SEARCH · Searcharxiv

Results for “physics.ed-ph”

Search indexed arXiv papers on artificial intelligence, large language models, computer vision and robotics. Read source abstracts and follow links to arXiv.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 595 records · Page 33Linked to original sources

arXiv2020

Eliminating self-selection: Using data science for authentic undergraduate research in a first-year introductory course

Research experience and mentoring has been identified as an effective intervention for increasing student engagement and retention in the STEM fields, with high impact on students from undeserved populations. However, one-on-one mentoring is limited by the number of available faculty, and in certain cases also by the availability of funding for stipend. One-on-one mentoring is further limited by the selection and self-selection of students. Since research positions are often competitive, they are often taken by the best-performing students. More importantly, many students who do not see themselves as the top students of their class, or do not identify themselves as researchers might not apply, and that self selection can have the highest impact on non-traditional students. To address the obstacles of scalability, selection, and self-selection, we designed a data science research experience for undergraduates as part of an introductory computer science course. Through the intervention, the students are exposed to authentic research as early as their first semester. The intervention is inclusive in the sense that all students registered to the course participate in the research, with no process of selection or self-selection. The research is focused on analytics of large text databases. Using discovery-enabling software tools, the students analyze a corpus of congressional speeches, and identify patterns of differences between democratic speeches and republican speeches, differences between speeches for and against certain bills, and differences between speeches about bills that passed and bills that did not pass. In the beginning of the research experience all student follow the same protocol and use the same data, and then each group of students work on their own research project as part of their final project of the course.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2020

Quantifying the relationship between student enrollment patterns and student performance

Simplified categorizations have often led to college students being labeled as full-time or part-time students. However, at many universities student enrollment patterns can be much more complicated, as it is not uncommon for students to alternate between full-time and part-time enrollment each semester based on finances, scheduling, or family needs. While prior research has established full-time students maintain better outcomes then their part-time counterparts, limited study has examined the impact of enrollment patterns or strategies on academic outcomes. In this paper, we applying a Hidden Markov Model to identify and cluster students' enrollment strategies into three different categorizes: full-time, part-time, and mixed-enrollment strategies. Based the enrollment strategies we investigate and compare the academic performance outcomes of each group, taking into account differences between first-time-in-college students and transfer students. Analysis of data collected from the University of Central Florida from 2008 to 2017 indicates that first-time-in-college students that apply a mixed enrollment strategy are closer in performance to full-time students, as compared to part-time students. More importantly, during their part-time semesters, mixed-enrollment students significantly outperform part-time students. Similarly, analysis of transfer students shows that a mixed-enrollment strategy is correlated a similar graduation rates as the full-time enrollment strategy, and more than double the graduation rate associated with part-time enrollment. Such a finding suggests that increased engagement through the occasional full-time enrollment leads to better overall outcomes.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2020

Connecting the Dots: Discovering the "Shape" of Data

Scientists use a mathematical subject called 'topology' to study the shapes of objects. An important part of topology is counting the numbers of pieces and holes in objects, and people use this information to group objects into different types. For example, a doughnut has the same number of holes and the same number of pieces as a teacup with one handle, but it is different from a ball. In studies that resemble activities like "connect the dots", scientists use ideas from topology to study the shape of data. Data can take many possible forms: a picture made of dots, a large collection of numbers from a scientific experiment, or something else. The approach in these studies is called 'topological data analysis', and it has been used to study the branching structures of veins in leaves, how people vote in elections, flight patterns in models of bird flocking, and more. Scientists can take data on the way veins branch on leaves and use topological data analysis to divide the leaves into different groups and discover patterns that may otherwise be hard to find.

