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arXiv2019

Embedding Climate Change Engagement in Astronomy Education and Research

This White Paper is a call to action for astronomers to respond to climate change with a large structural transition within our profession. Many astronomers are deeply concerned about climate change and act upon it in their personal and professional lives, and many organizations within astronomy have incorporated incremental changes. We need a collective impact model to better network and grow our efforts so that we can achieve results that are on the scale appropriate to address climate change at the necessary level indicated by scientific research; e.g., becoming carbon neutral by 2050. We need to implement strategies within two primary drivers of our field: (1) Education and Outreach, and (2) Research Practices and Infrastructure. (1) In the classroom and through public talks, astronomers reach a large audience. Astronomy is closely connected to the science of climate change, and it is arguably the most important topic we include in our curriculum. Due to misinformation and disinformation, climate change communication is different than for other areas of science. We therefore need to expand our communication and implement effective strategies, for which there is now a considerable body of research. (2) On a per-person basis astronomers have an outsized carbon impact. There are numerous ways we can reduce our footprint; e.g., in the design and operation of telescope facilities and in the optimization and reduction of travel. Fortunately, many of these solutions are win-win scenarios, e.g., increasing the online presence of conferences will reduce the carbon footprint while increasing participation, especially for astronomers working with fewer financial resources. Astronomers have an obligation to act on climate change in every way possible, and we need to do it now. In this White Paper, we outline a plan for collective impact using a Networked Improvement Community (NIC) approach.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2019

Astrobites as a Community-led Model for Education, Science Communication, and Accessibility in Astrophysics

Support for early career astronomers who are just beginning to explore astronomy research is imperative to increase retention of diverse practitioners in the field. Since 2010, Astrobites has played an instrumental role in engaging members of the community -- particularly undergraduate and graduate students -- in research. In this white paper, the Astrobites collaboration outlines our multi-faceted online education platform that both eases the transition into astronomy research and promotes inclusive professional development opportunities. We additionally offer recommendations for how the astronomy community can reduce barriers to entry to astronomy research in the coming decade.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2019

Training future teachers in natural sciences and mathematics by means of computer simulation: a social constructivist approach

The monograph defines the conditions of training of future teachers in natural sciences and mathematics by means of computer simulation, developed a structural-functional model of training, selected socio-constructivist forms of organization, methods and learning tools of computer modeling for future teachers of natural and mathematical disciplines.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2019

Coercion, Consent, and Participation in Citizen Science

Throughout history, everyday people have contributed to science through a myriad of volunteer activities. This early participation required training and often involved mentorship from scientists or senior citizen scientists (or, as they were often called, gentleman scientists). During this learning process, participants learned how they and their data would be used both to advance science, and in some cases, advance the careers of professional collaborators. Modern, online citizen science, allows participation with just a few clicks, and people may participate without understanding what they are contributing to. Too often, they happily see what they are doing as the privilege of painting Tom Sawyer's fence without realizing they are actually being used as merely a means to a scientific end. This paper discusses the ethical dilemmas that plague modern citizen science, including: the issues of informed consent, such as not requiring logins; the issues of coercion inherent in mandatory classroom assignments requiring data submission; and the issues of using people merely as a means to an end that are inherent in technonationalism, and projects that do not provide utility to the users beyond the knowledge they helped. This work is tested within the context of astronomy citizen science.

cs.CY↗

arXiv2019

The Physics Behind the CosmicWatch Desktop Muon Detectors

The CosmicWatch Desktop Muon Detector is a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Polish National Centre for Nuclear Research (NCBJ) based undergraduate-level physics project that incorporates various aspects of electronics-shop technical development. The detector was designed to be low-power and extremely portable, which opens up a wide range of physics for students to explore. This document describes the physics behind the Desktop Muon Detectors and explores possible measurements that can be made with the detectors. In particular, we explore various physical phenomena associated with the geomagnetic field, atmospheric conditions, cosmic ray shower composition, attenuation of particles in matter, radioactivity, and statistical properties of Poisson processes.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2019

Music of the Spheres: Teaching Quantum Field Theory at the Introductory Level

Quantum field theory has formed the conceptual framework of most of physics for more than sixty years. It incorporates a complete revision of our conception of the nature of matter and existence itself. Yet it is rarely taught, or even mentioned, in introductory physics---from high school, college, and university survey courses through upper-division "modern physics" courses. This omission is not necessary: This paper describes an approach through which the fundamental concepts and consequent insights of quantum field theory can be grasped, building upon familiar notions from classical and quantum mechanics.

