Spring 2017 Phys 132 Reminder from 2-03 Training


Phys 132, Reminders from 2/03/2017 Training (Lab 6, Part 1), for the week of 2/06...

 

0) Email notice to students:

Last week, I sent a notice to 132 students reminding them to bring their laptops to lab, to bring a flashdrive/have a dropbox for file-saving between weeks, to print out their own copies of the lab, to do the lab pre-readings, and to READ the lab documents before coming to class. You may wish to send them a reminder.  (This is a great opportunity to figure out how to email your own sections only.)  If you do so, you should also encourage the students to print out their own personal copy of the recitation this week (so that they can fill in the charts and tables as they go).  Please remind students that, unless instructed otherwise, copies of recitation and lab materials provided to them in the room are NOT to be written on or removed.  Students should also be reminded (in an email or when they come to your section) that they should be completing the Peer Review and Peer Grading Training on WebAssign some time this week.

 

1) Recitation: Entropy and Diffusion

Link: 1D Diffusion_final.pdf

Students should NOT write on the "room copies" of the recitation paper. Please collect the room copies between recitation and lab. If supplies are running low, email your Lead TA, Kim Moore, ASAP.

 

Please track the student attendance/participation at the recitations (and labs).  Record the students' participation scores in ELMS, 3 pts for participation for each recitation and  3 pts for each lab--the columns are already in ELMS.  (Please reserve a score of "0" for absent students only.)

 

Before starting the recitation: TAs should consider having a brief discussion with students about the meanings of and distinction between microstate and macrostate.

 

TAs and LAs: Please remember that the general goals of recitation are group discussion, communication of ideas/logic, and reconciliation of individual perspectives. We'd love for the students to get the "right" answer, but that is less important than the exchange of ideas and negotiation of meaning among group members. Please encourage the students to think deeply about what they are doing, rather than rushing through the worksheet and stressing about how "correct" their answers are.  Themes that appear all over these recitations (as well as in the Labs, HWs, and Lecture) are: Multiple Representations, Modeling, Reconciling Perspectives, Interdisciplinary Thinking, and Epistemic Games.

 

TAs: Don't forget the wrap-up/summary at the end of recitation!

 

(10 minute Break.... Have students enroll in a Lab 6 group on ELMS with their group-mates for your section... Start lab on the hour.)

 

2) Lab 6, Part 1: Fluid Flow

Link to Student & TA documents: http://umdberg.pbworks.com/w/page/68933700/NEXUS%20Physics%20Labs%2C%202013-2014

 

***  You should be attending your OWN lab sections as well as the lab sections you are covering with another TA (as a "Helper").  You will attend your "Helper" times every week from now until the last week of the main labs (Lab 11).

 

** Students should start the lab by self-enrolling in a "Lab 6" group for your section with their lab group-mates.  Directions for how to do this are included in the instructions for the Lab 6 assignment on ELMS.

 

a) For TAs/LAs new to these labs (or for former students who'd like a reminder), I attached the .pdf files for the Technical Documents to the training email sent last week.  Spare copies of these documents, for student use, are by the printer in the back of 3310.  Please replace them neatly when the lab is done.

 

b) Remind students that lab reports are to be ELECTRONICALLY submitted in PDF format (only) this semester.  Only one student needs to submit the report for the group, but the report cannot be submitted until all group members are enrolled in the correct Lab 6 group on ELMS.

 

c) Please show/demo the microfluidic devices (in the TA box in the front of the room).  Pass out these cells for students to handle.  Recollect these devices to the TA box at the end of the lab.  Make it clear to students how these video samples were collected.  Please make sure that these devices are handled gently and are all accounted for at the end of the lab period.

 

d) Have a brief class discussion after the Qualitative Analysis portion of the lab for students to share their reasoning and conclusions about the relative speeds in the wide and narrow channels for each device/geometry.

 

e) The video files for quantitative analysis are on the lab computers (desktops) in the "My Documents" folder.  The info they need for determining conversions is present in the folder name and in the individual file names.

 

f) You can expect students to finish ALL of the qualitative analysis and ALL of the ImageJ data harvesting.  They should make significant progress through the Excel analysis, but may not finish completely.  They can finish this analysis in week 2.  (If students do not get both of their videos harvested using ImageJ and the data put into Excel before the end of the lab period, please send your sections an email reminding them to have these tasks completed before they attend Lab 6, Part 2.)

 

g) Remind students to save ALL of their lab files (via email, dropbox, or flashdrive--flashdrive is best!).

 

h) If you are using lab "roles"/"jobs," please remember to record who is doing what.

 

i) All lab papers are "do not write on/do not remove."  Please collect and neatly stack the lab papers at the end of lab.

 

3) Other Logistics:

*** Course Center continues this week!!  Be sure to attend your times! ( Course Center Schedule, Spring 2017

 

a) Please let Kim know if recitation/lab papers are running low in quantity. (There are 36 copies--which should be sufficient for a classroom set of 24 students, provided papers are not written on or taken away.)

 

b) Please straighten up the room between recitation and lab and following lab. Collect, sort, and stack student documents. Make sure each table has the appropriate equipment (whiteboard markers, etc.). Check that all microscopes are turned OFF.

 

c) Do not erase the blackboard at the front of the room. Feel free to add to it, if you think important information is missing, but don't erase it!  If you need space to write, there are two "TA" whiteboards leaning underneath the blackboard--write on these!

 

d) All files/videos/reminders that you need should be in the "My Documents" folder of the TA computer or on this "Reminders page" Spring 2017 Phys 132 Training Reminders .

 

e) If a student "logs out" of the Lab computers, you will need to RE-BOOT the computer (and it will automatically "log in"). We do not have the passwords for these computers.

 

Good luck!