Accessibility, Muons, and Workshops
Physics World has a superb article about the experiences of blind physics students and physicists. As one of the subjects suggests, we should start thinking about accessibility before students enter our programs.
One of the longstanding mysteries in particle physics involves the magnetic moment of the muon, where there is a small-but-significant difference between the theoretical value (2.001165918) and the experimental value (2.001165921). A pair of Japanese physicists have proposed that the difference can be explained by accounting for the effect of general relativity. This could be a good example of the lively nature of physics research that would be interesting to share with students.
In a short Edutopia article, Peter Liljedahl lays out a 14-point plan to get students thinking in math classes. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
Another enjoyable read is Michael Wittmann's account of his interactions with the resources framework through his career as a physics education researcher. It's a thoughtful and insightful, and will be published in the summer in the PER Reviews.
A new analysis of the FCI has been published by PR:PER. This one, by Scott and Schumayer in New Zealand, uses network analysis to identify patterns in student answers. The strongest pattern is an "impetus" worldview: a belief that things move because of some internal property. They also lay out, more clearly than I've seen anywhere else, how to move students beyond "impetus":
And, as always, here's what I've seen on the web:
Physics Girl has a video about polarized light.
EngineerGuy goes over the physics of the famous "drinking bird".
MinutePhysics is starting a series on special relativity.
Daniel Russell shared this collection of "mathlets".
Emma Detrixhe is doing student-designed labs.
Charlie Payne's students are using all the tools for the elevator lab.
One of the longstanding mysteries in particle physics involves the magnetic moment of the muon, where there is a small-but-significant difference between the theoretical value (2.001165918) and the experimental value (2.001165921). A pair of Japanese physicists have proposed that the difference can be explained by accounting for the effect of general relativity. This could be a good example of the lively nature of physics research that would be interesting to share with students.
In a short Edutopia article, Peter Liljedahl lays out a 14-point plan to get students thinking in math classes. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
Another enjoyable read is Michael Wittmann's account of his interactions with the resources framework through his career as a physics education researcher. It's a thoughtful and insightful, and will be published in the summer in the PER Reviews.
A new analysis of the FCI has been published by PR:PER. This one, by Scott and Schumayer in New Zealand, uses network analysis to identify patterns in student answers. The strongest pattern is an "impetus" worldview: a belief that things move because of some internal property. They also lay out, more clearly than I've seen anywhere else, how to move students beyond "impetus":
... the idea of motion should be clarified so that a clear conception of velocity is established. Once this has been achieved, it is then possible to clearly articulate Newton’s first law and to show that this idea explains observations that the impetus worldview is unable to accommodate. In particular, instructors should clearly demonstrate that motion, conceptualized as a state of constant velocity, does not require a cause or an explanation. Along with this, it is important to introduce the idea of friction to explain observations that appear to run counter to Newton’s first law and that would appear to justify the impetus view. Finally, Newton’s second and third laws may be introduced to flesh out the idea of force...There are some great summer workshops for high school physics teachers:
- The Modeling workshops are fantastic, and something that many teachers find transformative.
- AAPT is hosting a computational modeling workshop.
- Perimeter has a week-long summer institute focused on modern physics.
- Kelly O'Shea is doing two workshops this summer: "Designing for Discourse" July 16 - 20 with STEMteachersNYC in New York, and "Can we have a group test?" at the AAPT summer meeting in Washington, DC.
And, as always, here's what I've seen on the web:
Physics Girl has a video about polarized light.
EngineerGuy goes over the physics of the famous "drinking bird".
MinutePhysics is starting a series on special relativity.
Daniel Russell shared this collection of "mathlets".
Emma Detrixhe is doing student-designed labs.
Charlie Payne's students are using all the tools for the elevator lab.