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Active learning in intermediate optics through class tutorials

This article discusses the implementation of active learning and interactive engagement techniques in an intermediate optics class. The aim is to promote student comprehension, problem-solving skills, and independent laboratory work.

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Active learning in intermediate optics through class tutorials

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  1. Active learning in intermediate optics through class tutorials Mark F. Masters and Timothy T. Grove Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne Fort Wayne IN 46805 USA

  2. Background • Our optics class was a very traditional, lecture-based, geometric and physical optics class • Outcome: students went through the motions of doing optics without understanding. • They parroted what they had seen and heard • We had recently completed a successful revision of introductory classes and labs to use interactive engagement.

  3. Our Goals for Intermediate Optics For students to … • have greater conceptual understanding of light and optics • be able to use optics knowledge to solve complex problems • be able to work independently in the laboratory. Ideal for interactive engagement/active learning But: intermediate classes have different demands than introductory classes. How to use Interactive Engagement in this setting?

  4. Answer Making vs. Sense Making • Answer-making: given object distance d, and focal length of lens f, where is the image located? • Equivalently: if a plumbdaad is 0.413 kerndons, then if I have 7 kerndons, how many plumbdaads? • Two systems consisting of a point source, a lens and a screen. In each system, the point source is located on the optic axis 10 cm from the lens which has a focal length of 15 cm. One of the lenses is a diverging lens and the other is a converging lens. The lenses are the same diameter. The screen is located 10 cm away from each lens. Which system will produce the higher average irradiance on the screen?

  5. Traditional instruction • Students passive in classroom – listen to a lecture, see particular derivations for optics, see worked examples. • Students are nominally active at home through reading book and doing homework. • Laboratory exercises (supposedly)

  6. Active Learning/Interactive Engagement • Concepts: Students wrestle with the material both in class and out • Students must engage in sense-making rather than answer making. • Community:Students work in peer groups to help each other learn the physics (and math). • Communicate: Group and class discussions with instructor as facilitator (not an information source) to assist in building solutions. • Responsibility: Students are responsible for their own learning. Instructor can assist, but not “learn ‘em”!

  7. The specifics: Topics in class • Nature of light and Models of light • Geometric optics • Ray-tracing, interpreting ray diagrams • Traditional geometric derivations • Optical systems • Aberrations • Point and extended sources • Mathematical Formalism • Physical Optics • Mathematical wave formalism for light and Maxwell’s equations. • Polarization • Interference

  8. Class Goals • Have the students understand: waves, ray diagrams, geometric optics. • Have the students be able to solve complex optics problems • Have the students be able to understand derivations: how to do them, what approximations are made.

  9. Types of classroom activities There are three distinct types of classroom activities: • Conceptual activities, interactive lecture demonstrations • Derivation activities • Application activities

  10. B A C D E Sample classroom activity • Students often misinterpret diagrams of wave, imagining that the amplitude corresponds to spatial extent of the wave. Cartoon snapshot of wave traveling to left

  11. # particles/volume Position # particles/volume Position Sample activity: waves • Consider the sound wave shown for two different times (t=0.3ms). Sketch the waveform at each time and determine the frequency, wavelength and speed of the wave.

  12. Example 2 from class

  13.  h R ’   s s’ small Sample activity 3: directed derivation • Students are lead through deriving a result • Students have to do the work, figuring out the math, etc rather than simply see it performed.

  14. Sample activity 4: eye model

  15. Sample Activity: Maxwell’s Equations

  16. Application

  17. Conclusion • We applied active learning approaches in lecture intermediate optics course • The class uses tutorials and interactive engagement to develop student understanding and sense-making capabilities • These materials are available at http://users.ipfw.edu/masters/ • We acknowledge the support of the U.S. National Science Foundation.

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