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arXiv2023

Motor elétrico -- SimuFísica: um aplicativo para o ensino de eletromagnetismo

In this work, we present the Electric Motor simulator, an application on the SimuFísica platform intended for use in the classroom. We briefly describe the technologies behind the application, the equations that govern its operation, some studies showing the dynamics of the electric motor and, finally, examples of approach in the classroom. -- Apresentamos neste trabalho o simulador Motor elétrico, um aplicativo da plataforma SimuFísica voltado para uso em sala de aula. Descrevemos brevemente as tecnologias por trás do aplicativo, as equações que regem o seu funcionamento, alguns estudos mostrando a dinâmica do motor elétrico e, por fim, exemplos de abordagem em sala de aula.

physics.ed-ph↗
arXiv2023

Effective Model with Personalized Online Teaching and Learning Science in the Era of ChatGPT

The recent development of science education leads educators to explore new teaching and learning methodologies and restructure classes and assignments to bring students' knowledge to the highest level of education by allowing learners to gain various skills that are reflected in their future. We are discussing how to develop and deliver effective online courses by personalizing the class and individualizing the assignments for learners to succeed in Physics. Various teaching and learning activities are aimed at effective learning and interaction to enhance student learning in this class structure. The students' performances and progress are analyzed in four large introductory Physics classes. Student registration and retention are well preserved by providing learners freedom of education, a sense of belonging, mindset-growing encouragements, effective feedback, problem-solving strategies, and one-to-one communications. Academic integrity is well-balanced by individualizing the assignments, personalizing class materials, breaking down problems, and investigating ChatGPT usage. The students' performances are analyzed by evaluating class performance in total grade distribution, missing assignments, and choice-based learning. Student progress is investigated by analyzing their commitment, respect, willingness to improve, and time management toward education. Overall, the class model demonstrates great performance, progress, and achievements that indicate a positive learning environment for all students throughout the semester. Hence, the effective model with personalized assignments, and other strategies that we share will be highly beneficial for science education.

physics.ed-ph↗
arXiv2023

Aspects of clock synchronization in relativistic kinematics -- a tutorial

This tutorial, addressing physics teachers and undergraduate students, aims at clarifying some aspects of time in special relativity. In particular, time dilation is usually presented only as the well-known ratio of lab time over proper time, $R$. Above ratio is useful, e.g. for describing the decay length of an unstable particle in the lab. But essential characteristics of time dilation, missed out in many textbooks, are manifest in the differences (quadratic, absolute and relative) between lab time and proper time. After an introduction to the basics, we regard the movement of a clock over a fixed spatial distance $Δx$. Explicit formulae are given for $R$ and for the differences, and their behaviour as functions of the velocity is discussed and plotted. Approximate formulae are given for very slow movements. Time synchronization within an inertial system by "slowly" moving a clock over a finite distance $Δx$, mentioned vaguely in some textbooks, may quantitatively be comprehended by requiring the time difference to be less than the clock's time resolution. We derive explicit formulae for the maximal velocity obeying these constraints (to the best of our knowledge not presented elsewhere).

physics.ed-ph↗
arXiv2023

Comment on "Rubric-based holistic review represents a change from traditional graduate admissions approaches in physics"

A recent paper evaluating a new rubric-based graduate admissions approach using generic methods tentatively suggested that its decisions differed noticeably from the previous approach in an unspecified way. Using prior knowledge that the often-stated specific goal was to open a path to increased diversity by reducing barriers to admission of applicants with low undergraduate grade point averages and GRE scores allows simple statistical tests of changes in the distributions of the metrics. The simple tests confirm with good statistical confidence that the barrier-reduction changes were achieved. Nevertheless, the paper's argument that the de-emphasized test and grades are not predictive of graduate outcomes is not supported by the prior literature. On technique, although a method used in some of the analysis for dropping data points before running the machine algorithm is likely to bias those results, it helps to clarify why models of the rubric-based system were only weakly predictive.

physics.ed-ph↗
arXiv2023

A.M.E.L.I.E. Apparatus for Muon Experimental Lifetime Investigation and Evaluation