math.HO↗

arXiv2020

Active-Learning in the Online Environment

Online learning is convenient for many learners; it gives them the possibility of learning without being restricted by attending a particular classroom at a specific time. While this exciting opportunity can let its users manage their life in a better way, many students may suffer from feeling isolated or disconnected from the community that consists of the instructor and the learners. Lack of interaction among students and the instructor may negatively impact their learnings and cause adverse emotions like anxiety, sadness, and depression. Apart from the feeling of loneliness, sometimes students may come up with different issues or questions as they study the course, which can stop them from confidently progressing or make them feel discouraged if we leave them alone. To promote interaction and to overcome the limitations of geographic distance in online education, we propose a customized design, Tele-instruction, with useful features supplement to the traditional online learning systems to enable peers and the instructor of the course to interact at their conveniences once needed. The designed system can help students address their questions through the answers already provided to other students or ask for the instructor's point of view by two-way communication, similar to face-to-face forms of educational experiences. We believe our approach can assist in filling the gaps when online learning falls behind the traditional classroom-based learning systems.

cs.CY↗

arXiv2020

Making Science Personal: Inclusivity-Driven Design for General-Education Courses

General-education college astronomy courses offer instructors both a unique audience and a unique challenge. For many students, such a course may be their first time encountering a standalone astronomy class, and it is also likely one of the last science courses they will take. Thus, in a single semester, primary course goals often include both imparting knowledge about the Universe and giving students some familiarity with the processes of science. In traditional course environments, students often compartmentalize information into separate "life files" and "course files" rather than integrating information into a coherent framework. The astronomy course created through this project, taught at the University of Arizona in Spring 2019, was designed around inclusivity-driven guiding principles that help students engage with course content in ways that are meaningful, relevant, and accessible. Our course bridges the gap between students' "life" and "course files", encourages and respects diverse points of view, and empowers students to connect course content with their personal lives and identities. In this paper, we provide insight into the guiding principles that informed our course design and share research results on the effectiveness of the instructional strategies and assessment techniques implemented in the course.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2020

Analyzing course programmes using complex networks

We analyze the curriculum of the early common-years of engineering in our institute using tools of statistical physics of complex networks. Naturally, a course programme is structured in a networked form (temporal dependency and prerequisites). In this approach, each topic within each programme is associated with a node, which in turn is joined by links representing the dependence of a topic for the understanding of another in a different discipline. As a course programme is a time-dependent structure, we propose a simple model to assign links between nodes, taking into account only two ingredients of the teaching-learning process: recursiveness and accumulation of knowledge. Since we already know the programmes, our objective is to verify if the proposed model is able to capture their particularities and to identify implications of different sequencing on the student learning in the early years of engineering degrees. Our model can be used as a systematic tool assisting the construction of a more interdisciplinary curriculum, articulating between disciplines of the undergraduate early-years in exact sciences.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2020

Vector Fields and Paul Klee -- A Summer School Course for gifted High-School Students

The artist Paul Klee describes and analyzes his use of symbols and colors in his book "Pädagogisches Skizzenbuch" (pedagogical sketchbook, 1925). He uses arrows for means of illustrations and also discusses the arrow itself as an element of his repertoire of symbols. Interestingly, his point of view on arrows matches the way in which vector fields are represented graphically. Based on this connection of mathematics and Klee's artwork, we developed a concept for a summer school course for gifted high-school students. Its aim was to both introduce the participants to higher-level mathematics and to let them create their own piece of artwork related to the art of Paul Klee and vector fields. This article elaborates on the connection between Klee's art and mathematics. It furthermore presents details of the summer course and an evaluation of its goals, including resulting artwork from participating students.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2020

Teaching quantum information science to high-school and early undergraduate students

We present a simple, accessible, yet rigorous outreach/educational program focused on quantum information science and technology for high-school and early undergraduate students. This program allows students to perform meaningful hands-on calculations with quantum circuits and algorithms, without requiring knowledge of advanced mathematics. A combination of pen-and-paper exercises and IBM Q simulations helps students understand the structure of quantum gates and circuits, as well as the principles of superposition, entanglement, and measurement in quantum mechanics.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2021

