eNNOUNCER June, 2009

Physics Boot Camp Preps U.S. Physics Team for International Physics Olympiad

College Park, MD (May 22, 2009) Nineteen of the country's best and brightest high school physics students sit in a classroom, gritting their teeth against the screech of Professor Paul Stanley's chalk. He bears down on the chalkboard and offers the teens a challenge. "You can calculate how long this piece of chalk is by measuring the frequency [pitch] of the squeak," says Stanley. When the chalk snaps a moment later, he explains that the pitch of the ultrasonic sound of the break can be determined from the sizes of the leftover fragments.

These high school students—who have a penchant for wearing MIT t-shirts—banter about how they would perform the calculations. They are the U.S. Physics Team and have gathered from across the country to train for the 40th Annual International Physics Olympiad. From May 16 to 26, they spent thirteen hours a day at the University of Maryland in fast-paced lecture classes and hands-on labs that challenge the depth and breadth of their knowledge of physics. Learn more about the team at http://www.aapt.org/physicsteam/index.cfm. Follow the team blog at http://aapt-physicsteam.blogspot.com/ and see the photo albums at http://www.facebook.com/pages/American-Association-of-Physics-Teachers/43948086085.

Have You Registered for the 2009 Summer Meeting?

With a theme like "Discovering the Universe: Democritus and Galileo to Fundamental Particles and Cosmology" you will remember this "Out of this World" event for years to come. An amazing program has been planned in conjuction with the 2009 Year of Science and the International Year of Astronomy. The Program Preview http://aapt.org/Events/sm2009/loader.cfm?csModule=security/getfile&pageid=21436 is full of helpful information about the meeting, Ann Arbor, and cost cutting travel tips. Register today! http://www.aapt.org/Events/sm2009/registration.cfm

Check the events calendar for future meetings.

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

TARC Lesson Plan Winners

Congratulations to the 2009 TARC Lesson Plan Contest winners: First Place, Jonathan Everett (Milton Hershey School); Second Place, Harold Larson (Seabrook Middle School); and Third Place, Guy Guglielimi (Whitefish Bay High School).

Roller Coaster Design Contest Winners

AAPT and Six Flags America's Annual Roller Coaster Design Contest took place during the 2009 Physics Day at Six Flags America on Friday, April 24, 2009. Congratulations to the 2009 winners David Hu, Ben Szanto, and Alex Wang from Northwest High School in Germantown, MD.

International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF)

Intel ISEF is the world's largest international pre-college celebration of science. Held annually in May, the Intel ISEF brings together more than 1,500 students from 40 nations to compete for nearly $4 million in prizes and scholarships.

AAPT and APS have been active participants in ISEF for many years, sponsoring prizes and providing judges.

See the May 2009, Reno Nevada event's award winners. http://www.aapt.org/Contests/isef.cfm

Physics Bowl Results

This year there were almost 4500 students participating from approximately 225 schools across the United States and Canada as well as a school in China. Top Division 01 student, Jixuan Wang (Don Mills Collegiate Inst., Toronto, ON); Top Division 02 student, Haotian Zheng (Newtown High School, Sandy Hook, CT); Highest Scoring Division 01 School, Millburn High, Millburn NJ; Highest Scoring Division 02 School, Bergen County Academies, Hackensack, NJ. See all the results at http://www3.delta.edu/michaelfaleski/PhysicsBowl/2009%20Physics%20Bowl%20Official%20Results.pdf

Foundations and Frontiers of Physics Education Research

The third biennial conference on the Foundations and Frontiers of Physics Education Research will be held June 15-19, 2009, on the campus of the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine. The conference is a venue for specialists who are active researchers in the field of physics education. This intensive week-long residential meeting will provide a forum for examining and articulating the current state of the field, exploring future directions, and discussing ways to pursue the most promising avenues for future research. http://perlnet.umaine.edu/~ffper/2009/

Physics Education Research Conference 2009, PER Topical Group, AAPT Event

"Physics Education Research Across Paradigms," July 29-30, 2009 in Ann Arbor, at the University of Michigan
This conference will feature the leading researchers in cognitive psychology, in social and cultural studies and in neuroscience: Kevin Dunbar, Andrea diSessa, Michael Posner, and Anna Sfard. These researchers will shed light on how cutting-edge research on learning is conducted within each framework and how different research methodologies apply to PER. One of the objectives of PERC 2009 is to identify the characteristic properties of various research frameworks and the kinds of questions each framework can answer best. By looking at the different frameworks used to study learning and the interplay between them, a goal of PERC 2009 is to build bridges between the frameworks used in PER and bridges between our community and those making use of each of these frameworks.
http://www.per-central.org/conferences/2009/index.cfm

Call for Award Nominations

Nominations for awards to be presented at the 2010 Winter Meeting are now being accepted. These are:
Hans Christian Oersted Medal
Floyd K. Richtmyer Memorial Award
J.D. Jackson Excellence in Graduate Education Award
Distinguished Service Citations
Nomination forms should be sent to Lila Adair, Awards Committee Chair, no later than July 15.

http://www.aapt.org/Grants/awards.cfm

Winter Meeting MP3 Podcasts Available

Missed the 2009 Winter Meeting in Chicago?

