Workshops

Did you know?

Portlandia is the second-largest hammered-copper statue in the United States (the Statue of Liberty is the largest). — www.travelportland.com

Below is a current list of workshops planned for the 2013 AAPT Summer Meeting. All workshops will be held at Portland State Univeristy with the exception of W35 and W40 which will be held at Vernier Software & Technology.  Some details below are subject to change.

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Some photos courtesy of travelportland.com

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  • T01: (Cancelled) Using a Model of Working Memory to Enhance Student Engagement

    Date/Time

    • Sat, Jul 13

    Organizer

    Dedra Demaree

    Cost

    • Members: $60
    • Non-members: $85

    Seats

    • Max: 30
    • Available: 1

    Saturday 8:00 am to 10:00 am. Participants in this workshop will learn about the "Idea Space model" (Allie 2010, Allie 2012, Demaree 2012), which is a geometric metaphor for exploring how students can engage with a task in real-time. This model provides a framework for evaluating both the cognitive and affective priming that curriculum materials provoke and suggests how to edit existing materials to improve student learning, engagement, and success for underrepresented students. The workshop will include a brief discussion on the cognitive studies that support the model such as how stereotype threat crowds out space in working memory that could otherwise be used for engaging with a task at hand. After discussing the model, participants will take existing classroom activities and analyze them from the lens that this model affords, then re-write the activities with the intent to enhance student motivation, engagement, and real-time cognitive processing.

  • W01: Learn Physics While Practicing Science: Introduction to ISLE

    Date/Time

    • Sat, Jul 13
    • 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.

    Organizer

    Eugenia Etkina

    Co-Organizer(s)

    David Brookes

    Cost

    • Members: $85
    • Non-members: $110

    Seats

    • Max: 24
    • Available: 0

    Participants will learn how to modify introductory physics courses to help students acquire a good conceptual foundation, apply this knowledge effectively in problem solving, and develop the science process abilities needed for real life work using Investigative Science Learning Environment (ISLE). We provide tested curriculum materials including: The Physics Active Learning Guide (30 or more activities per textbook chapter for use with any textbook, including a new ISLE-based textbook) in lectures, recitations and homework; (b) a website with over 200 videotaped experiments and questions for use in lectures, recitations, laboratories, and homework; and (c) a set of labs that can be used to construct, test and apply concepts to solve problems. During the workshop we will illustrate how to use the materials in college and high school physics courses to have an explicit emphasis on using the processes of science and various cognitive strategies consistent with the NGSS. *Please bring your own laptop to the workshop if you own one. Make sure it has Quicktime installed. If you do not own a computer, you will be paired with somebody who does.

  • W02: (Cancelled) Thrift Store Physics: From Yesterday's Cast-offs to Tomorrow's Innovations

    Date/Time

    • Sat, Jul 13
    • 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.

    Organizer

    Randy Tagg

    Cost

    • Members: $80
    • Non-members: $105

    Seats

    • Max: 24
    • Available: 24

    Objects purchased from thrift stores provide an outstanding opportunity to learn about connections between physics and technology. This workshop is based on recent experience teaching a "how things work" course as a first-year seminar for 24 students. Participants in the workshop will work in teams of four to take apart objects ranging from sports balls to weather stations, discerning and discussing the qualitative and quantitative physics lessons that such activity can provide. It is possible to augment much of the standard first-year physics curriculum with this approach while teaching students many practical skills.

  • W03: Real LHC Data for the Classroom

    Date/Time

    • Sat, Jul 13
    • 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.

    Organizer

    Kenneth Cecire

    Co-Organizer(s)

    Kris Whelan

    Cost

    • Members: $80
    • Non-members: $105

    Seats

    • Max: 20
    • Available: 13

    Learn how to introduce students to particle physics with real data from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. Assume the role of a student and work through investigations that cover not only cutting edge research but also the very physics found in all high school curricula: momentum, energy, electricity and magnetism, and more. Bring a laptop if you can - it will help.

  • W04: AP Physics 1 and 2

    Date/Time

    • Sat, Jul 13
    • 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.

