1,721,098 research outputs found
2D simulation of wave-particle coupling inspired by walking droplets
Full text linkIn recent years, a fluid dynamics phenomenon has been observed that shows interesting analogies with several quantum mechanical ones. Under specific experimental conditions, a liquid droplet released on a vibrating liquid persists in jumping, forming a localized wave-particle, and its behaviour resembles that of a de Broglie wave-particle. In this paper we discuss a simplified model for this phenomenon and the results of numerical fluid dynamics simulations implemented on the basis of the model. In spite of the relevant simplifying assumptions of our approach, we observe that a wave-droplet coupling is obtained and the droplet travels at nearly constant velocity, as it is observed in experiments. This suggests that the model describes the basic features of the phenomenon well, and that the simulation could be used to introduce undergraduate students to the study of quantum mechanics
Conceptual Understanding of Newtonian Mechanics Through Cluster Analysis of FCI Student Answers
No full textThe Force Concept Inventory is a multiple-choice test and is one of the most popular and most analyzed concept inventories. It is used to investigate student understanding of Newtonian mechanics. A structured approach to data analysis can transform it in a “diagnostic” instrument that can validate inferences about student thinking. In this paper, we show how cluster analysis methods can be used to investigate patterns of student conceptual understanding and supply useful details about the relationships among student concepts and misconceptions. The answers given to the FCI questionnaire by a sample of freshman engineering have been analyzed. The analysis takes into account the decomposition of the force concept into the conceptual dimensions suggested by the FCI authors and successive studies. Our approach identifies latent structures within the student response patterns and groups students characterized by similar correct answers, as well as by non-correct answers. These response patterns give us new insights into the relationships between the student force concepts and their ability to analyze motions. Our results show that cluster analysis proved to be a useful tool to identify latent structures within the student conceptual understanding. Such structures can supply diagnostic insights for classroom pedagogy and teaching approaches
Pre-service Physics Teacher Education at Primary and Secondary Levels
No full textPre-service teacher education is important in preparing future teachers who can effectively support student learning. In order to do this, pre-service teachers must acquire, among other things, teaching-oriented content knowledge and a posi-tive stance with regard to teaching and motivation towards teaching. Many more issues are linked to pre-service teacher education. In this paper, we discuss some issues raised and answers proposed about this subject during the GIREP Malta 2021 Webinar Work Group 5 discussions regarding pre-service physics teacher education
Estudio en el uso de soportes informacionales en estudiantes de grado de la Facultad de Ingeniería de la Universidad Nacional de Cuyo y de la Universidad Juan Agustín Maza de la Provincia de Mendoza
Full text linkEl interés investigativo sobre el uso de los soportes informacionales por parte de los estudiantes, en el contexto académico universitario tuvo su aparición en nuestro país en la segunda mitad del siglo pasado. El mismo surge para contribuir al mejoramiento de la formación de los usuarios en el mejor uso de los recursos de las nuevas Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicación (TICs) y los tradicionales existentes en las bibliotecas.
En este marco, y con el mismo objetivo de formar a los usuarios de las bibliotecas en el mejor uso de los recursos existentes, esta investigación, pretende describir y determinar cuáles son los hábitos de preferencia en el uso de soportes informacionales, tanto visuales, audiovisuales y sonoros que utilizan frecuentemente los estudiantes de las carreras de Ingeniería de la Universidad Nacional de Cuyo y la Universidad Juan Agustín Maza.
La decisión del presente estudio, surge por la experiencia diaria laboral que evidencia una amplitud, simplicidad y variedad de recursos en nuestras unidades de información, donde se denota una tendencia creciente a los nuevos soportes de la comunicación e información y a cambios en la mecánica de uso de las bibliotecas por parte de los usuarios entrando en escena nuevas herramientas de consulta y de búsqueda.Fil: Fazio, Claudio. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Educación.Fil: Rojas, Patricio. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Educación
A teaching proposal for the didactics of Special Relativity: the spacetime globe
No full textSpecial Relativity introduces students to Modern Physics, whose importance in the high school is increasing. Nevertheless its teaching and learning is a critical issue. Different solutions have been developed to overcome the encountered difficulties. In this paper we describe the spacetime globe, a mechanical instrument that allows to experience Special Relativity hands-on. We show how it is possible to treat all the main phenomena foreseen by Special Relativity with simple laboratory experiences, using the idea of Minkowski’s spacetime diagrams. The aim is to develop the use of geometrical approach in learning Special Relativity in high schools
SEEING REALITY THROUGH EINSTEIN'S EYES: A TEACHING PROPOSAL FOR SPECIAL RELATIVITY
No full textIn recent years in Italian High Schools there has been a strong boost to deal with Special Relativity, a topic which the Italian guidelines for teaching consider fundamental for Modern Physics courses. This argument is a critical issue not only for the students but also for teachers.