MP3 Podcasts from the meeting are now available on aapt.org at http://www.aapt.org/Events/podcasts.cfm:

"Rotating Galaxies and Dark Matter," Vera Rubin, Carnegie Institution of Washington DC (AAPT Richtmyer Memorial Award Plenary)

"The History and Fate of the Universe," George F. Smoot III, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and University of California, Berkeley (AAPT Oersted Medal Plenary)

"Early High School Physics," Panel led by Leon Lederman (AAPT Symposium)

"Dark Matter in the Lab," Joseph D. Lykken, Fermilab (AAPT Plenary)

Looking for a Good "Beach" Book to Throw into Your Suitcase? Relax with this Member Favorite

The Numbers Behind NUMB3RS: Solving Crime with Mathematics. Who needs a contrived "who done it" when you can discover how real-life mathematical techniques are used by the FBI and other law enforcement agencies. (NB-64) 256 pp. Members: $10.50; Non-member price: $14.
http://www.aapt.org/Store/description.cfm?ID=NB-64&Category=All&Type=All&Level=All&Keywords=numbers&Site=

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!

SPIN-UP 2009 Workshop Schedules Posted

AAPT, in cooperation with the APS and AIP and with support from the National Science Foundation, invites teams from physics departments to attend regional workshops. The goal of the SPIN-UP Regional Workshops is to enable physics departments in a wide variety of institutions to build the departmental infrastructure that will produce long-term improvements in undergraduate physics programs and to enhance both the number of students studying physics and the quality of student learning.

The workshops will be held at the following locations:

• Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI: June 18-20, 2009
http://www.aapt.org/Projects/upload/Marquette-SPIN-UPWorkshop.pdf

• North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC: September 11-13, 2009
http://www.aapt.org/Projects/upload/NCStateSPIN-UP-Workshop.pdf

For more information and application materials visit http://www.aapt.org/Projects/spinup-regional.cfm.

The Physics Classroom

The Physics Classroom Tutorial is an online physics tutorial written for high school physics students. The tutorial was originally developed for physics students at Glenbrook South High School in Glenview, Illinois.

The Tutorial covers basic physics topics using informative graphics and an easy-to-understand language. Each unit is broken up into lessons and sub-lessons. A lesson resembles the type and extent of coverage given to that physics topic in class. The sub-lessons are accompanied by "Check Your Understanding" sections, providing an opportunity to assess one's understanding of the lesson material. The tutorial, when combined with other resources at this site, provides physics students with a great opportunity to learn and to test their understanding. http://www.physicsclassroom.com/

Learn it this Summer, Teach it this Fall...

PASCO Summer Institutes are designed to provide you with affordable professional development opportunities, allowing you to learn how to quickly create a hands-on science experience for your students. Our instructors understand your challenges, and they will work with you to easily and effectively integrate PASCO technology into your classroom this fall. All registered attendees will be entered into a drawing for a chance to win a SPARK Science Learning System! http://www.pasco.com/institutes

XXIVth International Conference on Magnetic Resonance in Biological Systems (ICMBRS XXIV) Conference

August 22-27, 2010, Cairns, Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, Australia. Organized by Ray Norton.
http://physicsworld.com/cws/event/14246

Year of Science 2009 Celebrates the Ocean and Water

• Read blog posts from NOAA's Assistant Administrator for Research, Dr. Richard Spinrad.

• View the funny and informative PEAT News Network Video from the JR scientific ocean drilling ship.

• Read about four ocean/water scientists and ask them questions.

• Submit an entry for Day Without the Ocean.

• Play fun games.

AND TONS MORE...  http://www.yearofscience2009.org/themes_ocean_water/celebrate/

The IYA2009 Galileoscopes, Order Yours Now!

The Galileoscope is more than just a telescope—it's a strategic initiative to improve math, science, and technology literacy worldwide. The cornerstone project of IYA2009, these high-quality, low-cost telescope kits are now available. Place your order today! https://www.galileoscope.org/gs/

Meeks Memorial Acoustics Workshop

The 3rd Annual Meeks Memorial Acoustics Workshop will be offered July 6 through July 9, 2009 at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, IN. The main workshop emphasis is on acoustics experiments that are simple to do and easy to interpret. For more details and registration information, visit:
http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~moloney

NSF Funded Survey

Don't forget to take the National Science Foundation funded survey on how faculty and teachers use digital resources in their teaching. The goal of this study is to assess the use of various digital resources by faculty and teachers in physics and cognate disciplines with the goal of improving the services offered by collections of these resources in your discipline. This is a scientific and confidential study that takes approximately 15-20 minutes to answer. If you have any questions about this project, feel free to visit the project website
http://chss.gmu.edu/digitalresources or contact the project’s principal investigator, Glenda Morgan, at George Mason University, gmorgan3@gmu.edu or (703) 993-4446. Take the survey by the end of June, 2009.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=_2bdsUgcGKN0_2bPbob1cPyW9A_3d_3d

National Science Digital Library Resource Center's What Works Series

What Works Series: How to Use Rich Digital Media to Impact Science Teaching and Learning

Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 1:00 PM EDT. This interactive presentation will demonstrate how to access, download, and integrate rich media from public television into your STEM curriculum using FREE, standards-based resources from WGBH’s Teachers’ Domain http://www.teachersdomain.org/.
Register for this meeting at: https://cc.readytalk.com/r/1op253zn9d4dr

What Works Series: Enhancing and Sharing Lessons Using The Physics Front Digital Library Collection

Tuesday, July 21 at 1:00 PM EDT. Brush up and invigorate your teaching with resources from the Physics Front online collection of resources for teaching physics and physical science at all grade levels K-12. We'll explore some of the resources, simulations, interactives, images, and teacher materials available for free to teachers and how to maximize their use in the classroom.
Hosted by the National Science Digital Library Resource Center and the ChemEd Digital Library.
Register for the meeting at: https://cc.readytalk.com/cc/schedule/display.do?udc=lrfam8yw5ikc

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Copyright © 2009, American Association of Physics Teachers