From an interview with Rachel Scherr | Associate Professor of Physics | UW Bothell
Rachel Scherr used Purple to turn familiar physics labs into open-ended investigations that invite students to think and work like scientists.
Rachel Scherr loves creating courses. An associate professor in UW Bothell’s Physical Sciences Department, she studies how people teach and learn physics and how students come to participate in the culture and practices of the discipline. Whether she is rethinking a familiar lab or preparing to teach an unfamiliar topic, she uses Purple as a conversation partner to explore ideas, work through questions, and design learning experiences that invite students to think and work like scientists.
Redesigning a Familiar Physics Lab
When Scherr began preparing a sophomore physics lab she had not taught before, she planned to use the existing experiments during her first year rather than take on the larger job of changing the equipment. But when she looked closely at the labs, she realized she could not teach them as written. Many of the labs asked students to reproduce results that have been known for generations, such as measuring the speed of light or identifying a gas when the name was already printed on the tube. When students already know the expected answer, Scherr said, the work can become an exercise in making the data agree rather than investigating an authentic question.
She wanted students to experience the uncertainty of science: to make meaningful choices and learn from the evidence they produce. She gave Purple the available equipment, the structure of each experiment, the values she wanted the course to reflect (such as curiosity, collaboration, and sound experimental practice), and then asked what students could investigate with that equipment. Purple generated possible questions for each experiment. Scherr evaluated the ideas, rejected the weaker ones, and developed the strongest into new lab activities. Within about a week, she had reimagined the course without replacing the equipment.
The traditional speed-of-light lab offers a clear example. Instead of asking students to measure a value they can look up, Scherr redesigned the activity around a different question: How precisely can you measure the speed of light with this apparatus, and which parts of the setup affect that precision? Students now investigate how lasers, mirrors, lenses, and the measurement process affect their results. The outcome depends on their choices, evidence, and reasoning, not an answer in a textbook.
What an amazing creative partner.
Deepening Understanding for a Quantum Mechanics Course
Scherr has also used Purple while preparing a new quantum mechanics course organized around a device called the magneto-optical trap, which uses quantum mechanics to produce extremely cold atoms. Because the device was not part of how she originally learned the subject, she first needed to deepen her own understanding of how it works.
For about a month, Purple became a conversation partner as she learned the material in a way that worked for her. She could ask questions in plain language, follow up on a confusing point, request a different explanation, or move between high-level overviews and detailed mathematics.
Scherr did not treat Purple as the final authority. Her expertise in physics helped her assess its explanations and compare them with specialized textbooks and other scholarly sources. Purple gave her an always-available place to ask the next question and work through ideas where a textbook explanation felt incomplete.
I think by talking. Having a conversation partner to learn with is really what works for me.
Starting With Purpose and Expertise
Scherr’s approach is simple: Explain what you are trying to understand or create, ask a question, and continue the conversation. She does not begin with elaborate prompts.
She also emphasizes the importance of reliable anchors. Her subject knowledge and access to disciplinary sources help her judge what is useful and verify what matters. In an unfamiliar subject, she would be more cautious and place less weight on an answer until she could confirm it elsewhere.
The combination of clear purpose, expertise, and a willingness to question the results is what makes Purple useful in Scherr’s work. It does not design her courses or replace her judgement. It helps her consider more possibilities, examine ideas from different angles, and shape them into learning experiences.
Scherr plans to keep using Purple to learn new physics and to design courses. For her, those activities are connected. Learning something new helps her rethink how students encounter a subject, while course design gives that learning a practical purpose.