Custom CSS
double-click to edit, do not edit in source
POS.G-TU.01 | Poster | Online Tutorials for Middle-Division Quantum with Adaptive Guidance
Presenting Author: Giaco Corsiglia, University of Colorado, Boulder
Additional Author | Benjamin P Schermerhorn, California State University, Fullerton
Additional Author | Gina Passante, California State University, Fullerton
Additional Author | Homeyra Sadaghiani, California Polytechnic University Pomona
Additional Author | Steven Pollock, University of Colorado, Boulder
Research-based tutorials---worksheets that guide students in constructing physics knowledge for themselves---have repeatedly proven to be a highly effective complement to lectures in physics courses. Our collaboration has created a collection of tutorials for middle-division quantum mechanics (QM), which has been successfully adopted by QM instructors nationwide. However, many instructors lack the resources and/or institutional support to run tutorials; it can be difficult to find time, space, and personnel to facilitate these activities. As an alternative, we are developing online versions of our QM tutorials that students can work through without instructor facilitation. We are designing the online tutorials to guide students through the worksheets in ways that encourage sense-making and allow students to progress without revealing the answers. For example, they include adaptive guidance pathways based on students’ responses. Early beta versions are available, for free, at acephysics.net.
Custom CSS
double-click to edit, do not edit in source
POS.G-TU.02 | Poster | Improving the Communication Skills of STEM Graduate Students
Presenting Author: Shannon Willoughby, Montana State University
Additional Author | Kent Davis, Montana State University
Additional Author | Brock La Meres, Montana State University
Additional Author | Jenny Green, Michigan State University
Additional Author | Leila Sterman, Montana State University
We report on a three-year grant aimed at improving the oral communication skills of STEM graduate students. By teaching storytelling techniques, playing improvisation games and recording podcasts, eight STEM storytellers per cohort took a year-long class to develop their skills as speakers. Funded by the NSF Innovations in Graduate Education program, (#1735124) we used formative and summative assessments for determining students’ levels of anxiety before giving talks, apprehension for public speaking, and we calculated how much jargon each student employed while discussing their thesis work for a general audience. We collected data on all three cohorts, with 22 of the 24 completing a full year of coursework related to communication skills. Quantitative and qualitative results will be shared in this poster, demonstrating that the publicly available STEM Storytellers curriculum is a powerful method for improving the oral communication skills of STEM graduate students.
Custom CSS
double-click to edit, do not edit in source
POS.G-TU.03 | Poster | Student difficulties with diagonal operators for degenerate perturbation theory
Presenting Author: Christof Keebaugh, Franklin & Marshall College
Additional Author | Emily Marshman, Community College of Allegheny County
Additional Author | Chandralekha Singh, University of Pittsburgh
| ,
| ,
We discuss an investigation of student difficulties with the representation in which a Hermitian operator cor- responding to a physical observable (e.g., the Hamiltonian operator corresponding to energy) is diagonal in the context of degenerate perturbation theory involving the Zeeman effect in the hydrogen atom. This investigation was carried out in advanced quantum mechanics courses by administering written free-response and multiple- choice questions and conducting individual interviews with students. We discuss the common student difficulties related to these concepts, knowledge of which can be useful for developing research-validated learning tools.
Custom CSS
double-click to edit, do not edit in source
POS.G-TU.04 | Poster | Comparing undergraduate and graduate student reasoning on conceptual entropy questionnaire
Presenting Author: Nathan Crossette, University of Colorado Boulder
Additional Author | Michael Vignal, University of Colorado Boulder
Additional Author | Bethany R Wilcox, University of Colorado Boulder
| ,
| ,
In a prior study, we investigated graduate student reasoning around a set of entropy-related conceptual tasks in a think-aloud format. The tasks involved entropy from microscopic and macroscopic perspectives, ideal gases, and a novel context involving a system with a dynamic string. We conducted interviews with undergraduates using the same questionnaire. Most students were interviewed during the second half of their upper-division Thermal Physics course at the University of Colorado Boulder, while two were upper-division undergraduates from other institutions with strong physics programs. We will explore the similarities and differences between the undergraduate and graduate students’ responses in the interviews. In particular, we will compare the conceptual resources used by the two groups of students. The similarity of two of our interview tasks with questions used by other researchers in previous studies of student reasoning with entropy will also allow us to make direct connections with prior research.
Custom CSS
double-click to edit, do not edit in source
POS.G-TU.05 | Poster | A Knowledge-in-Use Assessment for Upper-Division Thermal Physics
Presenting Author: Katherine Rainey, University of Colorado Boulder
Additional Author | Amali Priyanka Jambuge, Kansas State University
Additional Author | Amogh Sirnoorkar, Kansas State University
Additional Author | James T Laverty, Kansas State University
Additional Author | Bethany R Wilcox, University of Colorado Boulder
Research-based assessments can provide instructors insights into the efficacy of their teaching and course transformations. As education shifts to focusing more on scientific practices and crosscutting concepts in addition to conceptual knowledge, there is a need for an assessment that can assess these 3-dimensions of learning and inform instructional approaches that foster this learning. In this poster, we present a first-look at an upper-division thermal physics assessment that explicitly targets scientific practices, crosscutting concepts, and conceptual knowledge using coupled, multiple-response items. We will present an example assessment item and discuss ways in which instructors can help with the development process of this assessment while incorporating it into their classrooms. Faculty administering the assessment would receive detailed feedback about their class’s overall performance with recommendations for how to adjust instruction to improve student outcomes.