Using Open Source Physics to Teach Physics and Astronomy

Transcription

1 Usig Ope Source Physics to Teach Physics ad Astroomy New Faculty Workshop November 2-4, 2017 America Ceter for Physics, College Park, MD Wolfgag Christia Mario Belloi Davidso College, USA ComPADRE ID: Partial fudig for OSP was obtaied through NSF grats DUE ad DUE ad Davidso College. Opiios expressed here are ot those of the AAPT, NSF or Davidso College. New Faculty Workshop -- Fall

2 OSP Breakout Sessio Brief descriptio/demo of tools Explore OSP site/materials Discussio of how to use New Faculty Workshop -- Fall

3 Ope Source Physics Resources/Tools Ope Source Physics (OSP) provides curriculum resources ad tools that egage studets i physics, computatio, ad computer modelig. Computatioal physics ad computer modelig provide studets with ew ways to uderstad, describe, explai, ad predict physical pheomea. This workshop explores the AAPT-ComPADRE OSP Collectio. Physlets are small iteractive simulatios that are desiged for the teachig physics i a web-based eviromet. Physlet Physics is a collectio of Java ad JavaScript items for the itroductory physics sequece. Easy Java Simulatios ecourages modelig ad authorig with basic programmig. EJS removes may of the complicated tasks ivolved i itegratig computatio ito the classroom allowig studets ad teachers to focus o the sciece. The EJS eviromet allows learers to explore ew physics ad to test the limitatios of the models beig used. Tracker video aalysis ad modelig tool that aalyzes video clips. Studets ca both aalyze the motio of objects ad overlay simple dyamical models o the video ad see how well the model matches the real-world. The OSP Collectio is a AAPT-ComPADRE repository where OSP-based curricular materials ca be orgaized ad shared. New Faculty Workshop -- Fall

4 Simulatio Termiology 101 Java: Programmig laguage for simulatios. Simulatios ca be ru as stad-aloe archives (jars) or as applets. Cautio: Java applets are deprecated ad oly work i small umber of browsers. All desktop Java applicatios (jar files) cotiue to fuctio if Java the JRE is istalled. JavaScript: Scriptig laguage created i 1995 ad is part of the HTML5 stadard. Recetly updated to Europea Computer Maufacturers Associatio (ECMA) Script 6. HTML5: Markup laguage stadard for the Web goig forward. Supports JavaScript, CSS, etc. Does ot support Java Applet or Flash plug-is. New Faculty Workshop -- Fall

5 How ca we use simulatios i teachig physics? User: Studets access pre-made simulatios that (hopefully) they must iteract with. Modeler: Studets are give access to a software package with a simple user iterface. Studets must the simulate the physics of a problem by modelig at a high level of abstractio. For example, addig the physics i the form of differetial equatios (rates of chage) ad iitial coditios. Programmer: Studets are give tools to program a physics example usig traditioal computatioal physics techiques. New Faculty Workshop -- Fall

6 JiTT or ILD Examples A poit source is located to the left of a mirror. You ca click-drag the poit source to ay positio (positio is give i cetimeters). 1. Fid the focal legth of the mirror. 2. Describe the techique(s) you used to determie the focal legth. OSP ComPADRE seach: Focal Legth JS (Aswer: ID 14037) Iclie Plae JS (Aswer: ID 14054) New Faculty Workshop -- Fall

7 EJS Sims & Physlet Physics Java applets but ot Java programs! have bee deprecated by Oracle ad will o loger ru i most browsers. The 3 rd Editio of Physlet Physics is beig developed usig HTML 5 + JavaScript so it ca be ru o ay platform icludig mobile devices. New Faculty Workshop -- Fall

8 How ca we use simulatios i teachig physics? User: Studets access pre-made simulatios that (hopefully) they must iteract with. Modeler: Studets are give access to a software package with a simple user iterface. Studets must the simulate the physics of a problem by modelig at a high level of abstractio. For example, addig the physics i the form of differetial equatios (rates of chage) ad iitial coditios. Programmer: Studets are give tools to program a physics example usig traditioal computatioal physics techiques. New Faculty Workshop -- Fall

