December 27, 2023 Issue #21

SPOTLIGHT is the OPTYCs bi-weekly newsletter. It brings you OPTYCs activity updates, highlights from recent publications related to physics education, and news & resources for Two-Year colleges.

Upcoming events

• ISLE 2024 Workshop  February 10, 2024 from 1:00pm- 5:00pm EST
  In this (free and virtual) workshop, you will experience learning physics through the Investigative Science Learning Environment (ISLE) approach. The ISLE approach helps students learn physics and develop confidence that they can do it by engaging in activities that mirror scientific practice. Facilitators: Eugenia Etkina (Rutgers University) and Anna Karelina (Saint Mary's College of California)

• Energy First 2024 Workshop  February 21, 2024 from 4:00pm- 6:00pm EST
  In the Energy-First physics curriculum, energy is the starting point for the rest of the course. In this workshop, you will learn more about this approach, available supporting materials, and how you can implement it in your courses. Facilitator: Chris Fischer (University of Kansas)
  

• Scientific Reasoning Labs 2024 Workshop  March 1, 2024 from 3:00pm- 6:00pm EST
  In this free, virtual workshop, you will learn about a set of introductory college-level physics labs that help students develop scientific reasoning skills. Facilitators: Kathy Koenig (Univ. Cincinnati) and Krista Wood (Univ. Cincinnati - Blue Ash College)

Announcements

• SPOTLIGHT is seeking contributions to its new section "Reader's corner" that features contributions from readers. Please consider sharing comments, tips, ideas, resources you have come across or anything that you think might benefit your physics TYC colleagues. Contact me directly if you have any question or suggestion: karim.diff@sfcollege.edu

Who is participating in OPTYCs? Our external evaluation team collected data (including the all-important participant surveys) from our first year (July 2022 - June 2023). Approximately 130 unique participants participated in OPTYCs events, with distribution among different areas of the country.

Most of you are full-time instructors, and in addition to physics courses, also teach astronomy (3.6%), math (2.8%), physical science (2.0%), chemistry, science education, computer science, biology, and linguistics. Demographically, our survey respondents were evenly split between men and women, and about half identified as White. Of online events, most participate in either continuing professional development workshops or PER discussions, but not both types of events. You learn about OPTYCs and our events through the AAPT eNNOUNCER, Spotlight (our bi-weekly newsletter), and our website (https://OPTYCs.aapt.org). You also hear about us at conferences and from colleagues, as well as from the TYC Physics Google group (tycphysics@googlegroups.com) and the TYC Physics Slack channel (tycphysics.slack.com). 

These recent publications highlight the important role of Community colleges can play America's innovation economy. 

• Community Colleges Are Critical to the Innovation Economy (Chronicle of Higher Education)
• America’s Hidden Economic Engines: How Community Colleges Can Drive Shared Prosperity (book by Robert B. Schwartz and Rachel Lipson)
  
• Getting Smart Podcast: Bob Schwartz on Community Colleges: America’s Hidden Economic Engines
  
  

• The Impact of AI in Physics Education: A Comprehensive Review from GCSE to University
  Levels Will Yeadon and Tom Hardy from Durham University in the UK assess the ability of AI models to answer physics questions from GCSE, A-Level and Introductory college courses. They observe that

 "while current LLMs can consistently perform well on Physics questions at earlier educational stages, their efficacy diminishes with advanced content and complex calculations. LLM
outputs often showcase novel methods not in the syllabus, excessive verbosity, and
miscalculations in basic arithmetic. This suggests that at university, there’s no
substantial threat from LLMs for non-invigilated Physics questions."    

• ChatGPT in the Classroom: Boon or Bane for Physics Students’ Academic Performance?  Manuel G. Forero and H. J. Herrera-Suarez from Universidad de Ibagu in Colombia conducted a direct comparison between two cohorts of a second-semester Engineering physics course. Their results indicate that

'the use of ChatGPT led to a significant decrease in student performance, as evidenced by lower grades and negative Hake factors compared to the control group. In addition, a survey of students revealed conflicting perceptions of the usefulness of ChatGPT in teaching physics. While most recognized its usefulness in understanding concepts and providing information, concerns were raised about its potential to reduce critical thinking and independent learning.'

• The American Association of Physics Teachers 
• Committee on Physics in Two-Year Colleges (AAPT area committee)
• Join the TYC Google group: Send an email to tycphysics@googlegroups.com
• PhysPort Recommendations about teaching methods, assessment, and results from PER
• PER Central A resource collection for physics education researchers 
• Physics Review Physics Education Research Fully open access journal for PER 
• arXiv Physics education The arXiv repository for physics education papers
• AIP Statistical Research Center Data on education, careers, and diversity in physics, astronomy and other physical sciences

optycs.aapt.org

The work of OPTYCs is supported by NSF-DUE-2212807.