    Organizer

    Martha Lietz

    Co-Organizer(s)

    Connie Wells

    Cost

    • Members: $90
    • Non-members: $115

    Seats

    • Max: 24
    • Available: 1

    Based on recommendations from an NRC report, the AP science courses are being redesigned to incorporate more inquiry-based learning. The current AP Physics B course will no longer be offered after 2014 and in 2015, College Board will offer two new courses, AP Physics 1: Algebra-based and AP Physics 2: Algebra-based. These courses will contain the majority of the topics in AP Physics B, at the same level of mathematical complexity, but with a focus on guided inquiry investigations and deep conceptual understanding. This workshop will introduce participants to the new curriculum framework and other materials being made available to help prepare teachers to provide instruction in the new courses.

  • W05: (Cancelled) FPGAs in the Digital Lab

    Date/Time

    • Sat, Jul 13
    • 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.

    Organizer

    Kurt Wick

    Cost

    • Members: $100
    • Non-members: $125

    Seats

    • Max: 16
    • Available: 16

    In this workshop you will work with FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate-Arrays.) Unlike the older, traditional application specific standard products (ASSPs), such as the 4000 or 7400 series chips, FPGAs contain 100k or more logic gates which can be operated reliably in the MHz to GHz range. These properties make FPGAs ideally suited to be used in an advanced lab course teaching digital logic or to have them directly incorporated into lab projects. You will interface the Digilent's FPGA hardware boards and learn how to implement combinational and sequential digital logic using a graphical approach and a hardware descriptive language, such as Verilog. You will build an interactive 4 bit adder. Pulse width modulation (PWM) technique will be applied to build a digital-to-analog converter to play music. Time permitting, additional exercises may be implemented such as using an IP core to create a sinusoidal frequency synthesizer or a successive-approximation analog-to-digital converter.

  • W06: Tablets in the Physics Classroom

    Date/Time

    • Sat, Jul 13
    • 8:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.

    Organizer

    Ben Van Dusen

    Co-Organizer(s)

    Susie Nicholson-Dykstra, Mary Beth Cheversia

    Cost

    • Members: $68
    • Non-members: $93

    Seats

    • Max: 30
    • Available: 7

    During the first half of the workshop, attendees will gain hands-on experience learning the iPad basics. The workshop will begin with guidance about how to set up a class set of iPads. After covering the basics, attendees will use well-known iPad apps (including Edmodo, Pages, Keynote, and Vernier Video Analysis) to create their own exemplar products to share with students while integrating iPad technology into their classroom. During the second half of the workshop, attendees will gain hands-on experience learning how to use a variety of different iPad apps while creating professional, fun and engaging products that they can use as exemplars in their own classroom. Attendees will create screencast tutorials, stop-animation and illustrated animations, mind maps and digital lab notebooks. Facilitators will not supply iPads for the workshop.

  • W07: Simple Experiments for Learning the Strategies that Mirror Scientific Practice

    Date/Time

    • Sat, Jul 13
    • 8:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.

    Organizer

    Gorazd Planinsic

    Cost

    • Members: $63
    • Non-members: $88

    Seats

    • Max: 24
    • Available: 10

    This is a hands-on workshop designed for teachers interested in using Investigative Science Learning Environment (ISLE) system to engage students in practical work that mirrors scientific practice and thus helps them develop scientific habits of mind. Creation of successful practical ISLE problems relies on finding suitable experiments. The key features of such experiments are that they are simple and easy to build, that they allow students to construct multiple explanations within the accessible curriculum domain and that they provide opportunities for the students to actively experience how experiment and theory are interwound. Obviously the requirements are tough and therefore it is understandable why such experiments are not easy to find. In the workshop participants will be solving different problems based on simple experiments using ISLE approach. Participants will work in rotating groups. At the end there will be a discussion about the results.

  • W08: LivePhoto Physics: Video-Based Motion Analysis for Homework and Classroom

    Date/Time

    • Sat, Jul 13
    • 8:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.

    Organizer

    Bob Teese

    Co-Organizer(s)

    Priscilla W. Laws, Aaron Titus, Maxine Willis

    Cost

    • Members: $65
    • Non-members: $90

    Seats

    • Max: 24
    • Available: 5

    This workshop is for physics teachers who wish to explore the use of video-based motion analysis in a wide range of applications including the teaching laboratory, projects and homework. Participants will learn how to make digital video clips for analysis, as well as how to use video analysis for homework problems and in the classroom. We will discuss educationally effective uses of video analysis being developed in the LivePhoto Physics project, the Workshop Physics project and in other settings. The software used in this workshop is available for both Mac and Windows computers. Participants in this workshop may find that some prior, hands-on experience with basic video analysis using software such as Logger Pro or Tracker will be helpful but is not required.

