Falcon Heavy, #WomenInScience, and the Olympics
This week we saw the epic first launch of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. There was some debate about the eventual trajectory of the payload, which was followed up by Space.com.
Today is the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. I've seen lots of celebration on Twitter: you could search for the hashtags #iamaphysicist or #womeninscience. For many female students, it is essential that they see science as a career available to them.
The Winter Olympics started this week, and that means a whole range of topically-relevant physics! NBC has a series of short videos about some of the basics, and Smarter Every Day has a series of three videos that go a bit deeper.
Three papers on PR:PER caught my eye this week. The first, by a group at Washington University, looks at how student attitudes toward science affect their learning. They found that attitudes (as measured by CLASS) only weakly predict performance (as measured with FCI, BEMA, or exam scores). They conclude that the attitudes CLASS measures are not the ones that correlate well with students' ability to learn physics.
The second paper is a report by a team at the University of Palermo about long-term effects after student teams worked in a lab for six weeks to design prototypes for a Martian habitat. After four years, they found that the students who participated in the activity were more likely to retain scientific approaches to problem-solving.
The third paper is an analysis of the financial side of offering active learning classes. Brewe, Dou, and Shand focus their study on Modeling Instruction classes at Florida International University, but the discussion is worthwhile if you're facing similar questions.
Seen online:
Casey Rutherford gave a great keynote at Modelpalooza, here are the slides.
Rob Spencer's students are using kinematic robots.
Ben Cook shared this spreadsheet that tracks GRE requirements for physics departments in the USA.
Frank Noschese is using Vernier probes instead of multimeters.
Kelly O'Shea uses Which One Doesn't Belong (each don't; explain why) prompts.
Matt Blackman demos a low-cost rotational motion system.
The Physics Toolbox has a monthly newsletter with great examples of how the app can be used.
Today is the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. I've seen lots of celebration on Twitter: you could search for the hashtags #iamaphysicist or #womeninscience. For many female students, it is essential that they see science as a career available to them.
The Winter Olympics started this week, and that means a whole range of topically-relevant physics! NBC has a series of short videos about some of the basics, and Smarter Every Day has a series of three videos that go a bit deeper.
Three papers on PR:PER caught my eye this week. The first, by a group at Washington University, looks at how student attitudes toward science affect their learning. They found that attitudes (as measured by CLASS) only weakly predict performance (as measured with FCI, BEMA, or exam scores). They conclude that the attitudes CLASS measures are not the ones that correlate well with students' ability to learn physics.
The second paper is a report by a team at the University of Palermo about long-term effects after student teams worked in a lab for six weeks to design prototypes for a Martian habitat. After four years, they found that the students who participated in the activity were more likely to retain scientific approaches to problem-solving.
The third paper is an analysis of the financial side of offering active learning classes. Brewe, Dou, and Shand focus their study on Modeling Instruction classes at Florida International University, but the discussion is worthwhile if you're facing similar questions.
Seen online:
Casey Rutherford gave a great keynote at Modelpalooza, here are the slides.
Rob Spencer's students are using kinematic robots.
Ben Cook shared this spreadsheet that tracks GRE requirements for physics departments in the USA.
Frank Noschese is using Vernier probes instead of multimeters.
Kelly O'Shea uses Which One Doesn't Belong (each don't; explain why) prompts.
Matt Blackman demos a low-cost rotational motion system.
The Physics Toolbox has a monthly newsletter with great examples of how the app can be used.