In this session I will demonstrate how I use "Challenges" like the Mousetrap 500 (Construct a car that travels the furthest distance powered by one pull of a standard mousetrap) to introduce students to Physics Concepts, but also have a good time participating in a "Physics Day" at the end of a grading period.
Integrating secondary physics coursework with higher education expectations through Dual Enrollment (DE) models introduces distinct pedagogical and operational challenges. This presentation examines the alignment of a high school Honors Physics curriculum with Hagerstown Community College’s (HCC) PHS 103 course, emphasizing the significant transition required when moving from a traditional...
Real hands-on active learning projects as part of a Physics of Sports class will be presented. Advanced high school, college athlete, and liberal arts students take this class to satisfy elective requirements. Results from Magnus force lift coefficient measurements by the students will be presented including a demonstration of a homemade device, based on skateboard wheels, to spin up beach...
Suppose you have a beaker of water at 100°C and a second beaker containing an equal amount of water at 0°C. If you bring them into thermal contact and wait, both will reach 50°C. That heat exchange is irreversible. There is another way to bring these samples of water into thermal contact so that they exchange temperatures. The 100°C mass ends up at 0°C, and the 0°C...
The Quantum Collaborative Research Corps (QCoR) is a research organization based at the University of Maryland College Park (UMD-CP) and embedded within the Laboratory of Physical Sciences Qubit Collaboratory (LQC). In addition to advancing quantum information science and technology towards quantum computing, developing the next generation quantum workforce through education and public...
We analyze the Muon Experiment problem in Special Relativity using the author's Relativity on Rotated Graph Paper. After briefly introducing our method to visualize tickmarks on a spacetime diagram, we show how to calculate graphically using the counting of ticks and simple algebra. Using a simpler numerical example, we construct the diagram for the muon problem. We interpret the situation in...
This talk presents a non‑worksheet lab manual for the mechanics course designed to cultivate genuine experimental skills rather than verify textbook results. The approach replaces prescriptive procedures with open‑ended investigation, prompting students to make measurement choices, confront uncertainty, and interpret obstacles as opportunities for discovery. By shifting motivation away from...
I will briefly review a history and structure of PhysicsFest - the annual WM Physics department open house, and will share some of the crowd favorite activities and events. Since the event is mostly organized by undergraduate students, I will share my thoughts on why participating in outreach provides many benefits for student organizers and volunteers.
A cart on a horizontal track attached to a string which goes over a pulley with a weight hanging on the other end is a well known acceleration problem. But what happens if two carts facing each other are attached to the ends of a string with the weight in the middle? The string is supported by two pulleys on both sides of the weight an equal distance away, and the weight falls into a gap in...
PhysTEC (Physics Teacher Education Coalition), a joint effort of the American Physical Society (APS) and the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT), aims to address the severe national shortage of qualified high school physics teachers. Supported by a PhysTEC capacity-building grant, a faculty member at Delaware State University—an HBCU—has developed a collaborative partnership with...
I recently participated in the Congressional Visits Day (CVD) program co-sponsored by the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) and the American Astronomical Society (AAS), stepping out of the classroom to advocate directly on Capitol Hill. In this presentation, I will share key takeaways regarding the major issues facing physics and astronomy research and education at the federal...
Physics courses appropriately emphasize rigorous problem solving, mathematical reasoning, laboratory skills, and examinations. Universal Design for Learning (UDL), specifically Multiple Means of Action and Expression, encourages providing students with varied ways to demonstrate their learning. In physics, however, instructors may be hesitant to expand the ways students demonstrate mastery...
Participants in this Make and Take session will construct four different projects. The first is a simple device that converts a pen laser that produces a point laser into a line laser that can be used to demonstrate many physics principles. Next a corner box will be constructed alongside a total internal reflection demonstration model that can be related to many practical everyday...
This year, programming changed dramatically. I will share my experiences and outlook on teaching computational physics at this amazing moment in history. I am currently teaching both a sophomore-level course "Computational Methods for Physics and Engineering" and a senior-level "Advanced Computational Physics"; and I will talk about how AI use relates to both of these courses.
The lack of proper test taking strategies is a source of much anxiety in teens and lower scores than what reflects true understanding. Especially in technical subjects like Physics. Over nearly a decade in the classroom and multiple sciences I have devised a universal testing strategy that helps unlock long term memory and reduce anxiety. I will walk attendees through how the strategy works...
For several years I have used Descartes's and Huygens's pre-Newtonian collision rules as writing-and-reasoning exercises in introductory physics, asking students two questions: does the rule seem right, and can you show whether it agrees with momentum conservation? While searching for the full-text of Huygens's primary source "Concerning the motion of colliding bodies", I came across a...
Every introductory physics teachers knows the frustration of a student saying "just tell me what to plug in!" If we want to move our students towards a deeper conceptual understanding of physics, we have to move beyond giving plug and chug type tasks. In this presentation, I will give you more than 30 types of learning tasks that can be used with any physics content, along with examples and...
