Project Team
- Jake Bobowski, Professor of Teaching, and Associate Head of Physics, Department of Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics and Statistics, Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science (Lead Applicant)
- Firas Moosvi, Lecturer, Department of Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics and Statistics, Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science
- John Hopkinson, Associate Professor of Teaching, Department of Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics and Statistics, Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science
- Reza Khanbabaie, Lecturer, Department of Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics and Statistics, Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science
- Hiroko Nakahara, Lab Manager, Department of Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics and Statistics, Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science
- Jordan Andrews, Lab Technician, Department of Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics and Statistics, Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science
- Other team members:
- Michael Kudla, graduate student, Medical Physics, Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science
- Parsa Rajabi, graduate student, Computer Science, Simon Fraser University
- Jason Reich, graduate student, Medical Physics, Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science
Themes
- Experiential Learning
- OER
- Professional Skills and Competencies
Year
2022
About the Project
A program review by physics has identified the need to incorporate computational skills throughout the physics degree. To prepare our students for their eventual careers, whatever they may be, we are integrating scientific computing into our programs starting from the first year. We will develop Jupyter Notebook-based lab worksheets for our Introductory Physics for the Physical Sciences II course (PHYS 121).
Students will be provided with notebooks that include:
- instructions and figures
- space for data entry
- blocks of pre-written Python 3 code for data and error analysis
- space for students to type observations and answer conceptual questions
Completed Jupyter Notebooks will be submitted electronically. Parts of the grading process will be automated leaving more time for formative feedback that better supports student learning. Many students will also be taking the newly-developed DATA 100 course that will introduce students to Jupyter Notebooks and Python.
Simultaneously, we will develop new lab activities for PHYS 121. These labs will move away from “confirmational” activities designed to verify lecture concepts and towards inquiry-based labs that are learner-centred. One of the focuses will be to apply concepts covered in lectures to discover new knowledge. For example, one of the lab activities will be to use concepts from circuit analysis to investigate their hydraulic analogues. Students will investigate how electrical and hydraulic circuits are similar and, more importantly, how they differ. As a second example, students will use what they’ve learned about solenoids to make a sensitive measurement of Earth’s magnetic field.
Awarded in the 2022 Program and Learning Experience Enhancement Stream