A Detailed Characterization of the Expert Problem-Solving Process in Science and Engineering; Guidance for Teaching and Assessment

A primary goal of science and engineering (S & E) education is to produce good problem solvers, but how to best teach and measure the quality of problem-solving remains unclear. The process is complex, multifaceted, and not fully characterized. Here we present a theoretical framework of the S & E problem-solving process as a set of specific interlinked decisions. This theory is empirically grounded and describes the entire process. To develop this theory, we interviewed 52 successful scientists and engineers (experts) spanning different disciplines, including biology and medicine. They described how they solved a typical but important problem in their work, and we analyzed the interviews in terms of decisions made. Surprisingly, we found that across all experts and fields, the solution process was framed around making a set of just twenty-nine specific decisions. We also found that the process of making those discipline-general decisions (selecting between alternative actions) relied heavily on domain-specific predictive models that embodied the relevant disciplinary knowledge. This set of decisions provides a guide for the detailed measurement and teaching of S & E problem-solving. This decision framework also provides a more specific, complete, and empirically based theory describing the practices of science.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2020

A student experiment on error analysis and uncertainties based on mobile--device sensors

Science students must deal with the errors inherent to all physical measurements and be conscious of the necessity to express their as a best estimate and a range of uncertainty. Errors are routinely classified as statistical or systematic. Although statistical errors are usually dealt with in the first years of science studies, the typical approaches are based on performing manually repetitive observations. Here, based on data recorded with the sensors present in many mobile devices a set of laboratory experiments to teach error and uncertainties is proposed. The main aspects addressed are the physical meaning of the mean value and standard deviation, and the interpretation of histograms and distributions. Other activities focus on the intensity of the fluctuations in different situations, such as placing the device on a table or held in the hand in different ways and the number of measurements in an interval centered on the mean value as a function of the width expressed in terms of the standard deviation. As applications to every day situations we discuss the smoothness of a road or the different positions to take photographs both of them quantified in terms of the fluctuations registered by the accelerometer. This kind of experiments contributes to gaining a deep insight into modern technologies and statistical errors and, finally, to motivate and encourage engineering and science students.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2020

Surveying undergraduate Greek student's knowledge on some issues of radiations and Nuclear Energy

In this work we present some results from a survey aimed to assess the knowledge and views of the Greek undergraduate students (technology oriented) on some issues of radiations, nuclear energy and their consequences. Findings indicate that the, examined group, of Greek students have a series of misconceptions and faulty views on radiations and general nuclear issues. No significant differences in the students responses related to the type of secondary school they attended were found. Moreover, analysis according to gender, indicated that females are less informed than males in most of the examined issues

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2020

A pandemic-resilient open-inquiry physical science lab course which leverages the Maker movement

Without any major changes, a pilot version of a physical science lab course was able to continue when the COVID-19 crisis necessitated the abrupt suspension of on-campus education. The 'Maker Lab' course, in which students conceive and set up their own experiments using affordable microcontrollers, required students to follow the entire arc of an empirical research cycle twice. The decision for and facilitation of such open-inquiry projects was based on and warranted by the literature on teaching the process of experimental research and methods of scientific research. The flipped classroom approach was used, where contact time is devoted to discussions and the students' actual experiments were carried out independently at home or elsewhere without the in-person supervision of an instructor. Despite the COVID-19 measures, all students were able to produce interesting and successful research projects. While there were of course difficulties encountered due to the abrupt transition to online teaching, we found several counterbalancing advantages that bear consideration for inclusion even when all teaching activities can return to campus. We believe that three components in the design of the course were vital to the resilience of the course: the choice for fully open-inquiry projects, the decision to use Arduinos as measurement tools, and the flipped aspect of the instruction methods. We also include considerations for adapting these pandemic-resilient methods in other courses and programs.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2020

Boost the Public Demand for Soft Matter Education and Career Opportunities with a Homemade Video

