48x36 Poster Template

1
The Reformation of Introductory Physics at
University of Southern Mississippi Hiro
Shimoyama, Physics and Astronomy Department,
University of Southern Mississippi118 College
Drive, Hattiesburg, MS 39406-0001
Hirophysics.com

• Students can recall or learn mathematical
  manipulation when teachers show the steps.
• Students math skills can be improved through the
  semester.
• According to our survey, this would be possible
  when the curriculum emphasizes solving problems
  with math or some intensive practice of math.

Phase 1 Transformation (Reconstruction of
Laboratory Management System)
Abstract
Results
The graduate teaching assistants (TAs) and I have
reformed the laboratory education (especially for
life-science students) of introductory physics at
the University of Southern Mississippi last 5
years. The main goals have been to provide proper
experimentation, to create quality of curriculum,
and to establish good network among TAs and
lecture curricula. Mississippi State is the worst
state in terms of preparing STEM subjects for
college study. Under such condition, we have
sought the best way to improve these students
abilities. In the first phase, we organized the
lab facility so TAs can teach well. In the second
phase, we identified actual students learning
processes and their background. In the third
phase, we collected all aspects of feedback from
TAs and students and then, we eventually
integrated the solution as an innovative lab
manual with other external arrangement.
After conducting new management The time to set
up the experiment has been reduced by half. Some
students actively utilize displayed apparatuses
to explore their experiment. After using the new
textbooks Students questions about experimental
procedures has been significantly reduced. Most
of the students are able to obtain smaller
experimental errors such as around 5 or
less. The new lab manuals are instructive enough
but still leave room for students to discover
things on their own.

• The major improvements for the lab management
  are
• Display all of the equipment in the room, not to
  hide it in drawers or shelves.
• This has improved the accessibility and
  shortened the time to set up experimentation.
• Separate the currently used from the backup
  apparatuses.
• It has improved the inventory and also saved the
  budget usage. TAs can access backups anytime when
  a device is in trouble.
• Conduct discussion-based management, not
  top-down-based.
• The lab manager inquires all of the TAs about
  their working situation and troubles happened.
  Any change of policy must be discussed to reach
  agreement though the manager has to be
  responsible for the process and result.
• Share the problems, solutions, and ideas of the
  lab system among TAs.
• We promote all of us to have ideas to improve
  the lab. The knowledge helps us maintain the
  system. This has also cultivated variety of TAs
  teaching.

Phase 3 Transformation (Emphasis of Understanding
and Publication of a New Textbook)

• There are a couple of benefits from the previous
  phases of transformation
• Improving organization and management has solved
  quite a few equipment-related problems.
• Identifying students background has prevented
  from their academic dishonesty and improved their
  confidence.

Introduction
It is often neglected to reform physics
laboratory education in most of the schools
because lab activities are recognized as merely
subordinated under the lecture class. However,
lab itself can teach better than lecture class
with a better control. To accomplish this, we
need proper maintenance for better teaching and
learning environment. On the other hand, the
system management plays a significant role to
maintain quality of education. If it is
rigorously based on rules, students tend to make
rote learning. If the entire management is
inflexible and indifferent to the problems, TAs
tend to be disengaged in teaching. The other
problem is that students background and
abilities to understand tend to be ignored in the
curriculum. However, it is not straightforward to
create well-challenging curriculum since grasping
their process of understanding is difficult and
students usually do not describe their own
ability in an objective manner. Testing can not
necessarily measure their genuine ability.
Furthermore, failing to know their background
often leads to disengagement of students real
understanding toward the subject. Even though
the management and maintenance go well, students
inaccurate experimental results makes students
fail to understand the concepts to write up an
appropriate lab report. The reformation of
laboratory education has been conducted by three
steps We systematically facilitate lab rooms so
TAs can manage the class in a flexible manner we
collect students and TAs feedback to identify
students background and we eventually compile
all of the solutions as a special format of lab
textbooks.
Discussion and Conclusions

• However, these have NOT facilitated students
  obtaining proper experimental results and
  understanding the physics concepts.
• What we have discovered are
• Most of the students spend tremendous time to
  figure out the experimental procedure.
• Procedures written in the traditional manual are
  ambiguous for most students to obtain accurate
  and meaningful results.
• There are few opportunities for students to
  understand the conceptual ideas of the lab.
• What we have done are
• We have discussed and collected the effective
  procedures and tips for obtaining accurate
  experimental results. Quite a few pictures are
  included for the explanation.
• We have created proper questions to confirm
  students understanding.
• We are able to flexibly revise the textbook with
  the feedback from students and TAs.
• The lab textbooks are posted at
• http//www.hirophysics.com/usmlabtextproject/usm
  phy111.html
• http//www.hirophysics.com/usmlabtextproject/usmph
  y112.html

Our way of management has been effective to solve
most of the problems underlying educational
issues. Knowing students background has
significantly helped us create the new
textbooks. However, we also realize that what we
have done are not incentivized in most of the
colleges, such as organizing the system,
investigating students background, and
establishing the quality of education.
Phase 2 Transformation (Identification of
Students Abilities)

• It has been also hard to know that K-12 schools
  in Mississippi State do not teach STEM subjects
  adequately for college study. It kept us from
  finding students science and mathematical
  abilities for a long time.
• We also find that without targeting proper
  students level, students tend to make rote
  learning or cheating or copying others
  solutions.
• What we have discovered
• Students do not recognize their own ability.
• Students are not education researchers plus they
  tend to protect their competency. They also tend
  to give up improving their skills since physics
  is not their interests.
• A low math background significantly hinders
  students from improving problem-solving skills in
  physics.

References
1 How we teach students who dont have math
background American Association of Physics
Teachers, Portland OR, 2010. 2 Educational
Pitfalls of Plug-In Physics American
Association of Physics Teachers, Omaha NE, 2011.
3 Reformation of Physics Lab Manual for
Life-Science Students at USM American
Association of Physics Teachers, Pittsburg, PA,
2012.
Contact information
Hiro ShimoyamaPhysics and Astronomy Department, University of Southern Mississippi Hiro ShimoyamaPhysics and Astronomy Department, University of Southern Mississippi
118 College Dr. 5046 Hattiesburg, MS 39406 Email hironori.shimoyama_at_usm.edu H_shimo_at_hotmail.com