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  Session: Labs and Apparatus Posters
  Paper Type: Poster
  Title: Squeezing Research into the Junior Physics Lab
  Meeting: 2014 Summer Meeting: Minneapolis, Minnesota
  Location: N/A
  Date:
  Time: 9:15PM
  Author: Karen A. Williams, East Central University
5805595394, kwillims@mac.com
  Co-Author(s): None
  Abstract: This poster is in response to the call for papers for "research-like experiences for all students." In my Junior Physics laboratory course I give the students an odd real-world problem to solve. It must be something 'off the wall' so that the solution can't be found on the Internet. They must design the research and work in groups where each group completes part of the work. Each week they meet to decide what work must be done next by the following group. I feel that this mimics real-world research in industry and forces teamwork and planning. After this project I have the students choose a project of their own to work on. They prepare a Powerpoint presentation of this research for their final exam. Often this research can be polished and expanded into a project that can be presented at student research symposiums. Student reaction to this new way of "doing lab" by doing research is positive. Many of our students are first-generation college students who know very little about research. They seem more at ease when it comes to applying for REU's after doing some research.
  Footnotes: None
  Presentation: Williams-aaptsum14Poster.pdf

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