The Lecture-Tutorial curriculum development project produced a set of 29 learner-centered classroom instructional materials for a large-enrollment introductory astronomy survey course for non-science majors. The Lecture-Tutorials are instructional materials intended for use by collaborative student learning groups, and are designed to be integrated into existing courses with conventional lectures. These instructional materials offer classroom-ready learner-centered activities that do not require any outside equipment or drastic course revision for implementation. Each 15-minute Lecture-Tutorial poses a sequence of conceptually challenging, Socratic dialogue-driven questions, along with graphs and data tables, all designed to encourage students to reason critically about difficult concepts in astronomy. The materials are based on research into student beliefs and reasoning difficulties, and use proven instructional strategies. The Lecture-Tutorials have been field-tested for effectiveness at various institutions, which represent a wide range of student populations and instructional settings. In addition to materials development, a second effort of this project focused on the assessment of changes in students' conceptual understanding and attitudes toward learning astronomy as a result of both lecture and the subsequent use of Lecture-Tutorials. Quantitative and qualitative assessments were completed using a precourse, postlecture, and post-Lecture-Tutorial instrument, along with focus group interviews, respectively. Collectively, the evaluation data illustrate that conventional lectures alone helped students make statistically significant-yet unsatisfactory-gains in understanding (with students scoring at only the 50% level postlecture). Further, the data illustrate that the use of Lecture-Tutorials helped students achieve statistically significant gains beyond those attained after lecture (with students scoring at the 70% level post-Lecture-Tutorial). Quantitative evaluation of student attitudes showed no significant gains over the semester, but students reported that they considered the Lecture-Tutorials to be one of the most valuable components of the course.

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A stationary dew drop assumes a shape that minimizes the sum of its gravitational and surface energies. This shape, however, cannot be described by a mathematical function in closed form because the governing differential equations of the drop do not admit of an analytical solution but must be integrated numerically to yield the drop profile. Hence, this problem provides a good case for using the calculus of variations to obtain the governing differential equations and presents advanced students with an opportunity to gain insight and experience in numerical computations involving a real and interesting physical problem. In this paper we obtain the differential equations governing the shape of the drop in two ways: (i) by considering the balance of forces on the drop in static equilibrium; (ii) by seeking the profile which minimizes the total energy of the drop through the use of the calculus of variations. The resulting differential equations are then integrated numerically to obtain the theoretical profile. Two computational strategies, one for each of the two classes of wetting and nonwetting drops, are discussed. Further, it is shown how one may obtain the values of the surface tension and the contact angle for a liquid drop by matching the computed profile to the experimentally observed shape.

We share a flipped class approach to university calculus-based general physics that shows increased learning and high student satisfaction compared to traditional lecture classes.

The Physics of Music is a general education science class open to all students at Wake Forest University. A broad range of topics are covered: wave physics, hearing and the ear, the voice and singing, musical instrument function and performance (winds, strings, and percussion), room acoustics, and more. An instructor for such a course is not usually a master of all these areas. In this talk, I will describe how we engage some of our local experts (singers, instrumentalists, piano tuners, doctors) to enhance the student experience of learning about physics and music. Activities to incorporate their specialties into the class will also be described.