Physics

It is well known the method of determining the center of mass of a triangular piece in which it is hanged from each one of its vertices while drawing from the vertice its verticals. The intersection of the three verticals is considered as the center of mass, verified by equilibrating the piece over a point object. But not everybody knows that the method was developed by Arquimedes 2,300 years ago, determining the geometrical elements to the medians of the triangle. He demonstrated theoretically its result and, inspired on his demonstration we developed another one, which lends to the ideia and methods of the differential and integral calculus.

Outlooks of particle physics researchers on their careers and the general challenges in establishing their careers over different career stages are surveyed using a questionnaire distributed to participants in an ERC-funded research network, "VBScan". The respondents displayed a great deal of insight into what is needed for a career in academia, or more specifically particle physics, though they also did not downplay the element of "luck". Some notable differences between career levels could be observed in problems raised and attitudes towards careers.

Decades of research show that students learn more in classes that utilize active learning than they do in traditional, lecture-only classes. Active learning also reduces the achievement gaps that are often present between various demographic groups. Given these well-established results, instructors of upper-division astronomy courses may decide to search the astronomy education research literature in hopes of finding some guidance on common student difficulties, as well as research-validated and research-based active learning curricula. But their search will be in vain. The current literature on upper-division astronomy is essentially non-existent. This is a shame,since many upper-division astronomy students will experience conceptual and problem-solving difficulties with the quantitative problems they encounter. These difficulties may exist even if students have a strong background in mathematics. In this paper, I examine one quantitative problem that is representative of those that upper-division astronomy students are expected to solve. I list many of the subtle pieces of information that students need to understand in order to advance toward a solution and I describe how such a list can be used to generate Peer Instruction (PI) questions. I also provide guidelines for instructors who wish to develop and implement their own PI questions. These PI questions can be used to increase the amount of active learning that occurs in an upper-division astronomy course. They help develop students' understandings of symbolic, mathematical representations and they help improve students' problem-solving skills.

In an effort to improve the quality of citizen engagement in workplace, politics, and other domains in which quantitative reasoning plays an important role, Quantitative Literacy (QL) has become the focus of considerable research and development efforts in mathematics education. QL is characterized by sophisticated reasoning with elementary mathematics. In this project, we extend the notions of QL to include the physics domain and call it Physics Quantitative Literacy (PQL). We report on early stage development from a collaboration that focuses on reasoning inventory design and data analysis methodology for measuring the development of PQL across the introductory physics sequence. We have piloted a prototype assessment designed to measure students' PQL in introductory physics: Physics Inventory of Quantitative Literacy (PIQL). This prototype PIQL focuses on two components of PQL: proportional reasoning, and reasoning with negative quantities. We present preliminary results from approximately 1,000 undergraduate and 20 graduate students.

The study of viscosity, in the area of fluid physics at a university level, is of great importance because of the various applications that are presented in the different fields of engineering. In this work an experimental method of implementation and validation is exposed, to be able to calculate the viscosity of some newtonian and non-newtonian fluids, in which the method of a sphere that descends through a fluid has been used, making Using a viscometer of our own construction, with the help of the CassyLab sensor and software of Leybold Didactics, we show the results obtained by our measuring instrument, which is intended to highlight the versatility and precision of the measuring instrument prepared by us, in addition In this work the authors want to motivate the physics laboratory teachers; to explore the use of these tools that allow you to check the topics seen in the theoretical classes. Finally, we present the hardworking results of the measurement of viscosity for different fluids, both newtonian and non-newtonian, for the latter we show the viscosity behavior as a function of temperature.

We discuss the development and validation of a conceptual multiple-choice survey instrument called the Survey of Thermodynamic Processes and First and Second Laws (STPFaSL) suitable for introductory physics courses. The survey instrument uses common student difficulties with these concepts as resources in that the incorrect answers to the multiple-choice questions were guided by them. After the development and validation of the survey instrument, the final version was administered at six different institutions. It was administered to introductory physics students in various traditionally taught calculus-based and algebra-based classes in paper-pencil format before and after traditional lecture-based instruction in relevant concepts. We also administered the survey instrument to upper-level undergraduates majoring in physics and Ph.D. students for bench marking and for content validity and compared their performance with those of introductory students for whom the survey is intended. We find that although the survey instrument focuses on thermodynamics concepts covered in introductory courses, it is challenging even for advanced students. A comparison with the base line data on the validated survey instrument presented here can help instructors evaluate the effectiveness of innovative pedagogies designed to help students develop a solid grasp of these concepts.

Engaging students with well-designed clicker questions is one of the commonly used research-based instructional strategy in physics courses partly because it has a relatively low barrier to implementation [1]. Moreover, validated robust sequences of clicker questions are likely to provide better scaffolding support and guidance to help students build a good knowledge structure of physics than an individual clicker question on a particular topic. Here we discuss the development, validation and in-class implementation of a clicker question sequence (CQS) for helping advanced undergraduate students learn about addition of angular momentum, which takes advantage of the learning goals and inquiry-based guided learning sequences in a previously validated Quantum Interactive Learning Tutorial (QuILT). The in-class evaluation of the CQS using peer instruction is discussed by comparing upper-level undergraduate student performance after engaging with the CQS with previous published data from the QuILT pertaining to these concepts.

Easy JavaScript Simulations (EjsS) is a popular and powerful authoring toolkit for the creation of open source HTML5 compliant JavaScript simulations. This paper focuses on developing a Learning Analytics extension in Moodle for EjsS, capable of monitoring interactions with the simulation (e.g. mouse clicks, states of buttons and sliders, variable assignments). This extension was piloted with educational physics simulations. Data on learners can be visualised in real-time on the instructor dashboard, allowing instructors to better understand the learning process and modify classroom instruction accordingly.

In order to have a successful Learning Assistant Program it is important to create adequate support tools and resources to adopt and implement the model. The Learning Assistant Model was created at the University of Colorado-Boulder and consists of three essential elements (pedagogy, content, and practice). Our research focuses on the content component, or the weekly content preparation session, in which faculty and their Learning Assistants (LAs) meet to discuss course objectives, content, pedagogical approaches, and student learning. For this study, video recordings of weekly content preparation sessions of various LA-faculty assignments at Chicago State University were analyzed. This data and a review of previous research on observation protocols led us to develop the Preparation Session Observation Tool (PSOT). PSOT is used to develop a better understanding of how the weekly content preparation sessions are fostering different types of partnerships. It is expected that PSOT data can be used by new adoptees of the LA Model and experienced members of LA Programs to analyze their weekly content preparation session in order to improve or change LA-faculty working relationships.

Engaging students with well-designed clicker questions is one of the commonly used research-based instructional strategy in physics courses partly because it has a relatively low barrier to implementation. Moreover, validated robust sequences of clicker questions are likely to provide better scaffolding support and guidance to help students build a good knowledge structure of physics than an individual clicker question on a particular topic. Here we discuss the development, validation and in-class implementation of a clicker question sequence (CQS) for helping advanced undergraduate students learn about Larmor precession of spin, which takes advantage of the learning goals and inquiry-based guided learning sequences in a previously validated Quantum Interactive Learning Tutorial (QuILT). The in-class evaluation of the CQS using peer instruction is discussed by comparing upper-level undergraduate student performance after traditional lecture-based instruction and after engaging with the CQS.