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arXiv2021

Il progetto Lab2Go per la diffusione della pratica laboratoriale nelle Scuole Secondarie di II grado

Even if laboratory practice is essential for all scientific branches of knowledge, it is often neglected at High School, due to lack of time and/or resources. To establish a closer contact between school and experimental sciences, the University Sapienza of Roma and the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) launched the Lab2Go project, with the goal of spreading laboratory practice among students and teachers in high schools.

physics.ed-ph↗
arXiv2021

Studio di un urto anelastico: una proposta per le Scuole Secondarie di II grado nell'ambito del progetto "Lab2Go"

When a free falling ping-pong ball collides on a horizontal surface, it loses kinetic energy. The ratio between the height reached by the ball after the collision and the initial height is called restitution coefficient. A method to measure it by using a home-made cathetometer was proposed during the Olimpiadi di Fisica 2018. In this paper we show how to measure it also by using the PhyPhox app and Arduino board.

physics.ed-ph↗
arXiv2021

The spinor linkage -- a mechanical implementation of the plate trick

The plate trick or belt trick is a striking physical demonstration of properties of the double cover of the three-dimensional rotation group by the sphere of unit quaternions or spinors. The two ends of a flexible object are continuously rotated with respect to each other. Surprisingly, the object can be manipulated so as to avoid accumulating twists. We present a new mechanical linkage that implements this task. It consists of a sequence of rigid bodies connected by hinge joints, together with a purely mechanical control mechanism. It has one degree of freedom, and the motion is generated by simply turning a handle.

physics.pop-ph↗
arXiv2022

The role of introductory physics for life sciences in supporting students to use physical models flexibly

A central goal of Introductory Physics for the Life Sciences (IPLS) is to prepare students to use physics to model and analyze biological situations, a skill of increasing importance for their future studies and careers. Here we report our findings on life science students' ability to carry out a sophisticated biological modeling task at the end of first-semester introductory physics. Some students were enrolled in a standard course (N = 34), and some in an IPLS course (N = 61); both courses were taught with active learning, used calculus, and included the same core physics concepts. Compared to those who took the standard course, we found that the IPLS students were significantly more successful at building a model that combined ideas in a manner they had not previously seen, and at making complex decisions about how to apply an equation to a particular physical situation, although both groups displayed similar success at solving simpler problems. Both groups identified and applied simple models that they had previously used in very similar contexts, and executed straightforward calculations, at statistically indistinguishable rates. We report both our findings and the rationale behind the development of the task, in the hopes that others may find this task either a valuable tool or a starting point to develop other such tasks. Further study is needed to determine the basis for the IPLS students' stronger performance--namely, what aspects of the IPLS course supports these students to be better prepared to do such modeling--as well as whether biological settings are important for IPLS students to succeed in flexible model building, and whether the ability to employ models flexibly persists over time.

physics.ed-ph↗
arXiv2021

Teaching Physics by Arduino during COVID-19 Pandemic: Oscillation of a simple pendulum

The COVID-19 impacted the teaching; indeed, both schools and universities had to shift from face-to-face to distance teaching organizing on-line lectures. Thanks to easily accessible materials, smartphones physics apps, on-line toolsand devices, it's possible to perform laboratory practice even in this period. In this paper, a method to measure the gravitational acceleration by oscillation of a simple pendulum, using Arduino board, is presented.

physics.ed-ph↗
arXiv2021

A Commentary on {\it The Knowledge Machine} by Michael Strevens

We offer a few comments derived from a careful reading of Michael Strevens' book {\it The Knowledge Machine} (TKM), with an emphasis on extensions for future work. We believe this book goes well beyond traditional accounts of scientific change, and offers thus many insights into new research.

physics.hist-ph↗
arXiv2021

Analyzing the Heterogeneous Impact of Remote Learning on Students' Ability to Stay on Track During the Pandemic

This study investigates how remote learning due to the COVID pandemic impacts students' ability to keep up with the pace of instruction in a university level physics course, with a focus on the heterogeneous impact of remote learning on different demographic groups. Student learning data is collected from 70 online learning modules assigned as both online homework and self-study material in both Fall 2020 and Spring 2020 semesters, with the first 41 modules being assigned before campus closure in Spring 2020. Students' ability to stay on track is measured by three data indicators: percentage of modules submitted before the due date, percentage of modules submitted early for extra credit, and percentage of modules properly engaged with. The student population is divided into two demographic groups according to each of the four demographic variables: Gender, Ethnicity, Transfer Status and First generation status. All three data indicators from both semesters are first compared between each pair of demographic groups within the same semester, and then compared within the same group between the two semesters. Exam and course scores are also compared between demographics groups in Fall 2020 and against scores from the Fall 2019 semester. The analysis revealed that remote learning significantly reduced on-time and early submission for first-generation students, but increased the frequency of early submission for transfer students. Under-represented minority students had higher percentage of engaged modules during the pandemic, while non-URM students had the same level of module engagement before and after the pandemic. These results suggest that pandemic remote learning had very different impact for students with different demographic background, and future instructional design should strive to provide more flexible options to meet the various needs for a diverse higher-ed student population.

