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Advancing your Advanced Lab: Let ALPhA help!

The Advanced Laboratory Physics Association (ALPhA) supports educators and researchers in developing apparatus, instrumentation, and curriculum for the advanced physics lab. Learn more about ALPhA's activities and how they can help enhance your advanced lab experience.

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Advancing your Advanced Lab: Let ALPhA help!

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  1. Advancing your Advanced Lab: Let ALPhA help! Edited from slides used by Toni Sauncy (Texas Lutheran University Department of Physics) at the 2018 APS sectional meeting

  2. abstract The Advanced Laboratory Physics Association (ALPhA) was formed in 2007 to provide communication and interaction among advanced laboratory instructors world-wide. The association has been pro-active in supporting educators and researchers in the development of apparatus, instrumentation, and curriculum for the advanced lab, a key component of the undergraduate physics education experience. These slides will present information on ALPhA’s activities. Please feel free to choose slides that suit your purposes.

  3. Motivation for Advancing your Advanced Lab APS Back Page, “Labs are Necessary, and We Need to Invest in Them” By Marcos D. Caballero, Dimitri R. Dounas-Frazer, Heather J. Lewandowski, and MacKenzie R. Stetzer “…at its core, physics is an experimental science.” “[for students]…laboratory work is an authentic way to develop an understanding of the experimental nature of physics.” “Laboratory courses that foster collaboration and deep understanding of experimental physics need more support.” “From our perspective, laboratory courses are a core component of undergraduate physics education. ”

  4. Motivation for Advancing your Advanced Lab “Undergraduate labs lag in science and technology” Toni Feder, Physics Today,70(4), 2017. Among the roughly 750 institutions in the US that offer a physics bachelor’s degree, “there has been a collapse” in lab courses in recent decades,…”there really is no significant federal money for instructional lab equipment anymore.”

  5. Motivation for Advancing your Advanced Lab “Introductory physics labs: We can do better” Natasha Holmes and Carl Wieman, Physics Today, 71(1), 2018. Labs that just try to reinforce concepts do not add any value. We need labs that “teach experimentation, reasoning, and critical thinking skills.”

  6. Challenges to Advancing the Advanced Lab • Tight Funding, low status • Space (often not in continuous use) • Costly • Even in larger institutions may allocate as little as $1000 annually for advanced lab equipment and supplies • Faculty Expertise/interest/training • Age of much equipment >> Age of New faculty • Misconception / confusion / uncertainty about the value of the lab course • What are the goals? benefits? • How do labs fit in the current landscape of assessment? Teaching in the lab is not the same as teaching in the classroom, even with the advent of innovative, high impact pedagogies. Teaching in the lab is not best for reinforcing content.

  7. Let ALPhA Help You! Advanced Lab Physics Association (ALPhA) • Goals • provide communication and interaction among instructors • support and enhance advanced experimental physics education • Organizational structure • 4 officers + board members • 19 regions • 300 members worldwide ALPhA is the group that nurtures and supports all aspects of advanced lab instruction.

  8. Some of ALPhA’s Activities ALPhA achieves its mission by: • Conferences: Providing conferences and workshops on advanced experimental instruction • Immersions: Holding multi-day training sessions for instructors • Generating funding and resources: Curricular Resources on Compadre and at AAPT, Equipment Giveaways, Single Photon Detector Initiative • Supporting National Awards: Reichert Award, AAPT-ALPhA award • Advanced Lab Listserv: Facilitating communication among instructors

  9. 1. Beyond First Year (BFY) LabConferences • Goals • expose attendees to physics experiments beyond the first year • Discuss lab curriculum • Methods to Achieve Goals • hands-on small-group workshops • plenary talks • panel discussions • poster sessions • networking events ALPha Board is considering a four year cycle and regional meetings to broaden geographic coverage.

  10. 1. BFY Conferences - examples • Over 50 workshops designed to have lab instructors walk away with hands-on experience • Parts lists • Construction plans • Lab curriculum • Assessment methods • All materials archived on Compadre website Most workshops provide lab guides, parts lists and sources, and on-going communication after the conference

  11. 2. Immersions 2-3 days of intensive hands-on work with a single advanced lab experiment. Only 2-3 participants per experiment. Equipment grants are available!

  12. 3. Resources – ALPhAonCompadre https://www.compadre.org/advlabs/

  13. 3. Resources - ALPhA at AAPT “AAPT Recommendations for the Undergraduate Physics Laboratory Curriculum” • Examination of the current state of undergraduate laboratory instruction and reflecting on the skills and practices that are integral to experimental physics. • Vetted by broad-based physics educators community • Approved by AAPT Board The AAPT Recommendations for Lab Curriculum should be part of departmental planning, self study and external review processes

  14. 3. Resources - Funding Opportunities Fundingfor equipment used in Immersions through the Reichert Foundation Single Photon Detector Initiative – buying detectors in bulk so members can receive a discount Equipment Giveaways Vendor Discounts – developing relationships with vendors like Jasper Display to facilitate purchasing of SLMs Often the hardest thing about teaching the advanced lab is funding it. ALPhA is here to help!

  15. 4. Supporting National Awards AAPT – ALPhA award – given to an undergraduate and their mentor for development of an undergraduate advanced lab Reichert Award (Reichert Foundation and APS)– given to an outstanding instructor who enhances an advanced undergraduate laboratory course TLU Department of Physics

  16. 5. Promoting the Advanced Lab Listserv The Listserv allows instructors to communicate in real time, and the response time is a couple of hours!

  17. Summary • Advanced labs are important and need an overhaul • ALPhA is the group that can help! • ALPhA provides a robust, broad-based, and passionate community. Join today! www.advlab.org

  18. Alpha Officers and Board Members Officers Other Board Members Nina Abramzon, Cal Poly PomonaNicole Ackerman, Agnes Scott CollegeDaniel Borrero, Willamette CollegeXuemei (May) Cheng, Bryn Mawr CollegeEnrique (Kiko) Galvez, Colgate UniversityJoseph Kozminski, Lewis UniversityToni Sauncy, Texas Lutheran University

  19. BFY Conferences – history • 2009 Topical Conference on Advanced Laboratories • Sponsored jointly by AAPT, APS, & ALPhA • July 23, 2009 - July 25, 2009 in University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, MI • 2012 Conference on Laboratory Instruction Beyond the First Year of College (BFY) • July 25, 2012 - July 27, 2012 in University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University • 2015 Conference on Laboratory Instruction Beyond the First Year (BFYII) • July 22, 2015 - July 24, 2015 in College Park, Maryland • 2018 Conference on Laboratory Instruction Beyond the First Year of College (BFY III) • Loyola University Maryland, July 25-27, 2018

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