The muon is one of the first elementary particles discovered. It is also known as heavy electron, and it's the main component of cosmic rays flux at sea level. Its flow is continuous, 24h/7d, and it is free. It is natural and does not have any radio protection banning or limitation to its use in schools and can be managed safely by the students. AMELIE is a light, small and didactic apparatus to measure the lifetime of the muons. It is useful tool to introduce the modern physics, particle physics, particles instability and decay, special relativity etc. It can be used for small didactic but complete experiments for measurement of muon rate and lifetime, correction and equalization of data collected etc. A useful instrument to introduce and teach the scientific method to the students. Last but not least, do not contain any dangerous system like high voltage or explosive gas and the cost is relatively cheap.

physics.ed-ph↗
arXiv2023

Computational projects with the Landau-Zener problem in the quantum mechanics classroom

The Landau-Zener problem, where a minimum energy separation is passed with constant rate in a two-state quantum-mechanical system, is an excellent model quantum system for a computational project. It requires a low-level computational effort, but has a number of complex numerical and algorithmic issues that can be resolved through dedicated work. It can be used to teach computational concepts such as accuracy, discretization, and extrapolation, and it reinforces quantum concepts of time-evolution via a time-ordered product and of extrapolation to infinite time via time-dependent perturbation theory. In addition, we discuss the concept of compression algorithms, which are employed in many advanced quantum computing strategies, and easy to illustrate with the Landau-Zener problem.

quant-ph↗
arXiv2023

The Impact of an Innovative Education and Outreach Project by a Physics Experiment

When the education and outreach project of ATLAS, a leading experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, was initiated in 1995, we wanted to share the drama and excitement in the exploration and discovery of new science. The goal was to make these fascinating stories understandable and available to everybody and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers. The education and outreach material included classroom activities, an extensive website, videos, a YouTube channel, social media, a planetarium show, and materials related to search for and discovery of the Higgs Boson.

physics.ed-ph↗
arXiv2023

A cross-age study on secondary school students' views of stars

Research in astronomy education has uncovered that many learners possess limited and fragmented understanding of stars. The corresponding misconceptions manifest in various areas such as star formation, size, the relationship between stars and planets, and their position in space and have been shown to persist across different age groups and educational settings, highlighting the need for further investigation. This paper presents the findings of an empirical study that examines secondary students' views of stars and their evolution throughout their secondary school careers. Therefore, we designed and evaluated an instrument for assessing students' views of stars in five domains. The instrument creation process involved several steps, including literature-based item development, an expert survey with faculty members, and a quantitative pilot study with a sample of 390 secondary school and college students. This process led to a final version of the instrument that exhibits good psychometric properties. We used this new instrument in a cross-age study to investigate the alignment of secondary students' ideas about stars with scientific views across different stages of secondary education. The sample of this main study comprised a total of 366 learners, from lower, middle and upper secondary school. Our study findings reveal a progressive development of students' perspectives on star-related topics throughout their school career: We observed a statistically significant increase in the proportion of responses aligning with scientific views across all aspects of stars examined in this study, as students progressed from lower secondary to upper secondary levels. We further report on widely held views of stars among our study participants that oppose the scientific views, and discuss the implications of our findings for both educational research and practice.

physics.ed-ph↗
arXiv2023

Big Science and Science Education: Steps towards an Authentic Partnership

Big science projects and facilities can move towards a less self-centered frame of reference as they strive to better identify and serve educational audiences. By doing this, their science education efforts will be more productive in general, and their service to local schools will be more effective. By developing an enlarged awareness of local educational needs, they will become better stewards and partners in their roles in the science education system. They will also become more valued and trustworthy neighbours to their local and cultural communities. We propose a practical way for large science organisations to organise their budgets and their allocation of staff time to greatly increase the effectiveness of their organisation in its contribution to local science education.

astro-ph.IM↗
arXiv2023

Context affects student thinking about sources of uncertainty in classical and quantum mechanics

Measurement uncertainty is an important topic in the undergraduate laboratory curriculum. Previous research on student thinking about experimental measurement uncertainty has focused primarily on introductory-level students' procedural reasoning about data collection and interpretation. In this paper, we extended this prior work to study upper-level students' thinking about sources of measurement uncertainty across experimental contexts, with a particular focus on classical and quantum mechanics contexts. We developed a survey to probe students' thinking in the generic question "What comes to mind when you think about measurement uncertainty in [classical/quantum] mechanics?" as well as in a range of specific experimental scenarios and interpreted student responses through the lens of availability and accessibility of knowledge pieces. We found that limitations of the experimental setup were most accessible to students in classical mechanics while principles of the underlying physics theory were most accessible to students in quantum mechanics, even in a context in which this theory was not relevant. We recommend that future research probe which sources of uncertainty experts believe are relevant in which contexts and how instruction in both classical and quantum contexts can help students draw on appropriate sources of uncertainty in classical and quantum experiments.

