Effectiveness of flip teaching on engineering students' performance in the physics lab
José A. Gómez-Tejedor, Ana Vidaurre, Isabel Tort-Ausina, José Molina-Mateo, María-Antonia Serrano, José M. Meseguer-Dueñas, Rosa M. Martínez Sala, Susana Quiles, Jaime Riera
The progressive introduction of the flip teaching (FT) instructional model into higher education has accelerated in recent years. The FT methodology seems to be especially suitable for laboratory practice sessions: before the lab session the students are given documents and videos that explain the theoretical contents and the experimental procedure. When this material is studied in advance, the practice session can be devoted to the discussion, clarification and practical application of the acquired knowledge. This paper describes the effect of the FT methodology on the students' academic performance when it was applied to the laboratory practice in two subjects, Physics and Electricity, of a technical degree. The laboratory and final grades of these subjects were compared in four consecutive years. The characteristics of all four years were quite similar, except that the traditional teaching method (TM) was used in two, while FT was applied in the other two. The statistical analysis shows that the academic results of the students were better in both subjects under FT than those obtained using TM, and that the difference was statistically significant.
A flipped classroom was introduced in pre-service education in order to promote MM and the quality of their use in the teaching and learning process in laboratory. The course, Physics Lab Didactics, promoted active learning through the direct experience of young teachers. The flipped classroom approach was presented and discussed with the aim of clarifying the teaching process and in-training teachers were invited to explore how to implement this methodology in a class after their experience. Different open source or free software were proposed (Audacity, Algodoo, GeoGebra and Tracker) with so…
We report results from a survey of lab instructors on how they adapted their courses in the transition to emergency remote teaching due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this report is to share the experiences of instructors in order to prepare for future remote teaching of labs. We include summaries of responses to help illustrate the types of lab activities that were done, learning goals for the remote labs, motivations for instructors' choices, challenges instructors faced, and ways in which instructors and students communicated. This is a first step in a larger project as part of an…
We design a Teaching laboratory experience for blind students, to measure the linear thermal expansion coefficient of an object. We use an open-source electronic prototyping platform to create interactive electronic objects, with the conversion of visual signals into acoustic signals that allow a blind student to participate at the same time as their classmates in the laboratory session. For the student it was the first time he managed to participate normally in a physics laboratory.
Teaching about measurements and showing examples of instruments' non-ideal behaviour are important in physics education. Digital multimeter input impedance analysis is perfect for this, since these instruments are easily available, precise enough, have good value/price ratio and represent modern technology. A recent paper (2018 Phys. Educ. 53 053005) demonstrates how the investigation of the input impedance of a digital multimeter can be used in education. However, we think that some more discussion is needed to make it more complete.
Most STEM students experience the introductory physics sequence in large-enrollment (N $\gtrsim$ 100 students) classrooms, led by one lecturer and supported by a few teaching assistants. This work describes methods and principles we used to create an effective "flipped classroom" in large- enrollment introductory physics courses by replacing a majority of traditional lecture time with in-class student-driven activity worksheets. In this work, we compare student learning in courses taught by the authors with the flipped classroom pedagogy versus a more traditional pedagogy. By comparing identic…
This article explains and illustrates the design of a laboratory experience for blind students to measure the inertia of simple objects, in this case, that of a disc around its axis of symmetry. Our adaptation consisted in modifying the data collection process, where we used an open-source electronic platform to convert visual signals into acoustic signals. This allows one of the blind students at our University to participate simultaneously as their classmates in the laboratory session corresponding to the mechanics unit of a standard engineering course.
When does a course count as 'inverted'? When first faced with a new teaching method, deliberate lectures may want to test it without abandoning the advantages of the established method. Aftes the experiment they have to evaluate additional benefits of the new system for teacher and student. Considering the high workload of lecturers, the help of a third party may be useful to obtain an objective assessment of the results during such a transition. At the University of Applied Sciences 'Hochschule Karlsruhe - Technik und Wirtschaft' in Germany, the SKATING project, funded by the German Federal M…
We show how builtin sensors in mobile devices can be used as portable laboratories at the service of teaching experimental sciences, especially physics, in the last years of high school and first years of university. We describe experiments that previously required expensive apparatus or were not feasible in teaching laboratories. Finally, we discuss some perspectives about the use of sensors in the physics teaching.
