Physics Education
The Quantitative Reasoning Center (QRC) at USAFA has the institution's primary responsibility for offering after hours extra instruction (EI) in core technical disciplines (mathematics, chemistry, physics, and engineering mechanics). Demand…
We report the incorporation of the Wiimote, a light-tracking remote control device, into two undergraduate-level experiments. We provide an overview of the Wiimote's basic functions and a systematic analysis of its motion tracking…
The interdisciplinary topic of archaeo-astronomy links science subjects such as astronomy with archaeology and sociology to explore how ancient societies perceived the heavens above. This is achieved by analysing ancient sites such as…
Our landscape has been shaped by man throughout the millennia. It still contains many clues to how it was used in the past giving us insights into ancient cultures and their everyday life. Our summer school uses archaeology and astronomy as…
We describe a study of period changes in 59 RR Lyrae stars, using times of maximum brightness from the GEOS database. The work was carried out by outstanding senior high school students in the University of Toronto Mentorship Program. This…
We have developed a senior undergraduate experiment that illustrates frequency stabilization techniques using radio-frequency electronics. The primary objective is to frequency stabilize a voltage controlled oscillator to a cavity resonance…
In the years 2002-2004, the Learning by Design\texttrademark group at Georgia Tech conducted an investigation of the development of qualitative Newtonian concepts as a function of time. I describe the classroom context and method for this…
Within the efforts to bring frontline interactive astrophysics and astronomy to the classroom, the Hands on Universe (HOU) developed a set of exercises and platform using real data obtained by some of the most advanced ground and space…
A simple apparatus to demonstrate free fall weightlessness is given. This can be easily constructed from readily available materials and can be used for the demonstration purpose to an audidence with all the details of the apparatus…
Ubiquitously during experiments one encounters a situation where time lapse between two events has to measured. For example during the oscillations of a pendulum or a vibrating reed, the powering of a lamp and achieving of its full…
A system using a personal computer, speaker, and a microphone is used to detect objects, and make crude measurements using a carrier modulated by a pseudorandom noise (PN) code. This system can be constructed using a personal computer and…
This paper examines the educational impact of the implementation of "Changes in Energy and Momentum" from the Tutorials in Introductory Physics in five different instructional settings. These settings include (1) a completely computer-based…
What can physics students learn about science from those scientists who got the answers wrong? Students encounter little science history, and what they have encountered typically portrays scientists as The People with the Right Answers. But…
The research presented in this thesis was motivated by the need to improve introductory physics courses. Introductory physics courses are generally the first courses in which students learn to create models to solve complex problems.…
Students taking introductory physics are rarely exposed to computational modeling. In a one-semester large lecture introductory calculus-based mechanics course at Georgia Tech, students learned to solve physics problems using the VPython…
The work describes curricular modification to a physical science content class for elementary education majors at Winona State University. The modification, the regular use of Cognitive Acceleration materials to develop student reasoning…
Many researchers and textbooks have promoted the use of rigid prescribed strategies for encouraging development of expert-like problem-solving behavior in novice students. The University of British Columbia's introductory algebra-based…
Due to time and financial restrictions in an educational laboratory, we are making compromises, using experimental setups in which limitations and uncertainties are important. In these cases we should pay particular attention to the role of…
Real Time Relativity is a computer program that lets students fly at relativistic speeds though a simulated world populated with planets, clocks, and buildings. The counterintuitive and spectacular optical effects of relativity are…
Optics labs are an integral part of the advanced curriculum for physics majors. Students majoring in other disciplines, like chemistry, biology or engineering rarely have the opportunity to learn about the most recent optical techniques and…