physics.hist-ph↗

arXiv2019

Teaching Forced Damped Oscillator Using RLC Circuit Through Inverse Modeling

Teaching by direct models in science has been weakening the learning process of the students, because the real problems in engineering are not solved by direct models instead commonly they are solved by inverse models. On the other hand, one of the most relevant topics in the course of waves and particle physics oriented for the forming engineers; it's the subject of simple harmonic motion forced damping, which many physical phenomena can be explained as the quality factor Q and the resonance frequency of an oscillatory forced system. In order to capture the attention of students and give an application to this issue. We have developed an experimental setup to take measurements of electric current, voltages from capacitor and inductor for different frequencies and resistances, once the experimental data were collected to study the behavior of the electrical current inside the circuit and find out the RLC parameters with an inverse model. Finally, we want to show the process in detail how parameters of the system (Resistance, Inductance and Capacitance values) are very relevant in this kind of systems, from the results obtained by experimental measurements of voltage, current and angle of phase shift, where this was achieved by implementing an indirect method described in this document, so that can be applied to studies of more complex systems such as a motor where such parameters may be unknown.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2019

The Science Training Program for Young Italian Physicists and Engineers at Fermilab

The summer training program for Italian undergraduate and graduate students at the Department of Energy (DOE) laboratory of Fermilab (Batavia, Illinois, USA) started in 1984 as a 2 month training program for Italian undergraduate students in physics of the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) collaborating in the Collider Detector experiment (CDF) at the Fermilab Tevatron proton - antiproton collider. While in 1984 the program involved only 4 physics students from the University of Pisa, in the following years it rapidly grew in scope and size under the management of the Cultural Association of Italians at Fermilab (CAIF). With an average number of 30 trainees/year reached in the last few years, the total number of Italian students hosted at Fermilab since 1984 has exceeded 500 units. Since 2015 the program has been included in the portfolio of the summer courses of the University of Pisa, which acknowledges 6 ECTS to the interns.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2019

The Italian Summer Students Program at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and other US Laboratories

Since 1984 INFN scientists performing experiments at Fermilab have been running a two month summer training program for Italian students at the lab. In 1984 the program involved only a few physics students from the Pisa group, but it was later extended to other groups and to engineering students. Since 2004 the program has been supported in part by DOE in the frame of an exchange agreement with INFN. The Fermilab training programs spanned from data analysis to design and construction of particle detectors and accelerator components, research on superconductive elements, theory of accelerators, and analysis of astrophysical data. At the other US laboratories the offered training was on Space Science.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2019

Using the Makerspace to Create Educational Open-source Software for Electrical Circuits: A Learning Experience

Virtual learning environments are a useful modality for engaging students in the classroom by affording them a sense of presence and immersion. The motivation of this project was to create an open-source augmented reality electrical circuit application for use in lower division engineering courses to teach students about electricity fundamentals. Softwares that are readily available for use on virtual and augmented reality devices do not typically apply to all disciplines and do not necessarily have a pedagogical or accessibility focus. Considering this lack of appropriate educational applications for the current virtual and augmented reality devices, a team of interdisciplinary students was assembled to create such software. With extensive usability studies, the application was designed for quick adoption and improve accessibility by providing multimodal access such as voice assistant, gray scaling for depth perception and daltonize the app. The software is available as part of VITaL Laboratory, Sonoma State University.

cs.HC↗

arXiv2019

Free surface of a liquid in a rotating frame with time-depend velocity

The shape of liquid surface in a rotating frame depends on the angular velocity. In this experiment, a fluid in a rectangular container with a small width is placed on a rotating table. A smartphone fixed to the rotating frame simultaneously records the fluid surface with the camera and also, thanks to the built-in gyroscope, the angular velocity. When the table starts rotating the surface evolves and develops a parabolic shape. Using video analysis we obtain the surface's shape: concavity of the parabole and height of the vertex. Experimental results are compared with theoretical predictions. This problem contributes to improve the understanding of relevant concepts in fluid dynamics.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2019

Detection of symmetry using a crystallographic image processing algorithm

This article presents an automated method to quantify and detect symmetry elements in 2D patterns by means of image processing. Escher's woodcuts, a widely recognized didactic tool for crystallographic education of students, were used to demonstrate this approach. We also discuss peculiarities in the detection of black and white symmetry, color symmetry, and detection of the "hidden" and "broken" symmetry elements by means of the phase origin map approach.

physics.pop-ph↗

arXiv2019

The Sounds of Music : Science of Musical Scales I -- Human Perception of Sound

Both, human appreciation of music and musical genres, transcend time and space. The universality of musical genres and associated musical scales is intimately linked to the physics of sound and the special characteristics of human acoustic sensitivity. In this series of articles, we examine the science underlying the development of the heptatonic scale, one of the most prevalent scales of the modern musical genres, both western and Indian.

