Physics 132, Reminders from TA/LA Training from 2/06/2015 (Lab 6, Part 2)

0) Email to students:

An email notice has been sent to students asking them to bring their laptops to lab, to bring a flash-drive for file-saving between weeks, and to READ the lab documents before coming to class.  They have also been warned of the pre-reading for this week "Intro to Error Propagation" (link: TechnicalDocument_IntroToErrorPropagation.pdf ).

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 Head TA Matt ASAP.

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.

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

2) Lab 6, Part 2: Fluid Flow and the H-P Equation

 Link to student and TA documents: NEXUS Physics Labs, 2013-2014

** If a computer is "logged out," the only way to log back in is to reboot the computer--it will automatically log-in.

*** I will be gathering data on how the students perceive and interact with the curriculum.  To that end, I would like to SCAN the work that students submit to you.  When you have reached the end of your lab sections, please bring their lab report/work to me (room 1322) and I will scan it and return it to you (either the next day or by Friday's lab training).  Additionally, I will be videotaping some groups in some sections for all of the labs this semester.   I will be starting this week.

a) Feel free to pass out the six microfluidic device samples so that students can have a physical example to help them with their thinking--but don't forget to re-collect these samples and place them in the TA box on the front "TA" table!  If students have not yet done the qualitative analysis (modeling both geometries to the stage of having a numerical, concept-based prediction for their quantitative analysis), please make sure they do so ASAP.

b) Help students keep an eye on the time so that they can finish all of the tasks for the lab and still have time to present and finalize their lab report.  In case it wasn't clear to you from our training, the presentations should happen BEFORE the students finalize their lab reports--this gives them the chance to write in their conclusion about things they have learned from other groups and gives them a wider basis for comparison as they both critique the work they have done and consider the interdisciplinary connections.

c) Encourage students to think carefully through the error analysis for their work--what is the uncertainty in their results?  How can this be quantified?  What interval of confidence should be reported for their data and conclusions?  Just as with the data analysis, there is no, single "correct" way to do error analysis--although some methods are better suited than others to the types of data collection and analysis that students have used.  Students need to make logical, scientific choices about what they will do and justify these choices.

d) Remember that part of what we are doing here is considering epistemology (What does it mean to know? How do we know that we know? and How do we build new knowledge?) and evaluating the fit between our model of the world and our measurements of the world.  If the model and the measurements don't fit, where does the source of the discrepancy lie?  Is the model flawed (if so, how do we fix it)?  Is the data analysis flawed (if so, what would need to be done differently)?  Is the data itself at fault (if so, how could the experiment be modified to produce better data)?

e) The student presentations should be either "Talk style" (one group at a time) or "Poster session style" (all groups simultaneously, with half the group roaming at a time, switching the "roamers" halfway through the total time).  Do one kind of presentation in this lab and the other kind in the next lab, then vote on what the students like best for Lab 8 and beyond.

f) GRADING the REPORT:

* Grade in any color other than red (if you are able to do so).

* Enter the report score (out of 30 points) in the Lab 6 column in the ELMS gradebook.  You need to get the graded reports back to the students before the turn in their next lab report (so by the start of Lab 7, Part 2).  Make sure that you have also entered the participation points for this and last week into ELMS (6 points each week, 3 for each week of lab and 3 for each week of recitation).  Please keep up with the grading and participation scores!

* As you grade the labs, remember that you are shooting for a decent standard deviation.  I don't care what your average score is (they will be renormalized at the end of the semester to make the grading more fair for students with different TAs), but I need a decent point-spread in each section in order to renormalize properly.  Lab scores for the students are renormalized by me at the very end of the semester.  (This was done in Physics 131, so the students should be familiar with the idea.)

* How to grade the reports:  Here are some links (both to TA and to student documents about the labs) to help you figure out how to go about grading these reports.  I will also send you a former TA's rubric for Lab 6 (from last semester).  If you are willing to type up your rubric and send it to me, I would love to add it to my collection. 

TA Guide to Guiding Labs (the rubric stuff is toward the end of this document)

Hints to TAs for grading lab reports (read all of this)

Intro to the Scientific Community Lab (here is what we told the students about the lab reports and grading)

3) Logistics:

a) Please let me or Matt know if recitation/lab papers are running low in number.  There should be 48 copies--and since these are "Do not write on, do not remove" there should be plenty for all lab sections.  But if they start to disappear, please let us know ASAP.

b) If you run out of printer paper or staples, see Bill Norwood (in the room across from 3310) or Don S. (in the room adjacent to 3310).  They can get you more supplies.

c) Please straighten-up the papers/lab tables between recitation and lab and after lab.  Collect, sort, and stack the student documents and encourage the students to properly dispose of any trash.

d) Do not erase the blackboard in the front of the room.  Feel free to add to it or use the TA whiteboards leaning against the wall beneath it.

Good luck!

~KIM