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Register a new userTeaching the Action Principle in Optics
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Refath Bari
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The Principle of Least Action (PLA) in Optics can be confusing to students, in part due to the Calculus of Variations, but also because of the subtleties of the actual principle. To address this problem, three simulations of the PLA are presented so students can learn the Action Principle in an experiential and interactive manner. Simulations such as MITs OpenRelativity and PhETs Quantum Mechanics have become a popular pedagogical tool to demystify abstract physical phenomena. This paper aims to help undergraduate students understand the Action Principle by introducing three numerical simulations: light reflecting in equal angles, light refracting in different mediums, and light moving between two points in the least time. The interactive simulations discussed in this paper are available here.
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This is the third series of the lab manuals for virtual teaching of introductory physics classes. This covers fluids, waves, thermodynamics, optics, interference, photoelectric effect, atomic spectra, and radiation concepts. A few of these labs can be used within Physics I and a few other labs within Physics II depending on the syllabi of Physics I and II classes. Virtual experiments in this lab manual and our previous Physics I (arXiv.2012.09151) and Physics II (arXiv.2012.13278) lab manuals were designed for 2.45 hrs long lab classes (algebra-based and calculus-based). However, all the virtual labs in these three series can be easily simplified to align with conceptual type or short time physics lab classes as desired. All the virtual experiments were based on open education resource (OER) type simulations. Virtual experiments were designed to simulate in-person physical laboratory experiments. Student learning outcomes (understand, apply, analyze and evaluate) were studied with detailed lab reports per each experiment and end of the semester written exam which was based on experiments. Special emphasis was given to study the student skill development of computational data analysis.
Despite the negative stereotypes still overshadowing community colleges, scores of freshmen nationwide are deliberately beginning their college careers at these institutions, and the numbers are increasing more than twice as fast as those of four-year schools. Approximately 300,000 of these students take introductory astronomy each year as the last formal exposure to science most of them will ever have, and at least one-third of these students do so at a community or two-year college. The importance of investing in and devoting resources and training to serve this population - everyone, demographically speaking - cannot be overstated. Yet the overwhelming majority of those who do serve this population are lacking in both areas. The community colleges heavy emphasis on teaching and student success creates both challenges and opportunities that educators must meet head-on using a variety of methods and innovative strategies, teamwork and faculty support systems, and clever workarounds. Here, we introduce both the student and faculty populations, examine some characteristics of both populations, and offer some advice for those looking to teach introductory astronomy at a community college.
Why is modern physics still today, more than 100 years after its birth, the privilege of an elite of scientists and unknown for the great majority of citizens? The answer is simple, since modern physics is in general not present in the standard physics curricula, except for some general outlines, in the final years of some secondary schools. But, is it possibile to teach modern physics in primary school? Is it effective? And, also, is it engaging for students? These are the simple questions which stimulated our research, based on an intervention performed in the last year of Italian primary school, focused on teaching gravity, according to the Einsteinian approach in the spirit of the Einstein First project, an international collaboration which aims to teach school age children the concepts of modern physics. The outcomes of our research study are in agreement with previous findings obtained in Australian schools, thus they contribute to validate them and show that there is no cultural effect, since the approach works in different education systems. Finally, our results are relevant also in terms of retention and prove that the students involved really understand the key ideas.
The study of the motion of a rigid body on a plane (RBP motion) is usually one of the most challenging topics that students face in introductory physics courses. In this paper, we discuss a couple of problems which are typically used in basic physics courses, in order to highlight some aspects related to RBP motion which are not usually well understood by physics students. The first problem is a pendulum composed of a rod and disk. The angular frequency of the pendulum is calculated in two situations: disk fixed to the rod and disk free to spin. A detailed explanation of the change in the angular frequency from one case to another is given. The second problem is a ladder which slides touching a frictionless surface. We use this problem to highlight the fact that the contact forces applied by the surface perform translational and rotational work despite that the total mechanical energy of the ladder is conserved.
In its most general form, a `secret objective is any inconsistency between the experimental reality and the information provided to students prior to starting work on an experiment. Students are challenged to identify the secret objectives and then given freedom to explore and understand the experiment, thus encouraging and facilitating genuine inquiry elements in introductory laboratory courses. Damping of a simple pendulum is used as a concrete example to demonstrate how secret objectives can be included. We also discuss the implications of the secret objectives method and how this can provide a link between the concepts of problem based learning and inquiry style labs.
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