As the beginning of the winter semester 2022/23 is approaching here in Germany, we are currently in the process of finalizing preparations for our teaching activities. This is yet another reason why I am dealing with physics education these days and therefore I would like to share a few more interesting resources that I stumbled upon.
A valuable resource which provides a great overview of teaching methods and materials is PhysPort. This was pointed out to me recently by a couple of colleagues. It contains information on methods such as peer instruction, teaching with clickers, cooperative group problem-solving, and the use of physical applets.
The latter is related to one of my current favorite topics in physics education, namely computational methods. In fact, together with a few colleagues, we are currently writing a paper on the incorporation of computational methods into traditional science, technology and engineering coursework. I believe that aside from numerical simulations and computational physics in general, physical applets are another great way to familiarize students with the use of computers. Please check out PhET by the University of Colorado Boulder and Physlets which were first developed at Davidson College. These applets are highly suitable for high school physics or introductory physics classes in undergraduate programs.
Another collection of physics education resources can be found on the ComPADRE website. In particular, I think that PICUP, the Partnership for Integration of Computation into Undergraduate Physics may be very helpful for instructors.
An interesting software (only available in German) for calculations of motion in classical mechanics is given by Newton-II. It is provided by the University of Würzburg, Germany. Another popular tool for computational contents in classical mechanics courses is VPython. While it may be a bit challenging for some students to write their own code during their first semester, I would like to point out that there even exists a web browser-based version, namely Web VPython, which helps students to avoid software installation issues.
The phyphox app is also incredibly useful. It allows students to carry out their own experiments using their smartphone. In detail, this involves experiments related to free fall and measuring the speed of an elevator. The app has been developed at the Technical University in Aachen, Germany.
A substantial amount of general information can be found on the website of the American Association of Physics Teachers, AAPT. For instance, there is a great collection of teaching resources and articles on this page.
Finally, I would like to share a random collection of additional resources on physical education research (PER):
- PERbites -- Great overview of current PER topics and publications
- PER Jobs -- A blog with current job openings in the field of PER
- per-central -- A collection of resources for physics education researchers
Please share your own suggestions in the comments section!
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