physics.ed-ph↗
arXiv2023

Analyzing Physics Majors' Specialization Low Interest Using Social Cognitive Career Theory

As students pursue a bachelor's degree in physics, they may ponder over which area to specialize in, such as theory, computation, or experiment. Often students develop preferences and dislikes, but it's unclear when this preference solidifies during their undergraduate experiences. To get a better understanding, we interviewed eighteen physics majors who were at different stages of their degree regarding their interest in theory, computation, and experimental methods. Out of the eighteen students, we chose to analyze only nine students who rated computation and theory the lowest. Our analysis did not include interest in experiment because the ratings were less negative. We used Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) and Lucidchart to analyze students' responses and create individual graphical representations of the influences for each student. Through this, we uncovered how various factors such as learning experiences, self-efficacy, and outcome expectations influenced their low interest in a particular method. We found that lack of knowledge and experience is often the main reason why self-efficacy was lower. Students' lack of interest is also influenced by negative outcome expectations (e.g, math-intensive and a bad work-life balance) more than other SCCT factors. Our findings could help physics departments and educators identify positive and negative factors that could lead to a more motivating and inclusive physics curriculum.

physics.ed-ph↗
arXiv2023

Exploring Durham University Physics exams with Large Language Models

The emergence of advanced Natural Language Processing (NLP) models like ChatGPT has raised concerns among universities regarding AI-driven exam completion. This paper provides a comprehensive evaluation of the proficiency of GPT-4 and GPT-3.5 in answering a set of 42 exam papers derived from 10 distinct physics courses, administered at Durham University over the span of 2018 to 2022, totalling 593 questions and 2504 available marks. These exams, spanning both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, include traditional pre-COVID and adaptive COVID-era formats. Questions from the years 2018-2020 were designed for pre-COVID in person adjudicated examinations whereas the 2021-2022 exams were set for varying COVID-adapted conditions including open-book conditions. To ensure a fair evaluation of AI performances, the exams completed by AI were assessed by the original exam markers. However, due to staffing constraints, only the aforementioned 593 out of the total 1280 questions were marked. GPT-4 and GPT-3.5 scored an average of 49.4\% and 38.6\%, respectively, suggesting only the weaker students would potential improve their marks if using AI. For exams from the pre-COVID era, the average scores for GPT-4 and GPT-3.5 were 50.8\% and 41.6\%, respectively. However, post-COVID, these dropped to 47.5\% and 33.6\%. Thus contrary to expectations, the change to less fact-based questions in the COVID era did not significantly impact AI performance for the state-of-the-art models such as GPT-4. These findings suggest that while current AI models struggle with university-level Physics questions, an improving trend is observable. The code used for automated AI completion is made publicly available for further research.

physics.ed-ph↗
arXiv2023

Neighbourhood watch in mechanics: non-local models and convolution

This paper is intended to serve as a low-hurdle introduction to non-locality for graduate students and researchers with an engineering mechanics or physics background who did not have a formal introduction to the underlying mathematical basis. We depart from simple examples motivated by structural mechanics to form a physical intuition and demonstrate non-locality using concepts familiar to most engineers. We then show how concepts of non-locality are at the core of one of the moste active current research fields in applied mechanics, namely in phase-field modelling of fracture. From a mathematical perspective, these developments rest on the concept of convolution both in its discrete and in its continuous form. The previous mechanical examples may thus serve as an intuitive explanation of what convolution implies from a physical perspective. In the supplementary material we highlight a broader range of applications of the concepts of non-locality and convolution in other branches of science and engineering by generalizing from the examples explained in detail in the main body of the article.

physics.class-ph↗
arXiv2023

New perspectives on student reasoning about measurement uncertainty: More or better data

Uncertainty is an important and fundamental concept in physics education. Students are often first exposed to uncertainty in introductory labs, expand their knowledge across lab courses, and then are introduced to quantum mechanical uncertainty in upper-division courses. This study is part of a larger project evaluating student thinking about uncertainty across these contexts. In this research, we investigate advanced physics student thinking about uncertainty by asking them conceptual questions about how a hypothetical distribution of measurements would change if `more' or `better' data were collected in four different experimental scenarios. The scenarios include both classical and quantum experiments, as well as experiments that theoretically result in an expected single value or an expected distribution. This investigation is motivated by our goal of finding insights into students' potential point- and set-like thinking about uncertainty and of shining light on the limitations of those binary paradigms.

