Introduction to Engineering Design is a pilot course started in the fall of 2024 at Delaware State University among freshmen majoring in engineering physics. This course is one of the several course modules being piloted before a major program revision can be implemented. The goal for this pilot introductory engineering course is to bring the hands-on engineering design experience to the...
This past summer, I was a facilitator at a Morgan State University quantum teacher workshop titled "Quantum Literacy Teachers Training" (QLT2). In this talk, I will share my experience and the goals, details and outcomes of this workshop.
During my US Pathways Summer 2016 Internship with the Office of Science (High Energy Physics) of US Dept. of Energy (Germantown MD), I evaluated the US workforce readiness for future US particle physics projects for further research of the Standard Model of Physics and Beyond. One of the findings showed literacy disparities in physics of American secondary students in comparison to those of...
During the Summer of 2024, from July to August, Morgan State University hosted an in-person five-week summer program entitled iQuEST. Twenty-three iQuest participants, selected from 9th - 12th graders in the Baltimore metropolitan schools, were given the opportunity to build 21st-century skills that involved problem-solving, critical thinking, and innovation concepts in quantum science. These...
Students are often intimidated by professors in introductory courses, despite having questions or misunderstandings about concepts. In an effort to address this, last year I implemented a new component to participation in my introductory physics courses. During Physics Chats or PhysChats, students schedule time to meet with me individually and informally talk about a group activity they did in...
Research findings suggest that many students tend to ask infrequent and superficial questions, which hinders their ability to deepen their understanding and acquire new knowledge. This pilot study (N=15) asked whether having students pose their own problems to examine would have an effect on their understanding. The instructor guided the students from structured problems to having students...
This is a survey of some ideas and resources I use (or have used) in my online asynchronous Physics classes. I will mention a couple of tips on using Moodle as well as other external tools and software that I've found useful. I'll also talk about what it is possible to do to decrease cheating and to push students towards learning the main ideas in
Kahoot! is a widely-used game-based learning platform in K-12 classrooms, valued for its ability to review knowledge, facilitate formative assessments, and provide an engaging alternative to traditional learning activities. However, its use in college-level physics education remains limited. Moreover, most Kahoot! games typically rely on teacher-generated questions or pre-made content. This...
Since Galileo and (more recently) D’Arcy Thompson, it has been understood that physical processes and constraints influence biological structures and their resulting functions. However these cross-discpline connections — and their importance to growing scientific disciplines such as biophysics — are rarely taught in introductory physics courses. Here we examine how the laws of physics shape...
