2,074 research outputs found
Lab notebooks as scientific communication: investigating development from undergraduate courses to graduate research
In experimental physics, lab notebooks play an essential role in the research
process. For all of the ubiquity of lab notebooks, little formal attention has
been paid to addressing what is considered `best practice' for scientific
documentation and how researchers come to learn these practices in experimental
physics. Using interviews with practicing researchers, namely physics graduate
students, we explore the different experiences researchers had in learning how
to effectively use a notebook for scientific documentation. We find that very
few of those interviewed thought that their undergraduate lab classes
successfully taught them the benefit of maintaining a lab notebook. Most
described training in lab notebook use as either ineffective or outright
missing from their undergraduate lab course experience. Furthermore, a large
majority of those interviewed explained that they did not receive any formal
training in maintaining a lab notebook during their graduate school experience
and received little to no feedback from their advisors on these records. Many
of the interviewees describe learning the purpose of, and how to maintain,
these kinds of lab records only after having a period of trial and error,
having already started doing research in their graduate program. Despite the
central role of scientific documentation in the research enterprise, these
physics graduate students did not gain skills in documentation through formal
instruction, but rather through informal hands-on practice.Comment: 10 page
Instructor perspectives on iteration during upper-division optics lab activities
Although developing proficiency with modeling is a nationally endorsed
learning outcome for upper-division undergraduate physics lab courses, no
corresponding research-based assessments exist. Our longterm goal is to develop
assessments of students' modeling ability that are relevant across multiple
upper-division lab contexts. To this end, we interviewed 19 instructors from 16
institutions about optics lab activities that incorporate photodiodes.
Interviews focused on how those activities were designed to engage students in
some aspects of modeling. We find that, according to many interviewees,
iteration is an important aspect of modeling. In addition, interviewees
described four distinct types of iteration: revising apparatuses, revising
models, revising data-taking procedures, and repeating data collection using
existing apparatuses and procedures. We provide examples of each type of
iteration, and discuss implications for the development of future modeling
assessments.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure; under revie
Student ownership of projects in an upper-division optics laboratory course: A multiple case study of successful experiences
We investigate students' sense of ownership of multiweek final projects in an
upper-division optics lab course. Using a multiple case study approach, we
describe three student projects in detail. Within-case analyses focused on
identifying key issues in each project, and constructing chronological
descriptions of those events. Cross-case analysis focused on identifying
emergent themes with respect to five dimensions of project ownership: student
agency, instructor mentorship, peer collaboration, interest and value, and
affective responses. Our within- and cross-case analyses yielded three major
findings. First, coupling division of labor with collective brainstorming can
help balance student agency, instructor mentorship, and peer collaboration.
Second, students' interest in the project and perceptions of its value can
increase over time; initial student interest in the project topic is not a
necessary condition for student ownership of the project. Third, student
ownership is characterized by a wide range of emotions that fluctuate as
students alternate between extended periods of struggle and moments of success
while working on their projects. These findings not only extend the literature
on student ownership into a new educational domain---namely, upper-division
physics labs---they also have concrete implications for the design of
experimental physics projects in courses for which student ownership is a
desired learning outcome. We describe the course and projects in sufficient
detail that others can adapt our results to their particular contexts.Comment: 22 pages, 3 tables, submitted to Phys. Rev. PE
Characterizing lab instructors' self-reported learning goals to inform development of an experimental modeling skills assessment
The ability to develop, use, and refine models of experimental systems is a
nationally recognized learning outcome for undergraduate physics lab courses.
However, no assessments of students' model-based reasoning exist for
upper-division labs. This study is the first step toward development of
modeling assessments for optics and electronics labs. In order to identify test
objectives that are likely relevant across many institutional contexts, we
interviewed 35 lab instructors about the ways they incorporate modeling in
their course learning goals and activities. The study design was informed by
the Modeling Framework for Experimental Physics. This framework conceptualizes
modeling as consisting of multiple subtasks: making measurements, constructing
system models, comparing data to predictions, proposing causes for
discrepancies, and enacting revisions to models or apparatus. We found that
each modeling subtask was identified by multiple instructors as an important
learning outcome for their course. Based on these results, we argue that test
objectives should include probing students' competence with most modeling
subtasks, and test items should be designed to elicit students' justifications
for choosing particular modeling pathways. In addition to discussing these and
other implications for assessment, we also identify future areas of research
related to the role of modeling in optics and electronics labs.Comment: 24 pages, 2 figures, 5 tables; submitted to Phys. Rev. PE
Digital-flutter-suppression-system investigations for the active flexible wing wind-tunnel model
Active flutter suppression control laws were designed, implemented, and tested on an aeroelastically-scaled wind tunnel model in the NASA Langley Transonic Dynamics Tunnel. One of the control laws was successful in stabilizing the model while the dynamic pressure was increased to 24 percent greater than the measured open-loop flutter boundary. Other accomplishments included the design, implementation, and successful operation of a one-of-a-kind digital controller, the design and use of two simulation methods to support the project, and the development and successful use of a methodology for on-line controller performance evaluation
Novel type of phase transition in a system of self-driven particles
A simple model with a novel type of dynamics is introduced in order to
investigate the emergence of self-ordered motion in systems of particles with
biologically motivated interaction. In our model particles are driven with a
constant absolute velocity and at each time step assume the average direction
of motion of the particles in their neighborhood with some random perturbation
() added. We present numerical evidence that this model results in a
kinetic phase transition from no transport (zero average velocity, ) to finite net transport through spontaneous symmetry breaking of the
rotational symmetry. The transition is continuous since is
found to scale as with
Student perceptions of laboratory classroom activities and experimental physics practice
We report results from a study designed to identify links between
undergraduate students' views about experimental physics and their engagement
in multiweek projects in lab courses. Using surveys and interviews, we explored
whether students perceived particular classroom activities to be features of
experimental physics practice. We focused on 18 activities, including
maintaining lab notebooks, fabricating parts, and asking others for help.
Interviewees identified activities related to project execution as intrinsic to
experimental physics practice based on high prevalence of those activities in
interviewees' own projects. Fabrication-oriented activities were identified as
conditional features of experimentation based on differences between projects,
which interviewees attributed to variations in project resources. Interpersonal
activities were also viewed as conditional features of experimentation,
dependent upon one's status as novice or expert. Our findings suggest that
students' views about experimental physics are shaped by firsthand experiences
of their own projects and secondhand experiences of those of others.Comment: 6 pages, 1 table, accepted for publication in 2020 Physics Education
Research Conference Proceeding
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