physics.ed-ph↗
arXiv2021

Monte Carlo simulations as a route to compute probabilities

Monte Carlo simulations are based on the manipulation of random numbers to evaluate probable outcomes, with applicability in a variety of different fields. By assigning probabilities, which can be determined a priori, to various events, it is possible to track the evolution of the system over length and time scales which are not normally accessible to other simulation techniques. Monte Carlo simulations can provide insights, which can be used to develop more realistic models. In this work, these simulations are used to model a variety of probability problems normally encountered at the high school and undergraduate level. The simulations are used to introduce concepts related to system size, simulation runs (repeatability), and basic statistics. While many of the problems discussed here have analytical expressions, systems where easy analytical solutions are not available are also discussed. In this work, MATLAB is used to model these systems and the rand function in the software is used extensively for random number generation.

physics.ed-ph↗
arXiv2021

2-minute science: A Science Communication Project for Astrophysics

Two-minute science (2-minute science) is a science communication project initiated and supported by early-career Greek astrophysicists. With this endeavor, which started in December 2020, we try to bridge the gap between the scientific community and the public. This project is based on the simple idea of writing short articles with an approximate reading time of two minutes. These articles cover several topics and their difficulty scales to cover a broad audience range, from young students to experienced adults. We support the idea of < > in Astrophysics in Greece, where any reader can pose a question. We offer the appropriate answer either by writing it ourselves or by contacting the field experts from the Greek astronomical society. Furthermore, our previous science communication experience leads us to design educational activities for students and/or adults based on pedagogical means. A successful one was an < > titled < >, a digital version of an escape room. Further activities are Astronomy workshops for teenagers, online talks to schools, and our participation in a scientific podcast to trigger the public interest in Astrophysics. We communicate this work through social media, where several thousands of people already follow our work.

physics.ed-ph↗
arXiv2022

Simulating dense granular suspension rheology using LAMMPS

Dense suspensions are widespread in nature, manufacturing and process engineering. Particle-based simulations have proven to be an invaluable complement to experimental rheological characterisation, serving as a virtual rheometer that enables rapid exploration of parameter space and detailed scrutiny of microscopic dynamics. To maximise the utility of such simulations, it can be advantageous to exploit pre-existing, well-optimised, well-documented codes. Here we provide a simple description of how to use LAMMPS to study the rheology of dense, granular suspensions.

cond-mat.soft↗
arXiv2022

Modeling and Representing Conceptual Change in the Learning of Successive Theories: The Case of the Classical-Quantum Transition

Most educational literature on conceptual change concerns the process by which introductory students acquire scientific knowledge. However, with modern developments in science and technology, the social significance of learning successive theories is steadily increasing, thus opening new areas of interest to discipline-based education research, e.g., quantum logic, quantum information and communication. Here we present an initial proposal for modeling the transition from the understanding of a theory to the understanding of its successor and explore its generative potential by applying it to a concrete case: the classical-quantum transition in physics. In pursue of such task, we make coordinated use of contributions not only from research on conceptual change in education, but also on the history and philosophy of science, on the teaching and learning of quantum mechanics, on mathematics education. By means of analytical instruments developed for characterizing conceptual trajectories at different representational levels, we review empirical literature in the search for the connections between theory change and cognitive demands. The analysis shows a rich landscape of changes and new challenges that are absent in the traditionally considered cases of conceptual change. In order to fully disclose the educational potential of the analysis, we visualize categorical changes by means of dynamic frames, identifying recognizable patterns that answer to students' need of comparability between the older and the new paradigm. Finally, we show how the frame representation can be used to suggest pattern-dependent strategies to promote the understanding of the new content, and may work as a guide to curricular design.

quant-ph↗
arXiv2021

The development of an educational software for aircraft flight mechanics calculations

Due to its versatility and low cost, the use of unmanned aerial vehicles has been rapidly spreading in recent years, in applications ranging form military operations, to land mapping, rescuing of lost people, aiding of natural disaster victims and many others. To properly design and operate such a vehicle, it is necessary to know its flight mechanics in the various stages of the flight. Despite the fact that the physic behind the analysis of an aircraft's flight mechanics is well known and purely based on Classical Mechanics, the large quantity of input and output data involved favors the use of a computational toll. This work presents the development of a toolbox called APT (Aircraft Performance Toolbox), able to make preliminary aircraft flight mechanics calculations regarding its performance. To achieve this goal, a number of Matlab scripts were created to perform the calculations, and a graphical interface was created to unify them and to allow the end-user to perform the analysis in a clear and intuitive way. To illustrate the potential of the toolbox, we use APT to in the analysis of an UAV meant to participate in the SAE Brasil AeroDesign competition of the year of 2014.