Analyzing the results of a questionnaire we submitted last July to Italian teachers, we found out that their primary urgency is to develop laboratorial experiences for Special Relativity.
However, one of the most relevant features of this theory is that it concerns with high velocities and this does not allow to easily perform experiments.
In this talk, we present the results of an experimentation regarding the teaching of Special Relativity we performed in last year classes of High Schools, namely those specializing in scientific studies.
The main innovation of our project consists of a mechanical instrument we use to explain Special Relativity. This tool is a big spacetime diagram in which each event on the grid can be moved along certain hyperbolas-shaped tracks, that represent the surface of constant interval.
Thus, one physically and mechanically performs Lorentz’s transformation by hands, exploring the effects of a change of the reference frame. Teachers and students can deal “by eye” with unusual phenomena as the loss of simultaneity, times dilation, lengths contraction, relativistic addition of velocities and Doppler’s effect which are the main topics of interest for High Schools.
The idea of using this instrument as a didactic tool was presented successfully for the first time to a group of fifty teachers during an online meeting of the formation course “Fisicamente” organized by our Department (at the end of December 2020) in the context of the National project “Piano Lauree Scientifiche”.
In our experimentation, we illustrated to the students the Special Relativity’s phenomenology by using this instrument and evaluated the effectiveness of such an innovative and unusual approach by submitting two questionnaires to the students, one before and the second after the lectures
Vedere la realtà con gli occhi di Einstein: uno strumento per l’insegnamento della Relatività Ristretta
Full text linkLa relatività ristretta è ancora un nodo critico nell’insegnamento della fisica nella scuola media superiore italiana.
L’impossibilità della teoria di mostrare semplici riscontri quotidiani impedisce di strutturare esperienze didattiche laboratoriali, limitando così l’insegnamento alle sole lezioni frontali.
In questo intervento verranno presentati i risultati di una sperimen- tazione di insegnamento della relatività ristretta con quattro classi di quinto liceo scientifico. In questo progetto è stato utilizzato uno stru- mento meccanico che consente di spiegare e illustrare in modo visuale le trasformazioni di Lorentz e le loro conseguenze principali
A study on science teaching efficacy beliefs during pre-service elementary training
Full text linkTwo science teaching workshops for students of the elementary teacher education degree course at the University of Palermo, Italy are discussed, one based on inquiry-based methods and the other on "traditional" teaching methods. A questionnaire aimed to understand the teaching styles preferred by students, their reasons for learning/teaching science, and their beliefs about the difficulties a teacher faces when planning and trying out science teaching activities in the class were completed by the students before the first workshop, at its end, and the end of the second workshop. The answers given by the students were studied using cluster analysis methods. The results of the analysis of answers given to initial and intermediate questionnaires indicate that the students recognize the importance of teaching scientific subjects in elementary school. However, the self-perception of their abilities to effectively teach science is negative, both before and after attending the "traditional" type teaching workshop. After doing the inquiry-based teaching workshop and holding several days of a science fair, most of the students' negative beliefs have changed into positive ones. A better general understanding of the fundamental role played by the teacher in encouraging the natural curiosity of children and offering scientific activities based on everyday life experiences was observed
A new educational approach to surface tension and Young-Laplace law by using computer-based simulations
Full text linkHere we present a pedagogical approach to surface tension phenomena based on a novel mesoscopic fluid model. We show that computer simulations based on this model can provide quantitative results that are consistent with experimental results. We simulate the formation of a two-dimensional liquid droplet without gravity and obtain its surface tension as a result by also verifying Young-Laplace's law. By controlling some simulation parameters, students can understand step by step how some physical quantities (e.g., the intensity of the interaction between two fluid particles) can affect the behaviour of fluids. This approach will provide students with an explicative model of surface phenomena
A Low-Cost Smartphone Polarimeter and Malus’s Law
Full text linkThe use of smartphones in the introductory physics laboratory has recently received attention since it provides the possibility to perform a variety of didactic experiments. Smartphones equipped with several built-in sensors, controlled by appropriate software, allow students to explore physical phenomena and carry out various measurements of physical quantities. In this article, after a brief historical introduction about the discovery of light polarization and the development of the polariscope/polarimeter, we describe a low-cost and easily constructed smartphone polarimeter that provides a quantitative way of experimenting with light polarization. In particular, we discuss a didactic activity concerning the use of the smartphone ambient-light sensor to measure the intensity of light coming through two properly oriented polarizing filters, which follows the well-known Malus’s law
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