physics.ed-ph↗
arXiv2023

Developing and implementing an Einsteinian science curriculum from Years 3 to 10 : Part A Concepts, rationale and learning outcomes

There has been a growing realisation that school science curricula do not adequately reflect the revolutionary changes in our scientific understanding of the 20th century. This discrepancy between current school education and our modern scientific understanding has led to calls for the modernisation of the science curriculum. Although there have been attempts to introduce topics of Einsteinian physics (i.e., quantum physics and relativity) to school education, often at the secondary level, we still lack a seamless curriculum in which modern science concepts are gradually introduced in primary and middle schools. Guided by the Model of Educational Reconstruction and following a mixed-methods research design, the Einstein-First project aims to address this gap. Einstein-First has developed and implemented an Einsteinian curriculum from Years 3 to 10 (students aged 7- 16) that resolves the disconnect between science in schools and the modern world. This paper presents the concepts, rationale, and learning outcomes of the curriculum implementation in six Australian schools with 315 students across Years 3 to 10. Our findings lay the foundation for informed curriculum development towards a school education that can enhance students' understanding and appreciation of the fundamental concepts of modern science and its impact on our society.

physics.ed-ph↗
arXiv2023

Dumbbell dynamics: a didactical approach

In this paper we propose a simplified model to describe the dissipative effects of tides. We assume a spherical Earth with a dissipative coupling with a mechanical dumbbell. The latter has a mass much smaller than the Earth's, and it models the presence of the tidal bulges. Using properly the scale analysis, we will show that some of the consequences of tidal dissipation are the circularization and the enlargement of orbit of the Moon and the slowing down of the Earth's rotation. We will also see that tidal dissipation plays a fundamental role for the establishment of a regime of spin-orbit resonance in the celestial systems. The mathematical tools used make our treatment appropriate for senior high school students or college students.

astro-ph.EP↗
arXiv2023

Implementing an intrinsically integrated game on Newtonian mechanics in the classroom: outcomes in terms of conceptual understanding and transfer

Digital educational games have demonstrated large variations in learning outcomes and transfer. Furthermore, educational games are usually embedded in a larger educational setting. This case study evaluates in detail a lesson around an educational game designed to foster transfer. The game, Newtons Race, is an intrinsically integrated game on Newtonian mechanics. The learning goal of the lesson is understanding and applying the relationship between forces and motion. Outside of the game, lesson activities include a debriefing session, a generalisation assignment, and an assignment on transfer situations. This lesson was evaluated using a mixed-methods approach. A pre-post test design (N=27) demonstrated a large significant learning effect (p = .002, d = .908). Transfer, as measured within the posttest, was also fostered significantly. In the qualitative part of the study, students written statements on the worksheets and students utterances during the discussion were analyzed using open coding. 79 percent Of all quotes were coded as scientifically correct.

physics.ed-ph↗
arXiv2023

Investigating Blended Math-Science Sensemaking with a diverse undergraduate population

Blended mathematical sensemaking in science (MSS) involves deep conceptual understanding of quantitative relationships describing scientific phenomena. Previously we developed the cognitive framework describing proficiency in MSS across STEM disciplines and validated it with undergraduate students from dominant backgrounds (White, middle class) using assessment built around PhET simulations. In this study we investigate whether the framework can characterize engagement in MSS among undergraduate students from diverse backgrounds and identify potential differences between the two populations. The framework is effective in characterizing engagement in MSS by undergraduate students from diverse backgrounds and largely functions as a learning progression. We have also uncovered a distinct pattern of engagement in MSS reflected in students successfully developing the mathematical relationship describing their observations without engaging in a type of MSS focused on quantitative pattern identification. Unlike students from dominant backgrounds, diverse students leverage lower level MSS to develop the formula for the phenomenon. Further, diverse students use PhET simulations to make sense of the phenomenon more and are more successful in using the simulations to find the correct mathematical relationship compared to students from dominant backgrounds. Math preparation has a stronger effect at level 1 compared to levels 2 and 3 of the framework. The framework can guide the development of instructional and assessment strategies to support students from diverse backgrounds in building MSS skills. Further, PhET simulations provide a suitable and effective learning environment for supporting engagement in and learning of MSS skills, and their capabilities should be leveraged for designing learning experiences in the future.

physics.ed-ph↗