Physics quiz archive: kinematics, free fall

Physics 205A Quiz 2, fall semester 2013
Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA
Sections 70854, 70855, 73320, version 1
Exam code: quiz02p3nG

Sections 70854, 70855, 73320 results

0- 6 :	* [low = 6]
7-12 :	*********
13-18 :	*********************
19-24 :	************************ [mean = 20.0 +/- 5.9]
25-30 :	************** [high = 30]

Astronomy quiz archive: stars/sun/seasons/moon phases

Astronomy 210 Quiz 1, fall semester 2013
Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA

Section 70158, version 1
Exam code: quiz01S0u7

Section 70158

0- 8.0 :	*** [low = 7.0]
8.5-16.0 :	********
16.5-24.0 :	************* [mean = 23.1 +/- 8.9]
24.5-32.0 :	*************
32.5-40.0 :	******** [high = 40.0]

Section 70160, version 1
Exam code: quiz01n9YE

Section 70160

0- 8.0 :
8.5-16.0 :	******* [low = 12.0]
16.5-24.0 :	*******
24.5-32.0 :	*********** [mean = 25.9 +/- 8.4]
32.5-40.0 :	***** [high = 40.0]

Cuesta College North County campus star party

130912-0335
http://www.flickr.com/photos/waiferx/9733608171/
Originally uploaded by Waifer X

130912-0336
http://www.flickr.com/photos/waiferx/9733606985/
Originally uploaded by Waifer X

First quarter moon, September 12, 2013, photographed with a hand-held Panasonic Lumix LZ-8 through an Orion SkyQuest XT8 8" reflector at Cuesta College North County Campus, Paso Robles, CA.

130912-0338
http://www.flickr.com/photos/waiferx/9736835300/
Originally uploaded by Waifer X

Cuesta College Astronomy 210, 210L students and guests at a North County campus star party.

Sights seen:
first quarter moon
Albireo (double star Beta Cygni) Mizar AB, Alcor

Whiteboard: lecture notes on forces, interactions

#CuestaPhys205A students: whiteboard #phys101 lecture notes on weight force pic.twitter.com/k1NsOPAU9J

— Patrick M. Len (@Patrick_M_Len) September 12, 2013

#CuestaPhys205A students: whiteboard #phys101 lecture notes on tension, normal forces pic.twitter.com/jafqz8QokD

— Patrick M. Len (@Patrick_M_Len) September 12, 2013

#CuestaPhys205A students: whiteboard #phys101 lecture notes on static/kinetic friction ("Max" is the elephant's name) pic.twitter.com/UImOy97ecH

— Patrick M. Len (@Patrick_M_Len) September 12, 2013

Physics quiz archive: metric system, significant figures, unit conversions, dimensional analysis

Physics 205A Quiz 1, fall semester 2013
Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA
Sections 70854, 70855, 73320, version 1
Exam code: quiz01cH3E

Sections 70854, 70855, 73320 results

0- 6 :	** [low = 6]
7-12 :	*******
13-18 :	***********
19-24 :	********************** [mean = 23.0 +/- 6.7]
25-30 :	********************************** [high = 30]

Tweet: North County campus telescope shelter

#CuestaAstr210 students: new North County campus telescope shelter will be fully operational soon. pic.twitter.com/MPK9u51LgN

— Patrick M. Len (@Patrick_M_Len) August 29, 2013

Tweet: Delta IV Heavy NROL-65 launch

#CuestaPhys205A students: anyone else have pics of the Delta IV Heavy NROL-65 launch from Vandenberg AFB? pic.twitter.com/PfRG3JYbeA

— Patrick M. Len (@Patrick_M_Len) August 28, 2013

Flashcard question: potential spring semester 2014 enrollment

Physics 205A, fall semester 2013
Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA

Students in college physics at Cuesta College were polled in order to facilitate scheduling of classes for the next semester.

Planning on taking Physics 205B next semester?

Yes.	******************** [40]
Maybe.	************ [12]
No.	************* [13]
Undecided.	*** [3]

FCI pre-test comparison: Cuesta College versus UC-Davis (fall semester 2013)

Students at both Cuesta College (San Luis Obispo, CA) and the University of California at Davis were administered the 30-question Force Concept Inventory (Doug Hestenes, et al.) during the first week of instruction.

	Cuesta College Physics 205A Fall semester 2013	UC-Davis Physics 7B Summer session II 2002
N	74 students*	76 students*
low	0	2
mean	9.4 +/- 5.5	9.1 +/- 4.3
high	26	27

*Excludes students with negative informed consent forms (*.pdf)

Student's t-test of the null hypothesis results in p = 0.64 (t = -0.473, sdev = 4.91, degrees of freedom = 148), thus there is no significant difference between Cuesta College and UC-Davis FCI pre-test scores.

Later this semester (fall 2013), a comparison will be made between Cuesta College and UC-Davis FCI post-tests, along with their pre- to post-test gains.

D. Hestenes, M. Wells, and G. Swackhamer, Arizona State University, "Force Concept Inventory," Phys. Teach. 30, 141-158 (1992).
Development of the FCI, a 30-question survey of basic Newtonian mechanics concepts.

Previous FCI results:

• Cuesta College versus UC-Davis, fall semester 2012 pre-tests and post-tests.
  
• Cuesta College versus UC-Davis, fall semester 2011 pre-tests and post-tests.
  
• Cuesta College versus UC-Davis, fall semester 2009 pre-tests and post-tests.
  
• Cuesta College versus UC-Davis, spring semester 2009 pre-tests and post-tests.
  
• Cuesta College versus UC-Davis, fall semester 2008 pre-tests and post-tests.
• Cuesta College versus UC-Davis, spring semester 2008 pre-tests and post-tests.
• Cuesta College versus UC-Davis, fall semester 2007 pre-tests and post-tests.

Astronomy in-class activity: SETI and BETI

Astronomy 210 In-class activity 24 v.13.06.11, fall semester 2013
Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA

Students find their assigned groups of three to four students, and work cooperatively on an in-class activity worksheet to discuss how messages are anticoded, and experience practical issues with incommensurability barrier by attempting to analyze content in a fictitious message from an extraterrestrial advanced technological civilization.

Start out with going over the original Arecibo message (and presumptive crop circle reply in Chilbolton, England, 2001) in a whole-class discussion. Point out to or ask students about the key features of these messages: counting (binary); height and population of inhabitants; schematic representation of planetary systems and communication devices (radio dishes and supposed crop-crushing apparatus).


With these clues, students then start working in their groups.



This is a truncated version of a much longer in-class activity which also involves counting systems and arithmetic operations used in anticoded messages.