classical mechanics
/ math methods sequence. In this paper, we describe the design and development
of this instrument, its validation, and measurements made in classes at CU
Boulder.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, 1 table; submitted to 2013 Proceedings of the
Physics Education Research Conferenc
Methods for Analyzing Pathways through a Physics Major
Physics Education Research frequently investigates what students studying
physics do on small time scales (e.g. single courses, observations within
single courses), or post-education time scales (e.g., what jobs do physics
majors get?) but there is little research into how students get from the
beginning to the end of a physics degree. Our work attempts to visualize
students paths through the physics major, and quantitatively describe the
students who take physics courses, receive physics degrees, and change degree
paths into and out of the physics program at Michigan State University.Comment: submitted to Physics Education Research Conference Proceedings 201
Modeling student pathways in a physics bachelor's degree program
Physics education research has used quantitative modeling techniques to
explore learning, affect, and other aspects of physics education. However,
these studies have rarely examined the predictive output of the models, instead
focusing on the inferences or causal relationships observed in various data
sets. This research introduces a modern predictive modeling approach to the PER
community using transcript data for students declaring physics majors at
Michigan State University (MSU). Using a machine learning model, this analysis
demonstrates that students who switch from a physics degree program to an
engineering degree program do not take the third semester course in
thermodynamics and modern physics, and may take engineering courses while
registered as a physics major. Performance in introductory physics and calculus
courses, measured by grade as well as a students' declared gender and ethnicity
play a much smaller role relative to the other features included the model.
These results are used to compare traditional statistical analysis to a more
modern modeling approach.Comment: submitted to Physical Review Physics Education Researc
Denoting and Comparing Leadership Attributes and Behaviors in Group Work
Projects and Practices in Physics (P) is an introductory physics class at
Michigan State University that replaces lectures with a problem based learning
environment. To promote the development of group based practices, students all
receive group and individual feedback at the end of each week. The groups are
comprised of four students, one of which often takes on the role of being the
group's "leader." Developing leadership based skills is a specific learning
goal of the P learning environment and the goal of this research is to
examine what leadership-specific actions/traits students in P demonstrate
while working in their group. The initial phase of this study examined multiple
pieces of literature to identify possible characteristics and behaviors that
may present themselves in potential leaders -- creating a codebook. This phase
of the study applies the codebook to in-class data to compare two tutor-labeled
leaders and their leadership styles.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur
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