As of 2023 we have taught more than 24,000 students over the course of 106 events using the Wide Area Classroom, a novel distributed teaching platform. This has been a successful effort gauged by several important metrics. We describe both the technical and logistical structure of these events as well as the specific HPC curriculums which have proven to be most popular.
We explore the idea of integrating machine learning (ML) with high performance computing (HPC)-driven simulations to address challenges in using simulations to teach computational science and engineering courses. We demonstrate that a ML surrogate, designed using artificial neural networks, yields predictions in excellent agreement with explicit simulation, but at far less time and computing costs. We develop a web application on nanoHUB that supports both HPC-driven simulation and the ML surrogate methods to produce simulation outputs. This tool is used for both in-classroom instruction and f…
Flipped classroom approach has gained attention for educational practitioners and researchers in recent years. In contrast with traditional classroom, in flipped classroom, students gather basic knowledge out of class, so that class time can be used by them to engage in active learning experience. While rich body of research has been investigated the effectiveness of flipped classroom, yet little is known about student's perspective towards the implementation of flipped classroom, especially for non-mathematics students that enroll statistics course. This study aims to describe pre-service Eng…
The twenty-first century is the century of encounter of the different races, nations, cultures, religions and customs. In the twenty-first century, man is more and more exposed to various influences that leave a trace on the entire sphere of his social life, including education. Given that education systems play one of the key roles in the formation of both physically and morally healthy communities, it is of an enormous importance to analyze the phenomenon of a classroom composed of culturally diverse students.
This study aims to produce a classroom management application based on a database of student learning styles to identify and analyze student learning styles and match them with appropriate learning methods and media. This application is expected to facilitate classroom management according to student preferences. This research was research and development. Respondents were 198 people consisting of 30 teachers and 168 students at a Junior High School in South Bangka Indonesia. The data analysis used quantitative data analysis techniques using descriptive statistics. The results showed that the …
We report results from a study designed to identify links between undergraduate students' views about experimental physics and their engagement in multiweek projects in lab courses. Using surveys and interviews, we explored whether students perceived particular classroom activities to be features of experimental physics practice. We focused on 18 activities, including maintaining lab notebooks, fabricating parts, and asking others for help. Interviewees identified activities related to project execution as intrinsic to experimental physics practice based on high prevalence of those activities …
Theories developed by Tinto and Nora identify academic performance, learning gains, and involvement in learning communities as significant facets of student engagement that, in turn, support student persistence. Collaborative learning environments, such as those employed in the Modeling Instruction introductory physics course, provide structure for student engagement by encouraging peer-to-peer interactions. Because of the inherently social nature of collaborative learning, we examine student interactions in the classroom using network analysis. We use centrality---a family of measures that qu…
Hierarchical Linear Modeling Approach to Measuring the Effects of Class Size and Other Classroom Characteristics on Student Learning in an Active-Learning Based Introductory Physics Course
Transforming High School Physics with Modeling and Computation
Engage to Excel（PCAST）报告，国家研究委员会的K-12科学教育框架以及下一代科学标准都呼吁将物理课堂转变为教学生真正科学实践的环境。这项工作描述了一个这样的尝试，以改变高中物理课堂的早期阶段。具体而言，一系列的模型构建和计算建模练习试点在九年级物理第一教室。学生使用的计算进行了评估，使用监考编程作业，学生通过高级编程环境（VPython）制作并讨论了运动中的棒球的计算模型。学生对计算及其与力学的联系的看法是通过一篇书面文章和一系列有声思维访谈来评估的。这项初步研究显示了计算的能力，连接科学实践的高中科学课堂。
Data from the Kepler satellite were analysed using the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST) database. With the participation of 53 students, we determined the parameters of the HAT-P-7b (Kepler-2) exoplanet system (transit duration, planet-to-star radius ratio, orbital period, semi-major axis, and star mass). To achieve the result, we used approaches that are easy to understand and apply to secondary school students as well. In this way, they were able to gain insight into the essential process of light curve analysis.
It is well documented that students sometimes resist active learning techniques. A recent study showed how students believed that they learned less in active learning classrooms than they learned in lectures, even though they learned more. In this article, we describe a method for introducing active learning methods to college students that is based on a preparation for future learning approach. The students who received this introduction to active learning appeared to be more receptive to group work in the classroom than students who started the course with an explanation of the reasons and v…
We present a simple activity based on the liquid-drop model which allows secondary school students to explore the uses of mathematical models and gain an intuitive understanding of the concept of binding energy, and in particular the significance of positive binding energy. Using spreadsheets provided as Supplementary Material, students can perform simple manipulations on the different coefficients of the model to understand the role of each of its five terms. Students can use the spreadsheets to determine model parameters by optimising the agreement with real atomic mass data. %This will subs…