physics.ed-ph↗
arXiv2021

The African School of Fundamental Physics and Applications Activity Report 2019-2021

The sixth edition of the African School of Fundamental and Applied Physics (ASP) was planned for Morocco in July 2020 and was referred to as ASP2020. Preparations were at an advanced stage when ASP2020 was postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The three-week event was restructured into two activities in 2021 -- an online event on July 19-30, 2021 and a hybrid event on December 12-18, 2021 -- and was renamed ASP2021. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, an online lecture series was integrated into the ASP activities. The ASP mentorship program, which consists of online engagements between lecturers and assigned mentees, continued in this way. ASP alumni studied one year of COVID-19 data of ten African countries to offer insights into pandemic containment measures. In this note, we report on ASP activities since the last in-person edition of ASP in 2018 in Namibia.

physics.ed-ph↗
arXiv2021

Ideals and Virtual Realities

A main step for world progress is to keep sharing ever-present Ideals for science and education within today Virtual Realities. On-line education is transforming human society to new levels in the way people teach and learn during the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. There is an increasing interest in having more and more reliable, fast and simple apps to communicate and also to record, assemble and distribute videos and lectures in the fields of Physics & Maths still using traditional didactic methods. We describe here how to accurately reproduce chalkboard classes for the popular YouTube video platform using OpenEyA-YT. The audience can thus be expanded over continents to help mitigate the effects of physical isolation.

physics.ed-ph↗
arXiv2021

Developing Virtual Reality Activities for the Astro 101 Class and Lab

We report on our ongoing efforts to develop, implement, and test VR activities for the introductory astronomy course and laboratory. Specifically, we developed immersive activities for two challenging "3D" concepts: Moon phases, and stellar parallax. For Moon phases, we built a simulation on the Universe Sandbox platform and developed a set of activities that included flying to different locations/viewpoints and moving the Moon by hand. This allowed the students to create and experience the phases and the eclipses from different vantage points, including seeing the phases of the Earth from the Moon. We tested the efficacy of these activities on a large cohort (N=116) of general education astronomy students, drawing on our experience with a previous VR Moon phase exercise (Blanco (2019)). We were able to determine that VRbased techniques perform comparably well against other teaching methods. We also worked with the studentrun VR Club at San Diego State University, using the Unity software engine to create a simulated space environment, where students could kinesthetically explore stellar parallax - both by moving themselves and by measuring parallactic motion while traveling in an orbit. The students then derived a quantitative distance estimate using the parallax angle they measured while in the virtual environment. Future plans include an immersive VR activity to demonstrate the Hubble expansion and measure the age of the Universe. These serve as examples of how one develops VR activities from the ground up, with associated pitfalls and tradeoffs.

physics.ed-ph↗
arXiv2024

CosmoAmautas: Astrophysics in the high school classroom (2nd edition)

We present the second edition of the book `CosmoAmautas: Astrophysics in the classroom' which is a text and activity book on selected topics in astrophysics. The content is written in Spanish and intended as the introductory literature and material for high school teachers who want to integrate astronomy to their science and math classes. The book includes an introduction to topics such as planetary science, stellar evolution, exoplanets, galaxies, black holes, and cosmology. In addition to the astronomy content, the book includes didactic notes on general physics of gravity and light, unit conversion, history of science, and tools for the digital classroom (ICT tools), which are compatible with the requirements of the Peruvian high school curriculum. This book is constructed based on the astrophysics curriculum and education model introduced in the online teacher-training workshop CosmoAmautas, which took place in 2021 and 2022. CosmoAmautas (amauta = teacher in the Quechua language) is an astronomy education project in Peru, funded by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Development. For more information, please visit www.cosmoamautas.org.

physics.ed-ph↗
arXiv2021

Theoretical Chemistry Course for Students in Chemistry

In this work, the teaching content of a theoretical-chemistry (TC) course is reformed, establishing a theoretical contents from micro- to macro-system, and comprehensively introducing the theory of chemical reaction to undergraduate students in chemistry. In order to develop such TC course based on the general physical-chemistry course, we focus on the last-mile problem between the physics and chemistry courses to train the critical thinking of undergraduate students in chemistry. To clearly show this, a reduction scheme of polymer molecular dynamics was discussed as an example, which shows a different theoretical content in polymer chemistry. Moreover, we propose a series of experiences and dependent measures that can provide information regarding students' levels of knowledge and understanding. This assessment quiz was designed to test students on the fundamental concepts and applications of TC, such as dynamics, statistical ensemble, kinetics, and so on. From the actual teaching for 36 students, it was found that these students performed significantly improvement from the present TC content. Further analysis of each individual question revealed that approximately two-third of the students learn new knowledge. Although the present TC course might be considered to be a certain degree of difficulty for chemists, these analyses show that students can effectively accept these complicated concepts.

physics.ed-ph↗