Teaching

Teaching Interests

As most students of physics will tell you, concepts in physics, such as field and potential, are rather abstract. In addition, preconceived – mostly Aristotelian –  intuitions about how the world works often get in the way of learning Newtonian mechanics. Students' learning styles can also vary widely: Some are visual learners, and some are logical thinkers. To facilitate learning for all students, I use a variety of tools to supplement the traditional lectures. They include:

  • demonstrations
  • animations and computer simulations
  • group work using worksheets

The following are examples of animations I have developed using Mathematica and MATLAB:

  1. Uniform circular motion
  2. Simple harmonic oscillation
           Larger amplitude       Smaller amplitude
  3. Standing wave with two fixed ends
     
          Fundamental mode        Second harmonic      Third harmonic
  4. Standing wave with a fixed end and an open end
     
          Fundamental mode        Third harmonic         Fifth harmonic
  5. Other standing waves
     
          Triangular         Polynomial
  6. Linear polarizer
     
          0 degree    30 degrees    60 degrees    90 degrees
  7. Double-slit interference
     
          Wavelength=1, slit separation = 3    Wavelength=1, slit separation = 5   Wavelength=2, slit separation = 5 
  8. Reflection of a pulse on an interface
     
         No phase shift      180-degree phase shift
  9. Reflection of a sinusoidal wave on an interface
     
         No Phase shift      180-degree phase shift