9 Iteractive Egagemet Oe problem with our system of educatio is. that we reward studets for kowig the aswers..to questios they have ever asked. New Faculty Workshop -- Fall

10 Video Modelig with Tracker Dowload ad istall Tracker: Three easy steps: Load Video Set scale ad origi Shift-click to take motio data Time for a demo! New Faculty Workshop -- Fall

11 Easy Java/JavaScript Simulatios Supports Java ad JavaScript models. Exports JavaScript models as xhtml ad as epub. Demostrate how to load, modify, ad save a model. New Faculty Workshop -- Fall

12 EJS + Ioic creates ios ad Adroid Apps Examples: Compadre ID ID ad ID New Faculty Workshop -- Fall

13 How ca we use simulatios i teachig physics? User: Studets access pre-made simulatios that (hopefully) they must iteract with. Modeler: Studets are give access to a software package with a simple user iterface. Studets must the simulate the physics of a problem by modelig at a high level of abstractio. For example, addig the physics i the form of differetial equatios (rates of chage) ad iitial coditios. Programmer: Studets are give tools to program a physics example usig traditioal computatioal physics techiques. New Faculty Workshop -- Fall

14 Why might we wat to itegrate computatio ito teachig physics? Models allow studets to thik about thigs i terms of simpler artificial thigs. Computer-based modelig o o Exploratory simulatios egage the studet i ideas preseted by a expert. Studets are led to cofrot aother's view of a problem. Simulatio-based ad programmig activities are expressive exercises that require studets to exteralize their ow ideas ad assumptios ad to create cocrete represetatios that they ca reflect o. New Faculty Workshop -- Fall

15 Computatioal-Physics-Educatio Teachig should reflect curret research ad professioal practice. Every udergraduate physics major should kow about computatioal physics, icludig essetial algorithms, some level of programmig experiece, ad computatioal ways of thikig. Differetial equatios ad ODE umerical algorithms: oscillators, Newtoia orbits, ad few-body problems. PDEs ad boudary value problems: Laplace ad Poisso equatios. Stochastic models ad Mote Carlo algorithms: Radom walks ad the Isig model. Chaos theory: Logistic map ad drive pedulum. Fial project of the studet s choice. See shared filig cabiet. New Faculty Workshop -- Fall

16 Example of Computatioal Physics ad Experimetal Physics: The Swigig Atwood s Machie OSP ComPADRE Item New Faculty Workshop -- Fall

17 Modelig Cycle The goal of modelig is to teach i a studet-cetered eviromet where studets do ot solve problems i a formula-cetered way. Modelig Istructio attempts to ehace studet achievemet through a process called the Modelig Cycle, (followig Robert Karplus Learig Cycle). Throughout the Modelig Cycle we rely o studet egagemet ad explaatio as the dyamic of learig. The start of the modelig cycle is the developmet phase: q q q q q q q Qualitative descriptio Idetificatio of variables Plaig a experimet Performig the experimet Aalysis of experimet Presetatio of results Geeralizatio Although the Modelig Cycle ca be used without computers, it is well suited for computer modelig if we replace the word experimet with simulatio i the developmet phase. After the developmet phase, the model is deployed i a variety of ew physical situatios i a variety of differet ways. New Faculty Workshop -- Fall

18 Projects i ComPADRE (shared filig cabiet) Hyperio Orbit (J. Barrick) Lightig (S. Castle) Lattice gas (B. Gautier) 2D Traffic Flow (F. Healy) Loretz Gas (S. Keller) Fractals (S. Mohammed) Forest Fires (M. Mohor) Catastrophe Theory (D. Glassma) Javeli Throw (P. Wall) New Faculty Workshop -- Fall

19 Computatioal Physics Book PDF available at o cost o ComPADRE: ID 7375 Available at low cost o Amazo usig prit o demad. New Faculty Workshop -- Fall