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 prov…
A set of virtual experiments were designed to use with introductory physics I (analytical and general) class, which covers kinematics, Newton laws, energy, momentum, and rotational dynamics. Virtual experiments were based on video analysis and simulations. Only open educational resources (OER) were used for experiments. Virtual experiments were designed to simulate in-person physical laboratory experiments. All the calculations and data analysis (analytical and graphical) were done with Microsoft excel. Formatted excel tables were given to students and step by step calculations with excel were…
Introductory electricity and magnetism lab manual was designed to use with virtual Physics II class. The lab manual consists of experiments on electrostatics, electric potential and energy, current and resistance, DC circuits, electromagnetism, and AC circuits. Virtual experiments were based on simulations. Open educational resources (OER) were used for all experiments. Virtual experiments were designed to simulate in-person physical lab experiments. Special emphasis was given to computational data analysis with excel. Formatted excel sheets per each lab were given to students and step by step…
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 virtu…
Through in-class observations of teaching assistants (TAs) and students in the lab sections of a large introductory physics course, we study which TA behaviors can be used to predict student engagement and, in turn, how this engagement relates to learning. For the TAs, we record data to determine how they adhere to and deliver the lesson plan and how they interact with students during the lab. For the students, we use observations to record the level of student engagement and pre- and post-tests of lab skills to measure learning. We find that the frequency of TA-student interactions, especiall…
Entropy is a difficult concept to teach using real-world examples. Unlike temperature, pressure, volume, or work, it's not a quantity which most students encounter in their day-to-day lives. Even the way entropy is often qualitatively described, as a measure of disorder, is incomplete and can be misleading. In an effort to address these obstacles, we have developed a simple laboratory activity, the stretching of an elastic rubber sheet, intended to give students hands-on experience with the concepts of entropy, temperature and work in both adiabatic and quasistatic processes. We present two ve…
In everyday life we encounter many complex fluids, from shear-thinning paint and toothpaste to shear-thickening starch suspensions. The study of their properties offers an opportunity for students to relate sophisticated physical concepts to their everyday experience. Modern rheology uses expensive equipment impractical for the teaching laboratory. Here we describe a rudimentary rheometer suitable for student laboratories that can demonstrate and quantify discontinuous shear thickening, the most dramatic property of complex fluids, and use it to measure the properties of starch suspensions.
We designed a Physics Teaching Lab experience for blind students to measure the wavelength of standing waves on a string. Our adaptation consisted of modifying the determination of the wavelength of the standing wave, which is usually done by visual inspection of the nodes and antinodes, using the sound volume generated by a guitar pickup at different points along the string. This allows one of the blind students at our University to participate simultaneously as their classmates in the laboratory session corresponding to the wave unit of a standard engineering course.
The room temperature compatibility of the negatively-charged nitrogen-vacancy (NV-) in diamond makes it the ideal quantum system for a university teaching lab. Here, we describe a low-cost experimental setup for coherent control experiments on the electronic spin state of the NV- center. We implement spin-relaxation measurements, optically-detected magnetic resonance, Rabi oscillations, and dynamical decoupling sequences on an ensemble of NV- centers. The relatively short times required to perform each of these experiments (<10 minutes) demonstrate the feasibility of the setup in a teaching la…
The COVID-19 impacted the teaching; indeed, both schools and universities had to shift from face-to-face to distance teaching organizing on-line lectures. Thanks to easily accessible materials, smartphones physics apps, on-line toolsand devices, it's possible to perform laboratory practice even in this period. In this paper, a method to measure the gravitational acceleration by oscillation of a simple pendulum, using Arduino board, is presented.
AI-Assisted Assessment of Experimental Physics Laboratory Reports: Potential, Limitations, and Support for Teaching Practice
Consejo de Formación en Educación, Administración Nacional de Educación Pública（教育咨询委员会，国家公共教育管理局）；Instituto de Física, Universidad de la República（乌拉圭共和国大学物理研究所）
One of the difficulties related to the COVID-19 pandemic is the shifting from face-to-face to distance teaching. Both schools and universities had suddenly to organize on-line lectures. To perform laboratory practice even in this period, easily accessible materials, smartphones physics apps, on-line tools and devices can be used. In this paper a method to measure the gravitational acceleration studying the free falling body using Arduino board is presented.
