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arXiv2021

Quantum Undergraduate Education and Scientific Training

Currently, education and workforce training in quantum information science and technology (QIST) exists primarily at the graduate and postdoctoral levels, with few undergraduate efforts beginning to grow out of these. In order to meet the anticipated quantum workforce needs and to ensure that the workforce is demographically representative and inclusive to all communities, the United States must expand these efforts at the undergraduate level beyond what is occurring at larger PhD granting institutions and incorporate quantum information science into the curriculum at the nation's predominantly undergraduate institutions (PUIs). On June 3rd and 4th, 2021 the Quantum Undergraduate Education and Scientific Training (QUEST) workshop was held virtually with the goal of bringing together faculty from PUIs to learn the state of undergraduate QIST education, identify challenges associated with implementing QIST curriculum at PUIs, and to develop strategies and solutions to deal with these challenges. This manuscript summarizes the results of workshop discussions with the hope of assisting faculty at PUIs attempting to incorporate quantum information science into their curriculum.

physics.ed-ph↗
arXiv2021

Quantum information and beyond -- with quantum candies

The field of quantum information is becoming more known to the general public. However, effectively demonstrating the concepts underneath quantum science and technology to the general public can be a challenging job. We investigate, extend, and greatly expand here "quantum candies" (invented by Jacobs), a pedagogical model for intuitively describing some basic concepts in quantum information, including quantum bits, complementarity, the no-cloning principle, and entanglement. Following Jacob's quantum candies description of the well-known quantum key distribution protocol BB84, we explicitly demonstrate additional quantum cryptography protocols and quantum communication protocols, using generalized quantum candies (including correlated pairs of qandies). These demonstrations are done in an approachable manner, that can be explained to high-school students, without using the hard-to-grasp concept of superpositions and its mathematics. The intuitive model we investigate has a fascinating overlap with some of the most basic features of quantum theory. Hence, it can be a valuable tool for science and engineering educators who would like to help the general public to gain more insights into quantum science and technology. For the experts, the model we present, due to not employing quantum superpositions, enables - in some sense - extending far beyond quantum theory. Most remarkably, "quantum" candies of some unique type can be defined, such that non-local boxes (of the Popescu-Rohrlich type) as well as regular (correlated) quantum candies can be generated by a single `"quantum" candies machine.

physics.ed-ph↗
arXiv2022

Methods of Causal Inference in Physics Education Research

Finding good educational policies requires sound estimates of their potential effects. Methods for making such estimates, i.e. finding causal estimands, have made great progress in the last few decades. Nevertheless, serious errors in causal reasoning have been found previously in papers n a leading physics education journal, Physical Review Physics Education Research. Here we examine three more recent papers from that journal that present explicit methods of causal inference. The methods given include major errors, including in identifying causal mediation, choosing variables to control for, and imputing missing data.

physics.ed-ph↗
arXiv2022

Reconfigurable mechanical vibrations laboratory kit

Mechanical vibrations appear across a diverse range of applications, but nevertheless are unified by a core set of principles and phenomena. In this article, we describe a reconfigurable laboratory kit that is designed to be used as part of a first undergraduate course in mechanical vibrations. The kit was designed to be low-cost and allow for a series of laboratory experiments to be performed remotely. Using a common set of core hardware and software, five laboratory experiments are detailed and can be performed to supplement many of the major topics traditionally encountered in a first vibrations course. This accessible platform will readily enable further technical improvements and expansions, as well as the development of additional instructional modules.

physics.ed-ph↗
arXiv2023

How to write and develop your astronomy research paper

Writing is a vital component of a modern career in scientific research. But how to write correctly and effectively is often not included in the training that young astronomers receive from their supervisors and departments. We offer a step-by-step guide to tackle this deficiency, published as a set of two papers. In the first, we addressed how to plan and outline your paper and decide where to publish. In the current second paper, we describe the various sections that constitute a typical research paper in astronomy, sharing best practice for the most efficient use of each of them. We also discuss a selection of issues that often cause trouble to writers, from sentence to paragraph structure, the `writing mechanics' used to develop a manuscript. Our two-part guide is aimed primarily at master's and PhD level students who are presented with the daunting task of writing their first scientific paper, but more senior researchers or writing instructors may well find the ideas presented here useful.

astro-ph.IM↗
arXiv2021

Interplay between physics self-efficacy, calculus transfer ability, and gender

We present our initial work to develop an assessment of calculus proficiency in the context of introductory physics (i.e., calculus transfer to physics), including a comparison of calculus transfer ability with physics self-efficacy and how these attributes intersect with student gender. Although students demonstrated an improvement in their calculus transfer ability, most nevertheless displayed a decrease in their physics self-efficacy. Similarly, while women consistently exhibited lower physics self-efficacy than men, women demonstrated larger gains in their proficiency with calculus transfer to physics. We also discuss future work to better evaluate the interdependence of mathematics self-efficacy, physics self-efficacy, and ability to transfer calculus to physics.

