eNNOUNCER January, 2010

 

2010 APS/AAPT Joint Meeting

Register Now!

Join your colleagues in the physics community from February 13-17, 2010 at the Washington Marriott, Wardman Park in Washington, D.C. This joint meeting will not only have everything that makes National Meetings so great, but also feature concurrent and jointly planned sessions with the American Physical Society (APS).

If you are interested in reaching a large community of science educators, consider exhibiting at the 2010 APS/AAPT Joint Meeting. http://aapt.org/Events/wm2010/exhibits.cfm

Sponsor an event.

Participate in the 2010 APS/AAPT Joint Job Fair in Washington, DC. Register now to recruit or be recruited at this exciting event: http://www.aapt.org/Events/wm2010/jobfair.cfm

Check the events calendar for future meetings.

http://www.aapt.org/Events/calendar.cfm

2010 Physics Teacher Education Coalition Conference

The 2010 Physics Teacher Education Coalition (PTEC) Conference will be held in Washington, DC, in conjunction with the APS "April" Meeting, and the AAPT Winter Meeting. The theme will be Diversity in Physics Education: Preparing Teachers for the 21st Century. The conference is the nation's largest meeting dedicated to physics teacher education, and will feature workshops, panels, and talks by national leaders in physics teacher education as well as time for networking.
Information and registration at www.PTEC.org/conferences/2010

Executive Officer Applications and Nominations Sought

The American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) seeks an experienced physicist/educator to serve as its Executive Officer.

To guarantee full consideration, applications must be completed by February 15, 2010. Interested persons should send a resume and cover letter by email to the Search Committee at LAdair@aapt.org. Nominations are welcome and should also be sent to that email address.
http://www.aapt.org/aboutaapt/organization/eosearch.cfm

U.S. Physics Team Selection Process Begins

The 41st International Physics Olympiad is set to take place July 17-25, 2010 in Zagreb, Croatia. Preliminary Exam dates for selection of the U.S. Physics Team are January 19-29, 2010. http://www.aapt.org/physicsteam/registration.cfm

PHYSICSBOWL 2010

Registration for the 2010 Physicsbowl is available now! See www.aapt.org/programs/contests/physicsbowl.cfm for more information.

Adopt-a-Physicist

Adopt-a-Physicist connects high school physics students to people with bachelors degrees or higher in physics via online discussion forums. Through their interactions, students can find out about the careers, educational backgrounds, and lives of current physicists. The goal of the project is to Expose high school physics students to the range of careers open to people with degrees in physics, Advance the dialogue between the physics and the high school education communities, and Introduce physicists and teachers to the ComPADRE network and its resources.

2010 High School Physics Photo Contest Calendar

The 2010 High School Physics Photo Contest Calendar is now available. Each month showcases one of the top 100 entries (photo and essay) from the 2009 AAPT High School Physics Contest. This high quality calendar makes a great holiday gift for yourself, a friend, colleague, or student. Creative as well as educational, it's the perfect addition to any classroom. Order yours now, while supplies last!

Why Take Physics Poster

AAPT in partnership with APS and ComPADRE proudly introduces our newest tool to help students understand why it is important to take physics. This colorful, humorous poster presents the Top Ten Reasons to Take Physics. The poster was mailed with the January 2010 issue of The Physics Teacher. Additional copies of the poster will be available free at the Joint AAPT/APS Winter Meeting. Send inquiries about the Why Take Physics Poster to membership@aapt.org.

Laserfest 2010

Watching your favorite movie on DVD. Surfing the web. Scanning barcodes at the grocery store. For the past 50 years, lasers have revolutionized the way we live. This milestone marks one of the greatest inventions of the 20th century! Through a series of events and programs, LaserFest will help to showcase the prominence of the laser in today's world. Learn more about celebrations and resources, including free posters for your classroom.

http://www.laserfest.org/

APS Minority Scholarship Deadline: February 5, 2010

The American Physical Society is pleased to offer the APS Scholarship Program for Minority Undergraduate Physics Majors. This excellent, highly competitive scholarship program not only provides funding to students, but also a great deal of student support. We encourage all eligible students to apply right away using our new online application. Additional information, including the online application form are available at www.aps.org/programs/minorities/honors/scholarship/.

You Can Help Improve Physics Teaching Around the World!

Sign up to mentor a Peace Corps Volunteer Physics Teacher

The Peace Corps is a US government volunteer program set up in the 1960s. Since then it has, at the requests of host countries, sent almost 200,000 volunteers to live and work in developing nations. Some of these volunteers are sent as physics teachers or physics teacher trainers. Many of these volunteers are recent college graduates. For a large number of these individuals, this volunteer experience is their first time teaching. Your wealth of knowledge and teaching experience could help not only these teachers, but also their host country counterparts and students.