The study aims to promote the awareness and education of soft matter which has become a popular research topic owing to its capability of developing self-assembling materials for numerous industries such as self-healing materials. To pursue after this aim, we composed a homemade video to illustrate the soft matter concepts, followed by distributing a pre/post attitudinal survey to evaluate the effectiveness of the video on promoting the awareness of soft matter. The survey showed that the video effectively stimulated the public interest in soft matter-related knowledge, research, and careers by 27.8 percent on average. Moreover, the participants demanded more investment and soft matter education, suggesting that WPI provide more resources on developing soft matter education.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2021

Green's functions and method of images: an interdisciplinary topic usually cast aside in physics textbooks

In the present work we discuss how to address the solution of electrostatic problems, in professional cycle, using Green's functions and the Poisson's equation. By using this procedure, it was possible to verify its relation with the method of images as an interdisciplinary approach in didactic physics textbooks. For this, it was considered the structural role that mathematics, specially the Green's function, have in physical thought presented in the method of images.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2020

Determination of Boltzmann constant by gas expansion method

In this paper, we present a new method to determine the numerical value of the Boltzmann constant k and its uncertainty. We have used Nitrogen gas in different pressure values in the range 56 kPa - 100 kPa, for three different volumes.In this experiment, we have used a simple idea called static expansion method, simple equipment, and simple equation for calculations in order to determine the Boltzmann constant.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2020

ATHENA -- a pre-university study programme at the university of Geneva

Athena (named after the ancient Greek goddess of wisdom) is a pre-university study programme for mathematics and physics organised by the Faculty of Science at the University of Geneva. It targets pupils enrolled in the final or penultimate year of Secondary II (high school), giving them an opportunity to explore and discover university-level studies in mathematics and physics. The programme aims to enhance pupils interest for the physical and mathematical sciences by introducing them to new topics, all while giving them a taste for student life. It also seeks to promote scientific careers to young pupils, especially to young women, as well as improving the transition between Secondary II and university

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2025

Inconsistencies and errors in traditional approaches to energy in our introductory courses

We present a critical analysis of the classical approaches to energy subjects, based on the work-energy theorem and the conservation of mechanical energy proposed in the courses of the first years of tertiary education. We show how these approaches present a series of inconsistencies and errors that are a source of conceptual difficulties among students. We then analyze a modern treatment of mechanical courses based on the results of research in physics education over the last 40 years. We place special emphasis on the principle of conservation of energy as one of the fundamental principles of nature, prioritizing the concepts of system, surrounding, and energy transfer and transformation.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2020

Teachers' perception of Jupyter and R Shiny as digital tools for open education and science

During the last ten years advances in open-source digital technology, used especially by data science, led to very accessible ways how to obtain, store, process, analyze or share data in almost every human activity. Data science tools bring not only transparency, accessibility, and reproducibility in open science, but also give benefits in open education as learning tools for improving effectiveness of instruction. Together with our pedagogical introduction and review of Jupyter as an interactive multimedia learning tool, we present our three-years long research in the framework of a complex mixed-methods approach which examines physics teachers' perception of Jupyter technology in three groups: Ph.D. candidates in physics education research (PER) ($N = 9$), pre-service physics teachers ($N = 33$) and in-service physics teachers ($N = 40$). Despite the fact that open-source Jupyter notebooks are natural and easy as email or web, the results suggest that in-service teachers are not prepared for Jupyter technology and open analysis, but positively accept open education data presented via another open-source data science tool, R Shiny interactive web application, as an important form of immediate feedback and learning about the quality of their instruction. Simultaneously our instruction results in the frame of the Flipped Learning also indicate that young beginning PER researchers and pre-service physics teachers can master key digital skills to work with Jupyter technology appreciating its big impact on their learning, data and statistical literacy or professional development. All results support the ongoing worldwide effort to implement Jupyter in traditional education as a promising free open-source interactive learning tool to foster learning process, especially for the upcoming young generation.

physics.ed-ph↗