physics.ed-ph↗
arXiv2022

Introducing corrugated surfaces in electromagnetism problems via perturbative approach

Problems involving boundary conditions on corrugated surfaces are relevant to understand nature, since, at some scale, surfaces manifest corrugations that have to be taken into account. In introductory level electromagnetism courses, a very common and fundamental exercise is to solve Poisson's equation for a point charge in the presence of an infinity perfectly conducting planar surface, which is usually done by image method. Clinton, Esrick and Sacks [Phys. Rev. B 31, 7540 (1985)] added corrugation to this surface, and solved the problem by a perturbative analytical calculation of the corresponding Green's function. In the present paper, we make a detailed pedagogical review of this calculation, aiming to popularize their results. We also present an original contribution, extending this perturbative approach to solve the Laplace's equation for the electrostatic potential for a corrugated neutral conducting cylinder in the presence of a uniform electric field (without corrugation, this is another very common model considered as an exercise in electromagnetism courses). All these calculations can be used as pedagogical examples of the application of the present perturbative approach in electromagnetism courses.

physics.ed-ph↗
arXiv2023

The First Global e-Competition on Astronomy and Astrophysics

The first Global e-Competition on Astronomy and Astrophysics was held online in September-October 2020 as a replacement for the International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics, which was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the short time available for organisation, 8 weeks, the competition was run successfully, with 325 students from over 42 countries participating with no major issues. The feedback from the participants was positive and reflects the ways in which such events can boost interest in astronomy and astronomy education. With online activities set to become more prevalent in the future, we present an overview of the competition process, the challenges faced, and some of the lessons learned, aiming to contribute to the development of best practices for organizing online competitions.

physics.ed-ph↗
arXiv2021

Proposals for High School Teaching of Quantum Physics

In the Italian education system, secondary students (ages 14-19) face the foundations of quantum physics during the final term of scientific high school (pre-university year). The Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR) has remarked its importance in the syllabus to address the high school exit examination (30% of the 5th year physics course) but, due to limited learning time and intrinsic difficulty, this branch of physics is neither assimilated nor appreciated as it should. We wish to illustrate six didactic suggestions focused on learning motivation, emerged during a 17-year long teaching experience, which could help to tackle the main problems found. The key reference is the talk "Why nobody understands quantum mechanics?" given in 2013 at the 2nd Rome workshop "Science Perception" together with a concise and evocative poster outlining the history of quanta. Other useful resources are a 2015 conceptual diagram and four invited lectures held in the years 2010-2017.

physics.ed-ph↗
arXiv2021

Student Representations of Computation in the Physics Community

Undergraduate physics education has greatly benefited from the introduction of computational activities. However, despite the benefits computation has delivered, we still lack a complete understanding of the computationally integrated learning experience from the student perspective. In particular, we are interested in investigating how students develop expert-like perceptions of computation as a practice within the professional physics community. To investigate this aspect of student development, we employ the Communities of Practice framework, which describes how students navigate through a professional community by appropriating the community's practices and goals as personally important. We introduce the construct of a COP-Model as a student's internal representation of a professional community that they develop as they navigate that community. We used this construct to formulate a set of research questions and semistructured interview protocols to explore how five physics students represent the use of computation in their mental models of the global physics community. We foreground these representations in the local academic community established by their instructors in three concurrent computationally integrated physics courses. We find that these students saw computation as a normal and valuable part of physics practice, identified benefits of using computation in alignment with the physics community, struggle with confidence with regards to computation, and demonstrate some expectations for computational proficiency that are misaligned with the physics community. We establish these themes with interview excerpts and discuss implications for instruction and future research.

physics.ed-ph↗
arXiv2021

Boosting the public engagement with astronomy through arts

Arts are a seamless way to introduce the general public to both basic and more sophisticated astronomical concepts. The visual richness of astronomy makes it attractive and easily incorporated in painting and literature. Astronomy is the only science with a muse - Urania - implying that, at least in the eyes of the ancients, it was an art itself. I review some less well known representation of astronomical concepts in literature with potential application in education.

physics.ed-ph↗
arXiv2022

LA-CoNGA physics: an Open Science Collaboration in Advanced Physics between Latin-America and Europe

