group Small Group Activity

30 min.

Black space capsule
In this activity, students apply the Stefan-Boltzmann equation and the principle of energy balance in steady state to find the steady state temperature of a black object in near-Earth orbit.

group Small Group Activity

30 min.

The Cone
  • Found in: Vector Calculus I course(s)

face Lecture

10 min.

Warm-Up Powerpoint
The attached powerpoint articulates the possible paths through the curriculum for new graduate students at OSU. Make sure to update this powerpoint yearly to reflect current course offerings and sequencing. It was partially, but not completely edited in fall 2022.
  • Found in: Warm-Up sequence(s)

group Small Group Activity

10 min.

Surfaces Intro

An introduction to the use of the Raising Calculus surfaces.

Students have to match their surface with the appropriate contour map.

  • Found in: Surfaces/Bridge Workshop course(s)

assignment_ind Small White Board Question

10 min.

Derivatives SWBQ
  • Found in: Surfaces/Bridge Workshop course(s)

group Small Group Activity

30 min.

Chain Rule
This small group activity is designed to provide practice with the chain rule and to develop familiarity with polar coordinates. Students work in small groups to relate partial derivatives in rectangular and polar coordinates. The whole class wrap-up discussion emphasizes the importance of specifying what quantities are being held constant.
  • Found in: Vector Calculus I course(s)

group Small Group Activity

30 min.

The Triangle
  • Found in: Vector Calculus I course(s)

group Small Group Activity

5 min.

Maxima and Minima
This small group activity introduces students to constrained optimization problems. Students work in small groups to optimize a simple function on a given region. The whole class wrap-up discussion emphasizes the importance of the boundary.
  • Found in: Vector Calculus I course(s)

group Small Group Activity

30 min.

Curvilinear Volume Elements
Students construct the volume element in cylindrical and spherical coordinates.
  • Found in: Vector Calculus I course(s)

group Small Group Activity

5 min.

Constant Lines in the \(u\), \(v\)-Plane

Students are asked to draw lines of constant \(u\) and \(v\) in a \(u,v\) coordinate system. Then, in the same coordinate system, students must draw lines of constant \(x\) and constant \(y\) when

\[x(u,v)=u \] and \[y(u,v)=\frac{1}{2}u+3v. \]

group Small Group Activity

10 min.

Fourier Transform of a Gaussian
  • Found in: Periodic Systems course(s) Found in: Fourier Transforms and Wave Packets sequence(s)

group Small Group Activity

120 min.

Spin-1 Time Evolution
Students do calculations for time evolution for spin-1.

face Lecture

10 min.

Basics of heat engines
This brief lecture covers the basics of heat engines.
  • Found in: Contemporary Challenges course(s)

computer Mathematica Activity

30 min.

Visualising the Gradient
Students use prepared Sage code to predict the gradient from contour graphs of 2D scalar fields.
  • Found in: Static Fields, AIMS Maxwell, Surfaces/Bridge Workshop course(s) Found in: Gradient Sequence sequence(s)

group Small Group Activity

30 min.

Earthquake waves
In this activity students use the known speed of earthquake waves to estimate the Young's modulus of the Earth's crust.

group Small Group Activity

30 min.

de Broglie wavelength after freefall
In this activity students combine energy conservation with the relationship between the de Broglie wavelength and momentum to find the wavelength of atoms that have been dropped a given distance.

group Small Group Activity

30 min.

Grey space capsule
In this small group activity, students work out the steady state temperature of an object absorbing and emitting blackbody radiation.

group Small Group Activity

5 min.

Fourier Transform of a Shifted Function
  • Found in: Periodic Systems course(s) Found in: Fourier Transforms and Wave Packets sequence(s)
  • Found in: Central Forces course(s)

group Small Group Activity

10 min.

Thermal radiation at twice the temperature
This small group activity has students reasoning about how the Planck distribution shifts when the temperature is doubled. This leads to a qualitative argument for the Stefan-Boltzmann law.