20 Need for Digital Libraries A Google search for pedulum returs 11,600,000 pages; while pedulum simulatio returs 2,490 pages (The search for pedulum simulatio without the quotes returs 449,000 pages). Most of the simulatios (or aimatios that fake the physics) are iappropriate for teachig. There is usually o istructioal material, o support materials for teachers, ad o iformatio about how these materials are correlated to state or atioal sciece stadards. Most of these simulatios also support a passive (viewig) pedagogy versus a active (iteractig) pedagogy. I order to be effective for istructio, simulatios eed to be easy to fid, simple, adoptable, adaptable, ad coupled with support cotet for studets ad teachers. New Faculty Workshop -- Fall

21 ComPADRE We are out of the busiess of web hostig ad let the experts do it. Stadard ad Custom Library ad Web Services Coectios to NSDL Users 500 OSP Resources 800 Physlet Resources 12,000+ visitors/moth 5,000 simulatio dowloads/moth New Faculty Workshop -- Fall

22 Persoalizatio Cotet Fid Collect Sort Relate Aotate Share New Faculty Workshop -- Fall

23 OSP Support for ew techologies EJS creates epubs ad Apps that ru o mobile devices. Reader App (Adroid) (itues) New Faculty Workshop -- Fall

24 Why ope source curricular material? Shift from low-value work to high-value work. We like to say i ope source that all the easy problems have already bee solved. Lower total cost. Usig ope source curriculum shifts the cost from licesig ad purchasig to customizatio ad implemetatio. Give eough eyeballs, may problems are shallow (Lius's Law). Empirically, ope source teds to produce better quality material because more people ca cotribute. Ope source provides may advatages. First, you have the opportuity to tap the kowledge of the world's best educators, ot just those i your orgaizatio. Secod, the umber of potetially cotributors ad thus the potetial kowledge pool is orders of magitude larger. Fially, ope source curricular material gets adapted to a variety of use cases, ot just the oe the creator origially iteded. 0pe source promotes the sharig of ideas. Ope source is't a fad, or a buch of hippies experimetig with illicit substaces. New Faculty Workshop -- Fall

25 What you use will be related to the course you are teachig, your studet body, ad your expertise. I geeral the less sophisticated the studet, the more sophisticated the user iterface...ad the more iteractive, the better....keepig i mid that techology without pedagogy......is just techology. New Faculty Workshop -- Fall

26 Summary The OSP Collectio removes may of the complicated tasks ivolved i itegratig computatio ito the classroom allowig teachers to focus o the sciece. OSP provides computatioal tools, icludig a computatioal physics textbook, for our project. OSP allows learers to egage i computatioal physics modelig. OSP ecourages the sharig of curricular materials by allowig istructors to adapt existig EJS models to their particular eeds. ComPADRE supports distributio ad collaboratio by providig a iteret portal ad a web service of models that are directly dowloadable ito the EJS ad Tracker modelig tools. The OSP Collectio i ComPADRE is a repository where programs, models, ad curricular materials ca be orgaized ad shared by developers ad istructors aroud the world. New Faculty Workshop -- Fall

27 AAPT - ComPADRE Team OSP Maagig Editor: q Wolfgag Christia - Davidso College OSP ad EJS Curriculum Authors: q Mario Belloi - Davidso College q Ae Cox - Eckerd College q Fu-Kwu Hwag Natioal Taiwa Normal Uiversity q Harvey Gould - Clark Uiversity q Ja Tobochik - Kalamazoo College Tracker ad OSP Tools Developer: q Doug Brow - Cabrillo College Easy Java Simulatios Developer: q Fracisco Esquembre - Uiversidad de Murcia OSP Java Library Editor: q Wolfgag Christia - Davidso College AAPT-ComPADRE : q Bruce Maso Uiversity of Oklahoma q Lyle Barbato - AAPT q Carolie Hall - AAPT q Erwi Campbell- AAPT New Faculty Workshop -- Fall

28 Ope Source Physics Durig the past year, the OSP Collectio had over 500,000 page views ad 100,000 visitors. More importatly, there were ~50,000 items dowloaded from the Collectio ad may additioal dowloads from withi EjsS ito authorig workspaces. Durig the past year, Physlets had 15,000 sessios with a average of 6 pages viewed. New Faculty Workshop -- Fall

29 Thak your for your attetio. Dowload our work from the OSP Collectio o AAPT-ComPADRE New Faculty Workshop -- Fall