| NSF Org: |
DUE Division Of Undergraduate Education |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | August 13, 2015 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | August 13, 2015 |
| Award Number: | 1524493 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
R. Corby Hovis
chovis@nsf.gov (703)292-4625 DUE Division Of Undergraduate Education EDU Directorate for STEM Education |
| Start Date: | November 1, 2015 |
| End Date: | September 30, 2021 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $89,330.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $89,330.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
4822 E PALMETTO ST FLORENCE SC US 29506-4530 (843)661-1165 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
4822 E Palmetto Street Florence SC US 29502-0547 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | IUSE |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.076 |
ABSTRACT
This collaboration among five diverse institutions will build and nurture a community of faculty committed to integrating computation in undergraduate physics courses. Although computational methods are important in physics research, they are scarce in the undergraduate physics curriculum. This project will address this need through faculty development workshops, a post-workshop support system, and a community building research project.
This project will focus on developing transportable, adaptable, and sustainable methods for infusing an instructional strategy into the undergraduate physics curriculum. It will place computer-based, algorithmic problem solving in a position that is coequal to traditional mathematical and experimental methods. Participants will develop computational exercises to be integrated into their physics courses at the workshops, and later will receive support to ensure that the integration of their developed materials into their courses is successful. Faculty ownership will be emphasized in the participants' development activities and is essential for transportability and sustainability. The project will conduct a thorough research study of the effectiveness of the community building approach, as well as the degree to which integration of computation into undergraduate physics courses has increased. It will serve as a case-study informing the literature on change in higher education practices. This research component and its dissemination plan will ensure that the community will continue to grow not only in membership, but also in the large-scale assessment and implementation of best practices. When the computational materials developed are used in physics classrooms, STEM student learning across the country will be enhanced.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
Using computers to model, simulate, and analyze physical systems is central to the enterprise of physics. Physicists rely on computation to develop models of physical systems, to run experiments, and to visualize and analyze the resulting data from these theoretical and experimental endeavors. Computation is used widely in physics in both industrial and academic settings. As computation has become central to physics, educators must reflect on the role of computation in their students' physics education, both as a critical professional skill and as a method of developing a deeper understanding of physics concepts. How we understand the physical world is increasingly being shaped by our use of computation in physics.
The Partnership for the Integration of Computation in Undergraduate Physics (PICUP, gopicup.org) is an organization devoted to supporting a community of physics educators who are working to incorporate computational physics learning opportunities into their classrooms. Started in 2007, PICUP worked over several years with small amounts of external support to build up capacity and direction. In 2016, five members of PICUP were awarded a set of National Science Foundation grants to grow PICUP's nascent community. Over the last 6 years with federal support, PICUP has developed into a much larger community of physics educators who share a variety of professional development and curricular resources. PICUP claims 1443 members across the world who are supported by a growing, virtual community of physics educators.
In the six years of this NSF award, PICUP organized sessions and workshops (both half-day and full-day) at national meetings of the American Physical Society and the American Association of Physics Teachers, as well workshops at several universities around the country. We organized four week-long residential faculty development workshops as well as two multi-day virtual workshops that helped faculty increase their knowledge of computation, reflect on the learning goals for their courses, and adapt or develop materials to effectively integrate computation into those courses.
Broader Impacts of the project include building a community of educators committed to integrating computation into undergraduate physics courses. This was an important goal of this project. In addition to the workshops which brought faculty into the community, monthly webinars, the PICUP Slack channel, and the 2020 Virtual Conference kept the community connected and allowed members to share strategies and best practices. These discussions and sharing of materials were particularly useful as courses went online during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Intellectual Merit of the project included the strong leadership team that brought many years of experience teaching computational work in physics and implementing interactive engagement pedagogical methods in undergraduate physics programs. Also, research done as part of this project showed that faculty face several barriers to integrating computation across the physics curriculum including: lack of instructor time to adapt or develop materials; departmental norms that make it difficult to change courses; lack of instructor knowledge as to recent developments in computational physics, particularly new platforms; and issues with access to technology and support of that technology. The workshops and community helped faculty address these barriers. In addition, in Summer 2021 we offered stipends to faculty members or groups of faculty members who required additional support to make changes to their physics curriculum. We received 21 proposals from a wide range of institutions, out of which 12 were funded.
To celebrate the end of this initial NSF support, we hosted (virtual due to COVID-19) the 2021 PICUP Capstone Conference from August 11th to August 13th. 125 physics educators from 114 different institutions joined, over Zoom, a series of plenaries, presentation sessions, workshops, and discussions covering the history, achievements, and lessons learned from the last six years of PICUP work. The 20 contributed talks from prior workshop participants who are faculty members at institutions around the country highlighted the impact and reach of this NSF funded project.
Last Modified: 12/25/2021
Modified by: Larry P Engelhardt
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