Without any major changes, a pilot version of a physical science lab course was able to continue when the COVID-19 crisis necessitated the abrupt suspension of on-campus education. The 'Maker Lab' course, in which students conceive and set up their own experiments using affordable microcontrollers, required students to follow the entire arc of an empirical research cycle twice. The decision for and facilitation of such open-inquiry projects was based on and warranted by the literature on teaching the process of experimental research and methods of scientific research. The flipped classroom app…
Authentic research as a method of teaching science is gaining popularity in high schools and colleges. To make this research experience most efficient, students need adequate preparation in traditional science courses. Existing materials available for inquiry-based teaching methods are not intended to prepare a student for independent research. We discuss principles for organization of laboratory classes with this goal in mind and provide examples that we have implemented for algebra-based physics, calculus-based physics, and honors chemistry for high school students.
Educators must make decisions about learner expectations and skills on which to focus when it comes to laboratory activities. There are various approaches but the general pattern is to encourage students to measure ordered pairs, plot a graph to establish linear dependence, and then compute the slope of the best-fit line for an eventual scientific conclusion. To assist educators when they also want to include slope uncertainty dependent upon measurement uncertainty as part of the expected analysis, we demonstrate a physical approach so that both educators and their students have a convenient r…
In this paper, the use of cost-effective, custom home experiment kits for remote teaching of first-semester introductory physics labs is described. The kit experiments were designed to match the existing onsite lab experiment learning goals and the general laboratory course learning goals in remote teaching. Additionally, a revised group project approach optimized for remote use and that leverages the kits was developed and employed. Student survey results at the end of the Summer 2020 semester indicate that the critical learning goals were met, student satisfaction with the remote lab was mai…
A bouncing rubber ball under a motion sensor is a classic of introductory physics labs. It is often used to measure the acceleration due to gravity, and can also demonstrate conservation of energy. By observing that the ball rises to a lower height upon each bounce, posing the question "what is the main source of energy loss?" and requiring students to construct their own measured values for velocity from position data, a rich lab experience can be created that results in good student discussions of proper analysis of data, and implementation of models. The payoff is student understanding that…
Physics education research has consistently shown that students have higher learning outcomes when enrolled in interactive-engagement courses. Consequently, many schools are actively reforming their introductory curricula. For courses where the interactive sections (labs, tutorials, and/or workshops) are mostly taught by graduate student teaching assistants (TAs), good TAs are instrumental to the success of the reform. Many studies have investigated specific interactions between TAs and students, but more can be learned through a holistic examination of TA-student interactions. Over the course…
The negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy (NV$^-$) center in diamond is a model quantum system for university teaching labs due to its room-temperature compatibility and cost-effective operation. Based on the low-cost experimental setup that we have developed and described for the coherent control of the electronic spin (Sewani et al.), we introduce and explain here a number of more advanced experiments that probe the electron-nuclear interaction between the \nv electronic and the \NN~and \CC~nuclear spins. Optically-detected magnetic resonance (ODMR), Rabi oscillations, Ramsey fringe experiment…
Implementing a laboratory activity involves a complex interplay among learning goals, available resources, feedback about the existing course, best practices for teaching, and an overall philosophy about teaching labs. Building on our previous work, which described a process of transforming an entire lab course, we now turn our attention to how an individual lab activity on the polarization of light was redesigned to include a renewed emphasis on one broad learning goal: modeling. By using this common optics lab as a concrete case study of a broadly applicable approach, we highlight many aspec…
A Unified and Economical Approach to Teaching Higher Secondary Electricity Experiments
Anandapur High School（安纳达布尔高中）；Prabhat Kumar College（普拉巴特库马尔学院）；Institute of Astronomy, Space and Earth Science（天文、太空与地球科学研究所）；IAPT-Midnapore College Centre for Scientific Culture（印度物理教师协会-迈纳波尔学院科学文化中心）
Physics can be seen as a conceptual approach to scientific problems, a method for discovery, but teaching this aspect of our discipline can be a challenge. We report on a first-time remote teaching experience for a computational physics third-year physics laboratory class taught in the first part of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic (March-May 2020). To convey a ``physics of data" approach to data analysis and data-driven physical modeling we used interdisciplinary data sources, with an openended ``COVID-19 data challenge" project as the core of the course. COVID-19 epidemiological data provided an i…
Physics increasingly uses Bayesian techniques for systematic data analysis and model-to-data comparison. This paper describes how these methods can be implemented to answer questions of relevance to teaching laboratories. It demonstrates the Bayesian approach to statistical modeling and model selection in a step-by-step workflow. The simple pendulum provides a demonstration with the precision commonly seen in the introductory laboratory. This is used to provide realistic, quantitative guidance for model preference between the small angle approximation and more complicated formula. This extends…
