Physics News Archives - Page 6 of 7

13 Best Paying College Majors

Posted on July 27, 2011 by admin — 2 Comments ↓

The Huffington Post recently published an article on the 13 best-paying college majors. Note that 12 of the 13 require a strong physics and science background, and all 13 require strong math skills. Thanks to Louis Carusone of Eastridge High School for sharing this article and link. You can find the entire article online at the Huffington Post. I have summarized their data below:

Major	Median Starting Pay	Mid-Career Median Pay
Petroleum Engineering	$97,900	$155,000
Chemical Engineering	$64,500	$109,000
Electrical Engineering	$61,300	$103,000
Materials Science / Eng	$60,400	$103,000
Aerospace Engineering	$60,700	$102,000
Computer Engineering	$61,800	$101,000
Physics	$49,800	$101,000
Applied Mathematics	$52,600	$98,600
Computer Science	$56,600	$97,900
Nuclear Engineering	$65,100	$97,800
Biomedical Engineering	$53,800	$97,800
Economics	$47,300	$94,700
Mechanical Engineering	$58,400	$94,500

Book Review: Just Enough Physics by @rjallain #physicsed #scichat

Posted on May 29, 2011 by admin — No Comments ↓

Prof. Allain has taken his Dot.Physics introductory blog posts and formed them into a fun and entertaining e-book covering the basic principles of mechanics. From his initial advice not to use the e-book as a table leg prop to his discussion of differential equations in chapter 15, Just Enough Physics provides students a light, simple, and concise explanation of algebra-based physics.

Further, Just Enough Physics actually includes directions on basic VPython programming for simple physics simulations… if you’re like me and have been reticent to dive into simulation and programming, this text provides several code snippets with clear explanations that entice you to see what you can do by way of numerical simulation and computer modeling.

As a high school physics teacher and engineering professor, I highly recommend this book for beginning physics students of any age.

Snap Circuits for E&M Labs #edtech #physicsed

Posted on March 13, 2011 by admin — 9 Comments ↓

One of my frustrations in teaching introductory electricity and magnetism to high school students involves discrete component labs. Ohm’s Law is fairly straightforward – a voltage source, a couple wires, and a voltmeter and ammeter will do the job nicely. Series circuits take a bit more time, adding a few more resistors and connecting wires, and now the students have to move their voltmeter around. By the time we get to parallel circuits, however, students have trouble translating the circuit diagram on the page to the mess of wires they see in their lab stations. Then, throw in a moving voltmeter and ammeter, and the educational value starts to decline as the frustration level rises.

One potential solution is the use of breadboards to better organize student circuits. I’ve had some success moving from stray wires to breadboards, but especially in the more general-level physics courses, I spend more time trying to explain the connections in the breadboard and why it works, and students never make the connection to their circuit schematics because they can’t see inside the breadboard.

Recently, with the assistance of the IEEE Electron Device Society and RIT’s Microelectronic Outreach Program, I was able to play with an Elenco Snap Circuit SC-750 Student Training Program kit for two weeks. These kits feature a variety of discrete components placed into snap-on components which make it easy to visualize and observe circuit schematics on the actual circuits being built. The kit includes resistors, transistors, Ics, switches, motors, capacitors, relays, transformers, 7-segment display, diodes, etc.

At first glance, I was impressed with the kit case and foam inserts for storing parts – not only does this keep the kit neat and organized, in a lab situation where I have 120 students playing with the kits throughout the day, it makes it very easy to verify that all components have been put away and stored properly, almost “resetting” the kit for the next group. The kit also comes with five project books, a teacher guide, and three student guides.

The project books themselves are straightforward, showing the final completed circuit put together on a snap-in structural foundation. For educational purposes, though, I would have liked to have seen an actual circuit schematic, and perhaps a few words explaining why each circuit works as it does. It’s great as an electronics toy, but building and documenting laboratory learning experiences would be a fun project for a single or small group of educators.

Components-wise, there were many more components in the kit than I would require, even for my AP-C Physics classes. The integrated circuits, though fun for projects, are not described in detail, and function almost like a magic “black box” in the kits. An analog meter is included, but scale ranges and functions are not described. From a resistor standpoint, the kit has a few resistors of fairly wide-ranges, whereas basic series and parallel circuit labs would probably benefit from 3-4 resistors in each order of magnitude to allow students to easily verify Kirchhoff’s Current Law and Kirchhoff’s Voltage Law for whatever configuration they are placed in. The solar cells are a nice touch, but the equipment for turning a PC into an oscilloscope is a bit much for our high school physics classes, although perhaps beneficial to other groups.

Another terrific improvement opportunity would be the inclusion of a wound hollow solenoid. Throw in a neodymium magnet and the kit could be easily extended for a variety of electromagnetic induction experiments. Throw in two solenoids (concentric?) and some iron cores and you can also explore transformers in a bit more detail. The meter included is a bit lacking, so inclusion of a cheap multimeter and a few more snap-in flexible wires would be of tremendous benefit. Finally, although the kit does include an “open” component in which you can snap in discrete components, having a few more of those could prove useful for extending projects.

