1. Active Engagement Materials
for Nuclear & Particle Physics Courses
Jeff Loats, MSU Denver
Ken Krane, Oregon State University
Cindy Schwarz, Vassar College
AAPT Summer 2012
Supported by NSF
Award # DUE-1044037

2. 2
About The Grant – In Progress
National Science Foundation (NSF) – 1 of 3 years complete.
Transforming Undergraduate Education in Science (TUES)
• Context:
– Research-based instructional strategies (RBIS) almost
universally start in the introductory sequence.
– Some well-tested pedagogies have “percolated” up
through the sophomore and junior courses.
• Goals:
– Develop a range of active engagement materials for
nuclear and particle physics courses.
– Encourage and enable instructors to bring
empirically tested pedagogies into these courses.

3. 3
Types of Materials
Pre-lecture “WarmUp” questions
(for use with Just in Time Teaching).
Conceptual discussion questions
(for use with Peer Instruction).
Back-of-the-envelope estimation exercises, using both
recent and historical physics experiments.
Small projects and case studies using information
from nuclear and particle physics databases.
Conceptual exam questions
(to close the loop)

4. 4
Just in Time Teaching
• Used in Intro courses for 15+ years.
• Effectiveness has been shown in many contexts
• Easy to adopt: Just in Time Teaching is an excellent
way to bring active engagement to a more
traditional lecture course.
Basics of JiTT
• Students answer 2-3 short-response questions
(called WarmUps) the night before lecture.
– Usually conceptual, graded on effort
• Instructor reads responses “just in time” and uses
them to modify lecture and motivate discussion.

5. 5
Example JiTT WarmUp Questions
Describe in your own words the reason that all nuclei
in their ground state have an electric dipole moment
of zero.
There are three color charges (RGB) and each gluon
carries a color and an anticolor. Why then are there
only eight gluons and not the nine (3x3) we might
expect?

6. 6
Peer Instruction
• Used in many courses for 20+ years
• Highly effective, especially when paired with JiTT
• Usually implemented with “clickers”
Basics of Peer Instruction
• Difficult conceptual questions are asked during class
• Students respond individually without discussing
• Students discuss their choice in informal groups
• Students respond individually, post discussion
• Class-wide discussion of the question and answers

7. 7
Example Peer Instruction Question
The following vertex shows a
Higgs Boson decaying into
two fermions.
According to the standard
model, which of the following
quarks would the Higgs most likely decay into?
A) top and anti-top
B) strange and anti-strange
C) up and anti-up
D) charm and anti-charm

8. 8
Back-Of-The-Envelope Estimations
• From famous Fermi Questions to quick proofs-of-
concept, estimations are important in physics.
• Estimation discourages calculators and too-precise
answers. (No calculators allowed!)
• Estimation encourages a focus on key parameters
and central concepts.
• We try to base estimation exercises on either
relevant recent or historical experiments.

9. 9
Example Estimation Exercise
Consider the fusion reactions
2H + 2H 3He + n and 2H + 2H 3H + 1H
Suppose each one is initiated in an identical fashion
by colliding two 2H nuclei head-on with equal kinetic
energies. In which reaction would you expect the
total kinetic energies of the two final products to be
greater, and on what basis do you form your
expectation?

10. 10
Small Projects/Case Studies
• Context-Rich-Problems and other similar techniques
have shown the power of digging into detailed case
studies.
• Applying academic knowledge to real situations
helps integrate concepts and solidify learning.
• Flexible! These small-group activities can be used in
class or as weekly projects.

11. 11
Example Case Study
Consider the image *…+ The line emerging
from the bottom corresponds to an
electron struck by a muon antineutrino.
C
a) What is the direction of the magnetic B
field in the bubble chamber?
b) Describe the change in the trajectory that A
occurs around the point marked A in the
image.
c) What physical process must have
occurred at A in order for the trajectory
to have changed in this way?
d) Etc.

12. 12
Conceptual Exam Questions
• Leaving your course assessments (exams)
unchanged is one way to accidentally derail an
effort to move a course toward active engagement.
• Conceptual exam questions are answered in
sentences.
• Offer powerful insight into the depth of knowledge
our students have gained (or… not).

13. 13
Example Conceptual Exam Questions
Consider a hypothetical nucleus with 10 nucleons.
a) In terms of the various interactions inside the
nucleus, why is it that a clump of 10 neutrons is not
a stable configuration?
b) How many stable configurations of 10 nucleons are
there? Justify your answer with an empirical
argument.

14. 14
Find, Use, Share!
• As with all PER work, if this ends up molding on our
hard drives we have failed.
• We sincerely hope you will test, use, tweak and modify
these materials for use in your courses.
(Modern physics? Conceptual courses?)
• Please take a card, send an email or google us:
Jeff Loats, jeff.loats@gmail.com
Ken Krane, kranek@science.oregonstate.edu
Cindy Schwarz, schwarz@vassar.edu
Find these slides at www.slideshare.net/jeffloats
Our thanks to the NSF for their support!
(Award # DUE-1044037)