2011 Winter Meeting — Jacksonville, Florida

Laboratories Rutherford Would Approve

(Committee on History and Philosophy in Physics)

In 1911 Ernest Rutherford first proposed the idea that atoms have their positive charge concentrated in a nucleus. It has been 100 years since Rutherford helped usher in modern physics with this idea about the atomic nucleus. Presentations focusing on laboratory activities involving the nucleus (both introductory as well as advanced, low cost or sophisticated) would be perfect for this session.

Teaching Physics On-line

(Committee on Physics in Two-Year Colleges)

Posters and contributed papers related to the design, development, instruction and evaluation of online physics courses are invited.

Best Practices for Teaching with Technology

How have you used technology in the classroom? Anything from clickers to homework systems to computer simulations to mbl systems is appropriate.

Interactive Lecture Demonstrations: Physics Suite Materials that Enhance Learning in Lecture

(Committee on Research in Physics Education)

This is a call for contributed papers by those who have implemented Interactive Lecture Demonstrations in their introductory physics courses.

Teaching with Technology

We seek talks detailing the use of modern educational technologies in the teaching of physics at all levels. Technologies may include, but are not limited to, digital photos and video, specialized software, course management systems, portable devices, online homework systems, communications tools, blogs, wikis, twitter, and computer interfaced lab apparatus.

Using Robotics to Teach Physics

(Committee on Physics in High Schools)

Do you use robotics to teach physics in an innovative or novel way? Project or problem-based? In collaboration with physics and other subjects? Please consider sharing your challenge and successes with us in the session: Using Robotics to Teach Physics

Objectives and Assessment of the Physics Graduate Program

(Committee on Research in Physics Education)

Though our invited panelists will help frame the discussion we will conclude with a mini-poster session. Please share your response to "What are the objectives of a graduate education in physics" What experiences (both curricular and non-curricular) best meet these objectives? How can we assess if our program is preparing our students to meet the challenges expected of a physicist?

Rutherford: His Life and Legacy

(Committee on Apparatus)

Historical papers on Rutherford's nuclear model of the atom, on Rutherford's life and work, or on various legacies of Rutherford are welcome. Please submit to Greg Good (ggood@aip.org)

PER Around the World

(Committee on Research in Physics Education)

This is an invited and contributed session designed for reports from groups around the world working on Physics Education Research. We are interested on research approaches, perspectives and results in different countries; successes and challenges of this area of research around the world; and the effect of the structure of different school systems on research.

Laboratory Pedagogy

(Committee on Physics in Undergraduate Education)

Papers that relate to laboratory pedagogy are invited. What form have laboratories taken or could take to improve the physics curriculum across all levels and student populations? What can the laboratory experience uniquely provide? What have been the changes and innovations in laboratory pedagogy? How have new technologies and use of simulations transformed the corresponding laboratory pedagogy?

Meeting the Diverse Needs of Students

(Committee on Physics in Two-Year Colleges)

AAPT believes that all students, including those identified as English Language Learners (ELL); students with physical, mental, and emotional disabilities; students living in economic poverty, and those who belong to racial and ethnic minorities can and should have every opportunity to learn and succeed in Physics. Papers will focus around these aspects in order to provide much needed support, networking, and professional development to teachers struggling to meet the diverse needs of all physics students.

Video-Based Motion Analysis in the Physics Classroom

(Committee on Educational Technologies)

Have you created new activities or techniques that involve video-based motion analysis in the classroom, lab or for homework? Have you done any research on video analysis activities? If so, share your results here.

Using Social Networking in Teaching Physics

(Committee on Educational Technologies)

How, where, and when are social media used in the physics education. This session will focus on use and imapct of wikis, blogs, and other social networking that is currently being used by phyiscs teachers at all levels - elementary through college.

The New AP Physics B Test

(Committee on Physics in Undergraduate Education)

The AP Physics B curriculum has been dramatically changed. The purpose of this session is to explain the details of the new two year curriculum, AP Physics 1 and 2. Emphasis will be on including results of physics education research, increased use of inquiry and modeling techniques. The new courses place greater emphasis on conceptual understanding versus computation without understanding.

PER in the High School

The two purposes of this session are to allow physics education researchers to (1) describe research that they have conducted with high school students and (2) recruit high school teachers to collaborate on future research with high school students.

Preparing Pre-High School Teachers

(Committee on Teacher Preparation)

The physics and physical science preparation of pre-high school, teachers is a sometimes forgotten part of AAPT. However, the AAPT has been involved with pre-high school, teacher preparation for many years and the community has many ideas to share. We are going to look at several exemplary programs, curriculum and models for preparing elementary and middle school teachers to teach physical science and physics to their students. We are inviting people to talk about their experiences working with both in-service and pre-service elementary and middle school teachers.

Non Academic Partnerships: Business/Community/Education Collaborations for Teachers

This session will highlight successful and innovative partnerships for teachers, in particular those that involve non-academic partners, such as businesses and community groups.