A common observation of physics faculty and professionals hiring physics graduates is that undergraduate students have deficient physics-specific writing skills. Underlying issues include the fact that students are not often exposed to authentic writing experiences as part of their curriculum, and physics faculty may not feel qualified to teach writing. Scholarship focused on writing transfer,...
Spin is typically the first encounter students have with intrinsically quantum degrees of freedom, yet its mathematical formalism is often postulated in an abstract manner that removes it from its experimental roots. We present a sophomore-level instructional approach in which the spin-1/2 formalism is developed directly from experimentally motivated phenomena. Beginning with Stern–Gerlach...
Grading open-ended physics work is tedious, time-consuming, and impractical for large courses. With the emergence of large language models (LLMs) and their ongoing improvements in problem-solving capabilities, a question arises: Can AI meaningfully evaluate students’ conceptual explanations in complex domains such as quantum mechanics? This research study examines AI-assisted grading by...
Quantum Mechanics is the upper-level undergraduate course that is often the most challenging in the core curriculum for physics majors. While most courses follow the more traditional track of starting with Schrödinger’s Equation and wave functions in position space, a recent trend favors an alternate approach that instead exposes students to simple spin-½ systems at the beginning. In the...
A method for multiple-choice questions is presented that—by focusing on the elimination of wrong choices—considers varying levels of student (mis)understanding, offers partial credit, and allows for simple, automated grading, just like a conventional method
Meet up with other high school physics teachers to network, share ideas, and build community.
Physics Education Research aims to investigate the teaching and learning of University-level physics through qualitative and quantitative methods. Dr. Christensen’s work extends this work across the boundaries of Mathematics and Physics, investigating what mathematicians and physicists value about mathematics, as well as how math is taught in math classes compared with how physics classes...
In recent years, the growing number of incoming freshmen who struggle with math placement has led to concerns about retention and on-time graduation rates for students in physics and engineering. To address these issues, VCU Physics recently changed the math requirements for our calculus-based “University Physics” sequence. In this talk, I will share early findings on student performance...
How can we use our physics classrooms to address scientific misinformation? A renewed vision of scientific literacy emphasizes how citizens interact with scientific knowledge, institutions, and expertise. The breadth of this challenge for educators is daunting. This talk will address what students and instructors need to learn to navigate scientific information and expertise as competent...
This very low-cost vertical force table produces excellent results (less that 2% error) which relates the equilibrium of two forces to the weight applied and reinforces to students the application of vectors both in the classroom and in everyday life. Setup is easy and students can change the settings in seconds allowing them to examine different vector scenarios.
Physics is traditionally a junior or senior class, often treated as an elective in public schools, typically requiring algebra two as a corequisite. In Albemarle County, we have begun a new program where all incoming freshmen take physics regardless of mathematical progression. I will be going over the goals and benefits of a physics first program, and how we deal with the challenges that come with it.
- Hurdy Gurdy (1 min) How the Hurdy Gurdy can demonstrate mechanical acoustic coupling
- DMV Reaction Drop Card (1 min) The DMV reaction card is used to determine the reaction time of students. Students can use this to calculate the distance travelled before hitting the brakes.
- The Inverse Relationship (1 min) A very effective demonstration that helps students visualize how distance...
Virtual Science Teachers creates free, ready-to-use digital resources that help learners explore phenomena, analyze data, and support explanations with evidence. This fast-paced presentation will demonstrate a physics-focused gradual graph reveal and highlight VST Graph Skill Builders, simulations, graphing tools, interactives, and bell ringers. Attendees will learn about a free and curated...
This session features two classroom‑ready demonstrations drawn from particle‑physics–inspired QuarkNet activities. Participants will model radioactive decay using dice to explore half‑life, mean lifetime, and the probabilistic nature of particle processes. They will also reenact Rutherford’s indirect‑measurement technique by rolling marbles toward hidden targets and using collision statistics...
In what has been called the second quantum revolution, quantum information science and technology (QIST) is moving out of the labs and into commercial space. Investments and efforts of government, industry, and higher education have accelerated. Economic development reports more than 2 job openings for every qualified individual. As quantum technology emerges, who has access to the educational...
Drawing on over a decade of teaching, the question motivating this talk emerged most clearly from my experience with large-enrollment introductory physics courses. During six semesters as a member of an instructional team at Michigan Technological University, these courses collectively served nearly 1,000 students from diverse science and engineering disciplines. The question has become newly...
Sound is a part of everyone's daily life. It is an oscillation produced from pressure waves
that travels through gases, liquids, and solids. Although sound and light are both waves,
sound waves are not visible to the human eye. This demo will visualize the frequencies
and amplitudes of sound waves by reflecting light off of a vibrating surface. To do this a
balloon is stretched onto an...
