 eNNOUNCER June, 2009 Physics Boot Camp Preps U.S. Physics Team for International Physics OlympiadCollege 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.
Have You Registered for the 2009 Summer Meeting?
Check the events calendar for future meetings. http://www.aapt.org/Events/calendar.cfm TARC Lesson Plan WinnersCongratulations 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 WinnersAAPT and Six Flags America's Annual Roller Coaster Design Contest took place during the 2009 Physics Dayat Six Flags America on Friday, April 24, 2009. Congratulations to the 2009 winners are David Hu, Ben Szanto, and Alex Wang from Northwest High School in Germantown, MD. International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF)
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 ResultsThis 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 ResearchThe third biennial conference on the Foundations and Frontiers of Physics Education Researchwill 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 Call for Award NominationsNominations for awards to be presented at the 2010 Winter Meeting are now being accepted. These are: http://www.aapt.org/Grants/awards.cfm Winter Meeting MP3 Podcasts AvailableMissed 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
AAPT on Facebookand TwitterAre 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
The workshops will be held at the following locations: • Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI: June 18-20, 2009 • North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC: September 11-13, 2009 For more information and application materials visit http://www.aapt.org/Projects/spinup-regional.cfm. The Physics ClassroomThe 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/ AAPT Section NewsNorth Carolina Section Spring Meeting
Thanks to Michael Ruiz, you may view highlights at http://www.phys.unca.edu/sps_aapt.asp by clicking on Spring 2009 NCS-AAPT Meeting. Photo: Blowing Up Hydrogen in Astronomy Class, Copyright MJ Ruiz In MemoriamHonoring the Life and Work of Science Educator, Betty PreeceCollege Park, MD, May 27, 2009. The physics community and AAPT lost a friend and advocate on May 17 with the death of Betty Preece of Indialantic, FL. A long-time member of AAPT, Betty was recognized for her years of dedicated service with a Distinguished Service Citation in 1997. She served on many committees, including the Committee on Minorities, the Committee on Women in Physics, and the Committee on International Education. http://www.aapt.org/aboutaapt/upload/BettyPreeceObitRelease.pdf 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) ConferenceAugust 22-27, 2010, Cairns, Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, Australia. Organized by Ray Norton. 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 WorkshopThe 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: NSF Funded SurveyDon'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 National Science Digital Library Resource Center's What Works SeriesWhat 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/. 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. About eNNOUNCERAAPT's eNNOUNCERis a service to members of the American Association of Physics Teachers and is produced by the AAPT National Office. All issues are archived here. Other stories of significance appear in our Announcements Archiveand our archive of Press Releases. E-mail news items, comments, and suggestions to: news@aapt.org |
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 
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 conjunction with the 2009 Year of Science and the International Year of Astronomy. The Program Preview 
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, 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 14th Annual Spring Meeting of the NCS-AAPT was held at Catawba Valley Community College in Hickory, NC March 27-28, 2009. There were many interesting speakers including David Maiullo, who set off the fire alarm during his "Physics Demonstrations as Theater" demonstration.
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