physics.pop-ph↗

arXiv2019

Synergy between Art and Science: Collaboration at the South Pole

We present the result of a cross-disciplinary collaboration between Prof. Donald Fortescue of the California College of the Arts in San Francisco and the Dr. Gwenhael de Wasseige of the IceCube Collaboration. The work presented was initiated during Fortescue's US National Science Foundation funded Antarctic Artists and Writers Fellowship at the South Pole in the austral summer of 2016/17. One outcome of this collaboration is the video work Axis Mundi - a timelapse movie captured during 24 hours at the South Pole, combined with a simultaneous sampling of IceCube data transduced into sound. Axis Mundi captures the rotation of the Earth in space, the transient motions of the atmosphere, and the passage of subatomic particles through the polar ice, to provide a means for us to physically engage with these phenomena. We detail how both the timelapse and the transduction of atmospheric muon data have been realized and discuss the benefits of such a collaboration.

physics.pop-ph↗

arXiv2019

Capturing Cosmic Ray Research and Researchers with Art

We describe our experiment with an alternate approach to presenting cosmic ray research. The goal was to more widely promote cosmic ray research and attract diverse audiences, especially those from groups that are underrepresented in science or that do not have experience attending science outreach events. The IceCube Neutrino Observatory education and outreach team brought together local teenagers, internationally accomplished artists, science communicators, and scientists to produce an interactive gallery exhibit, Messages, that explores the cosmic ray community and science. The artists collaborated with the scientists and students to create two original installations that will be displayed at the UW-Madison Memorial Union Gallery for six weeks, from mid-June, 2019, through the end of the International Cosmic Ray Conference 2019. Event Horizon by Abdu'Allah with Ladoni features portraits of cosmic ray researchers and high school students who are learning more about the field. This installation will examine the science community as it is and as it could be. Messages from the Horizon by Hosale with Madsen is inspired by previous immersive works. It combines sound and light to explore what we know and how we know it.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2019

A tale of two test setups: The effect of randomizing a popular conceptual survey in electricity and magnetism

We describe a retrospective study of the responses to the Brief Electricity and Magnetism Assessment (BEMA) collected from a large population of 3480 students at a large public university. Two different online testing setups were employed for administering the BEMA. Our tale focuses on the interpretation of the data collected from these two testing setups. Our study brings new insight and awareness to the effect of the randomization on the BEMA test results. Starting from an a priori common sense model, we show simple methods to detect and separate guessing from the genuinely thought responses. In addition, we show that the group of responses with low scores (7 or less out of 30) had different answer choice strategies than the groups with average or high scores, and that the time-in-testing is an essential parameter to be reported. Our results suggest that the data should be cleaned to insure that only valid times-in-testing are included before reporting and comparing statistics. We analyze in detail the effect of the answer-options randomization and the effect of the shuffling of the questions order. Our study did not detect any significant effect of the option randomization alone on the BEMA scores, for valid times-in-testing. We found clear evidence that shuffling the order of the independent questions does not affect the scores of the BEMA test, while shuffling the order of the dependent questions does.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2019

Using Mobile Devices to Augment Inquiry-Based Learning Processes with Multiple Representations

Technological advances offer the possibility of using mobile devices to enrich learning environments with multimedia content. Although physical experiments play a key role in science learning, little is known about integrating multimedia learning in physical experimental processes, especially in real classroom settings. In our approach, students use tablet PCs to investigate motions with an application providing multiple representations of the measurement data. We present the results of a cluster-randomized controlled trial (N=262 matched samples) that covered the topic uniform motion. The results show that the treatment not only leads to a significant reduction of extraneous cognitive load (F(1,240)=27.01, p<10-3, $η$2=0.101, $1-β$=1.000), but also to greater conceptual knowledge (F(1,259)=10.82, p=0.001, $η$2=0.048, $1-β$=0.953). Structure equation modeling statistically supports the assumption of a causal relationship between the reduction of extraneous cognitive load and the increase in conceptual understanding.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2019

Using causal networks to represent the targets of resource coordination

The resources framework emphasizes the potential productivity of student intuitions for constructing a canonical understanding of physics. It models learning as the progressive coordination and refinement of these resources. Yet, there is a lack of theoretical clarity about how resources should be coordinated and refined to align with canonical physics. We present causal network diagrams as a tool for representing the targets of research coordination. As an example, we compare student reasoning about projectile motion to the causal network describing that motion. We argue that the causal networks make manifest and explicit two types of resource coordination required to achieve a correct physical understanding: (i) integrating additional causal influences and mediators and (ii) using qualitative logic to draw valid inferences.

physics.ed-ph↗