LA-CoNGA physics (for Latin-American alliance for Capacity buildiNG in Advance physics) is an ERASMUS+ project aiming to support the modernization of university infrastructure and its pedagogical offer in advanced physics in four Latin-American countries: Colombia, Ecuador, Perú and Venezuela. This project is co-funded by the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency of the European Commission. This virtual teaching and research network comprises three partner universities in Europe and eight in Latin America; high-level scientific partners (CEA, CERN, CNRS, DESY, ICTP), and several and two industrial partners. During 2019 we prepared the syllabuses and selected the lecturers. In 2020 the strict lockdowns modified our pedagogical strategies. The planned model -- an eight-node network of universities made-up by local groups for discussions -- was transformed into low-quality home participation. We simplified the connectivity requirements to the minimum bandwidth to operate remote labs. We also changed the lecture interaction and evaluation model, balancing the teamwork on course projects and continuous evaluation based on class exercises. Despite the lockdown scenario, we managed to support the needs of our instrumentation and computing courses thanks to the contribution and enthusiasm of our partners. With the support of 30 instructors, we gave 100 lectures to 67 students in four countries. We are now promoting the second cohort due to start in January 2022

physics.ed-ph↗
arXiv2022

Unexpected Coincidences in Scintillation Detector Measurements on Cosmic Rays

We measured signals of low amplitudes originating from cosmic rays, using two rectangular-block scintillation detectors at various positions. The signals were analyzed by a slightly modified signal analyzer from project 'MuonLab', designed to measure the lifetime and velocity of muons from cosmic radiation in high school education. In our experiment we focused on the possibilities of the apparatus to measure the time difference 'deltatime (DT)' between signals in two scintillation detectors and the signal amplitude 'pulse height (PH)' of the signal in one detector. We performed measurements in two arrangements: first vertical, detectors parallel and above each other, second horizontal, detectors parallel and next to each other. We observed that in both the vertical and horizontal arrangements, low-amplitude signals from cosmic rays in the two detectors showed unexpected coincidences. Under normal experimental conditions these effects were not observed because the amplification in the photomultiplier (PMT) as well as the threshold voltage were intentionally chosen to avoid noise and excessively high count rates. The rate at which the coincidences occur is very small, more than a thousand times smaller than the count rates of the individual detectors. However, the measurement of the deltatime spectrum appears to be a sensitive way to detect the presence of these rare and unexpected effects. The time differences between the signals at the two analyzer inputs were measured with a resolution of 0.5 ns and the pulse height measurement had a resolution of approximately 8 mV. It is estimated that the low-amplitude signals involved in the coincidences must respond to energy absorptions of the order of 100 keV in the scintillator material.

physics.ins-det↗
arXiv2022

An Astro-Animation Class: Optimizing Artistic, Educational and Outreach Outcomes

The authors investigate how teaching art and astronomy together has the potential to inspire new art forms, enhance scientific public outreach, and promote art and science education. The authors teach an astro-animation class at the Maryland Institute College of Art in partnership with NASA scientists. The animations explore science in creative ways. Astrophysicists, educators, students, and the general public were surveyed to evaluate the experiences, and benefits from this project. The responses were very positive - the program is an effective way to stimulate art students to learn science, share an artist's viewpoint beyond the classroom, and engage with the public.

physics.ed-ph↗
arXiv2022

Measurement of fundamental physical quantities in the framework of the Lab2Go project

To establish a closer contact between school and experimental sciences, Sapienza Università di Roma and the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) launched the Lab2Go project. Lab2Go has the goal of spreading laboratory practice among students and teachers in high schools. In this article, it is presented a measurement, carried out in the framework of the Lab2Go project, of the ratio hc/e where h, c and e are respectively the Planck constant, the speed of light in the vacuum, and the electric charge.

physics.ed-ph↗
arXiv2022

Ethics education in the quantum information science classroom: Exploring attitudes, barriers, and opportunities

Quantum information science (QIS) is an emerging interdisciplinary field at the intersection of physics, computer science, electrical engineering, and mathematics leveraging the laws of quantum mechanics to circumvent classical limitations on information processing. With QIS coursework proliferating across US institutions, including at the undergraduate level, we argue that it is imperative that ethics and social responsibility be incorporated into QIS education from the beginning. We discuss ethical issues of particular relevance to QIS education that educators may wish to incorporate into their curricula. We then report on findings from focus interviews with six faculty who have taught introductory QIS courses, focusing on barriers to and opportunities for incorporation of ethics and social responsibility (ESR) into the QIS classroom. Few faculty had explicitly considered discussion of ethical issues in the classroom prior to the interview, yet instructor attitudes shifted markedly in support of incorporating ESR in the classroom as a result of the interview process itself. Taking into account faculty's perception of obstacles to discussing issues of ESR in coursework, we propose next steps toward making ESR education in the QIS classroom a reality.

physics.ed-ph↗
arXiv2024

Modeling the bounce of a gas-filled ball

The coefficient of restitution $ε$ characterizes the energy retained when a ball bounces, and can easily be measured in an ``at home'' experiment. For thin-walled gas-filled balls such as basketballs, we construct a simple two parameter model to describe how $ε$ changes as a function of the ball's internal pressure. A comparison with data shows good agreement. With additional assumptions, the model also predicts how $ε$ changes as a function of temperature. A comparison with tennis ball data shows surprisingly good agreement.

physics.ed-ph↗