In short, I see the Elenco Snap Circuits as a terrific start toward an “E&M Lab in a Kit” offering. The kits are designed and marketed as electronic toys, and function very well in that capacity. My students had a great time playing with the kit and building various projects, but all stated that the educational value could be greatly enhanced with true schematics and descriptions of the “What” and “Why” of the projects.

Our demonstration / trial is being continued in other classrooms at a variety of grade levels, and will be fed back to Elenco as an opportunity to expand their market from electronic toys into educational tools. I would like to thank the IEEE, RIT Microelectronic Outreach, and Elenco Electronics Inc. for the opportunity to be a part of this program.

APlusPhysics Regents Course Tutorials Completed!

Posted on March 3, 2011 by admin — No Comments ↓

Whew! It’s been a long and challenging project, but I am absolutely thrilled to announce that the APlusPhysics.com Regents Physics course tutorial has been completed (well, at least the first revision). I’ve been done with the tutorial less than 20 minutes, and already I’m making notes on additions, modifications, and enhancements, but I think it’s worth taking a moment to step back and look at everything that’s been accomplished.

A year ago I had never created a web page, and didn’t know the difference between HTML and ELMO. But, with a vision to create a resource specific to the needs of the students I see every day, and with the support of friends and family, I started picking up books, reading web articles, and making many, many designs on paper to script out what I wanted to build.

As of this morning, with the upload of a question bank of more than 500 Regents Physics questions from past years, I’m amazed at how much has been created. The APlusPhysics Regents Tutorials include objectives, explanations, sample problems, FLASH animations, integrated quizzes, videos… just about everything you could ask for in an online resource tailored to a specific course. Further, as the projected progressed, I began to see potential for this resource being used outside my classroom and even outside the scope of NY’s Regents curriculum, and have begun building in further topics of interest to many introductory physics students. Even better, I learned the Regents Physics material better than I could have ever imagined (there’s nothing like digging through 10 years of old exams to help you really learn a course inside and out).

I wanted this website to be an original work, so not only did I learn webpage design, I also had to learn vector and bitmap graphics, flash animation, basic flash programming, and even a little bit of PHP to make everything work in the background. For an artistically-challenged science guy, I’m pretty amazed with the quality of illustrations I was able to create after reading a few books on the modern tools available!

In support of the static web tutorials, the site also features a discussion forum based on the latest version of vBulletin, integrated student and educator blogs, course notes, calendars, project activities, and even hosting for old episodes of the Physics in Action Podcast. So what’s next?

I’ve said from the beginning I want to follow up the Regents Physics tutorials with the AP-1 and AP-2 curricula, but with delays from the College Board, we’re all still waiting to find out exactly what those courses will entail (and to what depth). I have been considering creating a tutorial for AP-C physics, but I’m not certain I see as great a need for such a site, as the AP-C course mirrors many introductory university physics courses, and that material is already widely available throughout the web. With these challenges in mind, I think I’m on hold for creating static tutorial pages for the time being.

This feels like a blessing in disguise, however, as I’ve been quite excited to dive into several other projects. First, I want to expand the build out the Semiconductor Technology Enrichment Program (STEP), a program designed to take the weeks in class after the AP Physics exams and introduce students to basic semiconductor physics and micro/nano technology. Second, I need to spend time planning on the details of the Skills Based Grading (SBG) program I’m planning on implementing in my Regents Physics courses next year. Third, I’d like to continue my work to pre-record video lessons of all the major topics in the Regents Physics course, with the ultimate goal of spending in-class time working on hands-on lab activities, as well as supporting students individually and in small groups, and minimizing the less-effective entire-class-instruction time. Finally, several students have inquired as to whether I might take the course content material on APlusPhysics and expand it into a written mini-book / synopsis for the Regents Physics course. Though initially hesitant, the more I think about it, the more I find value in creation of the written “APlusPhysics’s Guide to Regents Physics.” And oh, by the way, did I mention the list of website enhancements I’ve already started on?

The question, then, is where to start. I oftentimes prioritize items both by “bang for the buck” as well as cost to implement. SBG work will largely occur in late spring and early summer due to some outside interests and external timing constraints. The STEP program may find some external funding in a month or so, and if I can get paid to work on something, why not wait until there’s a bit of income for my time? That really leaves the printed physics guidebook, video mini-lessons, and website revisions. As much as I try to deny it, I know I’ll be working on website revisions by tonight, in tandem with my next project. So which to tackle next, the video mini-lessons, or the printed guidebook? Or both? Would love to hear your feedback and thoughts!

And, as with any endeavor of such scale, allow me to again thank all my supporters, colleagues, family members and contributors. This is a huge milestone for APlusPhysics and the culmination of hundreds of hours of frustration and effort, which has already paid for itself in learning and confidence. I’ve come out all the better for it, and I hope this resource helps others say the same.