Invitation to Participate in National Lab Day

On Nov. 23, President Barack Obama announced the establishment of National Lab Day, an effort supported by AAPT and more than 200 other organizations representing more than 6.5 million science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) professionals. The first National Lab Day is tentatively set for early May 2010 and will be part of a large, ongoing STEM initiative called "Educate to Innovate."

We invite you to join other AAPT members in providing high quality, hands-on, discovery-based lab experiences to middle and high school students in our local communities. Visit the National Lab Day website at www.nationallabday.org/groups/aapt to join us in this exciting new initiative.

NASA Funds Target 13 K-12 STEM Education Programs

Thirteen K-12 STEM education initiatives will receive an infusion of more than $12 million through NASA's Nspires program. The grants will be used to develop resources to help "enhance secondary students' academic experiences and improve educators' abilities to engage and stimulate their students" in STEM subjects. All of the proposed programs focus particularly on NASA-themed content. The programs to be funded include Inspiring STEM Educators: The NASA Physics and Engineering Collection on VITAL/Teachers' Domain. WNET.org, the WGBH, and the Education Development Center will create digital media resources and professional development modules focused on engineering, robotics, and rocketry and propulsion systems engineering.

Rensselaer Research Experience for Undergraduates

The Department of Physics, Applied Physics & Astronomy at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) is pleased to announce its NSF-funded Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program for the summer of 2010. This will be the 19th year that the program has been in place at Rensselaer. We are especially interested in seeking students of under-represented groups to participate in this program. The following webpage contains more information and a link to our online application form: http://www.rpi.edu/dept/phys/undergraduate/research/reu.html

New "Discoveries In Planetary Science" Classroom PowerPoints Available

The Division for Planetary Sciences (American Astronomical Society) announces the 2nd release of "Discoveries in Planetary Science" Classroom Powerpoints, covering six new topics:

• Discovery of a Rocky Exoplanet
• Lunar Water
• Jupiter Impact Event
• Oceans on Enceladus
• The TC3 Meteorite
• 2012 Doomsday Rumors

These are succinct summaries of discoveries too recent to appear in "Intro Astronomy" college textbooks; each set consists of just three slides to be shown: the discovery itself, a basic explanation based on good planetary science, and the "big picture" context. Another page for further information is provided as well. Powerpoints and pdf's can be downloaded from http://dps.aas.org/education/dpsdisc.

Feedback from the community on how these slide sets are used and received is welcomed, and will be used to improve future releases. Planetary scientists with recent or upcoming results of broad interest are encouraged to submit them for consideration by providing an initial draft using the template provided on the website. For more information, contact Nick Schneider & Dave Brain at dpsdisc@aas.org

PTEC Sites Included in Teacher Effectiveness Initiative

The Minnesota‑based Bush Foundation announced they will be investing $40 million over the next 10 years on preparing new teachers in Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota. A number of PTEC sites are including among this effort. http://www.bushfoundation.org/education/TEInitiative.asp

Perimeter Institute Opportunities for Teachers and Students

Canada's Perimeter Institute is now accepting applications for free summer science camps for students and teachers with a keen interest in modern physics. All expenses are paid for those applying from within Canada.

• International Summer School for Young Physicists (ISSYP)
• EinsteinPlus Teachers' Workshop

Also, the deadline for submitting nominations for the CAP Award for Excellence in Teaching High School/CEGEP Physics is January 15, 2010. Visit www.cap.ca for more information. Please note that this award is only open to teachers working in Canada.

Knowles Science Teaching Foundation 2010 Teaching Fellowships: January 13th Deadline

Do you have a passion for teaching high school science or math? Are you committed to becoming an outstanding professional teacher? A Teaching Fellowship from the Knowles Science Teaching Foundation can make all the difference. Deadline for applications is January 13, 2010, at 5:00 p.m. EST. Apply online at http://www.kstf.org/fellowships/teaching.html

Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellowship

The Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellowship application period is officially open. K-12 science, math and technology teachers are encouraged to apply for this amazing opportunity. Einstein Fellows usually spend a school year in a professional staff position in the U.S. Senate or House of Representatives, at the Department of Energy (DOE), or at other federal agencies such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Science Foundation (NSF), or the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). To apply please visit: http://www.trianglecoalition.org/fellows/einapp.htm.
The deadline for applications is January 13, 2010.

AAPT on Facebook and Twitter

Are you an AAPT Facebook fan? Are you following us on Twitter? Visit our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/American-Association-of-Physics-Teachers/43948086085?ref=ts and become a fan! Follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/physicsteachers. Share these links with your colleagues and help spread the news!

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