Extended Investigations in 5-9 Classrooms

What labs and activities do you do to fire up your middle school students? Is there a special activity that your students enjoy that really strecthes them? Please share your ideas with us at this session.

Emerging Technology

(Committee on Educational Technologies)

Authors are welcome to submit abstracts for contributed talks for a session on emerging trends and technology in Physics Education.

SPS Undergraduate Research and Outreach (Posters)

Undergraduates are asked to contribute posters, whether relaying details about a local research effort, or a physics outreach event, or disseminating work from an REU experience, or telling about an experience as a Learning Assistant. Undergraduate mentors are also invited to present posters appropriate for an audience of undergraduates and other mentors. Undergraduates engaged in PER efforts are especially invited to submit an abstract.

Reforming the Introductory Physics Course for Life Science Majors IV

The particular theme for the invited talks is identifying and characterizing physics aspects of biology-related disciplines (medical physics, biophysics, astrobiology) to better answer "What physics should be in the IPLS"? There will be a mini-poster session following the invited talks. Posters on pedagogical reform of the introductory physics course for the life sciences are welcome. (The IPLS list-serve is ipls@mail.aapt.org.)

SPS Undergraduate Research and Outreach

Undergraduates are asked to contribute talks, whether relaying details about a local research effort, or a physics outreach event, or disseminating work from an REU experience, or telling about an experience as a Learning Assistant. Undergraduate mentors are also invited to present papers appropriate for an audience of undergraduates and other mentors. Undergraduates engaged in PER efforts are especially invited to submit an abstract.

Computational Physics from the Freshman to the Senior Year

(Committee on Educational Technologies)

Computational physics is becoming an essential component of the standard curriculum for physics majors. Sometimes computational physics is integrated into courses, sometimes it is a stand-alone course, and sometimes there is a track or a major in computational physics. Contributed papers are sought that describe various ways to teach computational physics in the undergraduate curriculum for physics majors.

Upper-level Undergraduate Physics

Have you taught upper division physics courses for sophomores, juniors, and seniors? Do you have new ways of teaching or helping students learn about topics in these courses? If so, we would like you to contribute a talk in this session.

Is There a Need for Assessment in Undergraduate Physics?

(Committee on Research in Physics Education)

Papers are sought that will contribute to a dialogue on the role and efficacy of standardized assessment in undergraduate physics. Such assessment instruments include numerous conceptual diagnostic tests, the GRE Subject Test in physics, the Major Field Test in physics, placement tests, and the AP Exam. What do these tests tell us? Are other tests needed?

Transitions from High School to Two-Year and Four-Year Colleges

(Committee on Physics in Two-Year Colleges)

How do AP courses prepare and motivate students to continue in the physics curriculum at the two-year and four-year colleges?

Making Physical Meaning with Mathematics

This invited and contributed session invites contributions about research that looks at how students use mathematics to make sense out of physics and solve physics problems. Both introductory and advanced contexts will be discussed.

Research on the Effect of Anxiety, Frustration and Annoyance on Physics Learning

We welcome contributed papers discussing issues and research related to the impact of affect on learning.

Service Learning as Outreach

Have you incorporated a service learning project, particulalry one that involves outreach, into your physics instruction? Please share your experiences, thoughts, ideas about service learning and outreach.

LaserFest: What We Did

(Committee on Apparatus)

Calling all LaserFest on the Road grant recipients. If you received one of the grants to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Laser, please share your project, demonstrations, or exhibits with your colleagues in AAPT.

New Results in Astronomy Education Research

Student understanding, effective teaching strategies, motivational issues, teacher professional development. If you're doing Astronomy Education Research, share your results with AAPT through this session. From preliminary results to robust, completed studies, all topics, grade levels, and methodological designs are of interest. Both oral and poster presentations are welcome.

Cosmology Education

Math, science, history, unraveling the mystery...It all started with the Big Bang! Instruction about the origin and evolution of our universe is a rapidly growing field in education. If you have innovative instructional strategies and/or are conducting education research about cosmology in the classroom, share your results with AAPT through this session. From effective instructional methods to action research to robust analytical studies, anything that includes concepts related to cosmology are of interest. This session is for oral presentations only.

Using the T-TEP Report As A Guide for Improving Physics Teacher Education

The findings and recommendations of the national Task Force on Teacher Education in Physics (T-TEP) outline the critical components of a thriving high-quality program that prepares and supports physics teachers. Sites that are highlighted in the T-TEP report, as well as other sites, are called to present contributed papers in this session to illustrate how individual programs instantiate the T-TEP recommendations.

Jerrold Zacharias and the Foundations of PSSC Physics

(Committee on History and Philosophy in Physics)

Compare and contrast physics teaching and curricula of Zacharias' generation (high school or university or graduate) with physics teaching and curricula of today. Particularly welcome: How it was in Jacksonville then and now.

Gender Perspective in PER

(Committee on Research in Physics Education)

This session with invited and contributed talks, invites contributions in gender perspective in physics education research.