  • W09: (Cancelled) Interviewing Physicists to Preserve Oral History

    Date/Time

    • Sat, Jul 13
    • 8:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.

    Organizer

    Gregory Good

    Co-Organizer(s)

    Gordon Ramsay

    Cost

    • Members: $65
    • Non-members: $90

    Seats

    • Max: 10
    • Available: 10

    This workshop prepares participants to conduct oral history interviews with senior physicists and AAPT members. The goal is to enlist interested volunteers from among AAPT members, to benefit from a "multiplier effect" and to have people knowledgeable about PER and about AAPT conduct interviews to preserve the histories that are particular to these areas.

  • W10: (Cancelled) The Pluto Debate: A Role-Playing Game

    Date/Time

    • Sat, Jul 13
    • 8:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.

    Organizer

    Tony Crider

    Cost

    • Members: $65
    • Non-members: $90

    Seats

    • Max: 30
    • Available: 30

    With support from the National Science Foundation, we have developed chapter-length role-playing games to be used in traditional STEM courses for both majors and non-majors. Workshop participants will play "The Pluto Debate: The International Astronomical Union Defines a Planet." At the beginning of the session, they will be assigned roles as real astronomers arguing over Pluto and the meaning of the word planet. The people playing the role of Neil deGrasse Tyson will commence the game, re-staging a 1999 panel debate over Pluto held at the American Museum of Natural History. Next, we will play the second phase of the game that recreates a debate at the 2006 meeting of the International Astronomical Union in Prague. Finally, we will discuss preliminary assessments of all of the games. Game materials for The Pluto Debate and the other STEM-focused Reacting to the Past games are available online at http://www.rttp.org/.

  • W11: Using Invention to Promote Mathematical Thinking

    Date/Time

    • Sat, Jul 13
    • 8:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.

    Organizer

    Andrew Boudreaux

    Co-Organizer(s)

    Suzanne Brahmia, Stephen E. Kanim

    Cost

    • Members: $60
    • Non-members: $85

    Seats

    • Max: 24
    • Available: 6

    When we introduce new quantities in physics we usually explain mathematically how they are related to other quantities. Too often students misinterpret the reasoning and simply memorize, approaching physics as a match-the-equation activity. Invention instruction, pioneered by Dan Schwartz, presents open-ended situations in which students must create mathematical procedures to characterize physical situations. Invention tasks prime students to make sense of subsequent formal instruction. This workshop will engage participants in invention tasks and discuss classroom applications.

  • W12: Physics of Energy

    Date/Time

    • Sat, Jul 13
    • 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.

    Organizer

    Abigail Mechtenberg

    Co-Organizer(s)

    Regina Barrera

    Cost

    • Members: $130
    • Non-members: $155

    Seats

    • Max: 24
    • Available: 14

    AAPT educators embrace this Physics of Energy workshop for experimental (laboratories) and theoretical (simulations) curricula. Whether motivated by energy security or environmental stability, physicists at all levels must play a role in the scientific literacy shaping the past as we have known it and the future of the world as we should know it. The academic level is set for undergraduate engineers and physicists; however, the astute teacher can easily apply this to other students. During the experimental-part of the workshop laboratories will be executed in groups (starting with cookbook to inquiry through a hybrid design-based approach). During the theoretical-part of the workshop, Homer Energy microgrid activities will be executed. All participants will leave with a USB of resources. Together the workshop will weave a coherent common thread for our Physics of Energy from mechanical to electrical energy, thermal to electrical, solar to electrical, and chemical to electrical energy.

  • W13: (Cancelled) Laboratories and Apparatus that (Can) Appear at Many Levels

    Date/Time

    • Sat, Jul 13
    • 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.

    Organizer

    Paul Dolan

    Co-Organizer(s)

    Wendy Adams

    Cost

    • Members: $80
    • Non-members: $105

    Seats

    • Max: 30
    • Available: 30

    Do your favorite lab at any level in the curriculum! This workshop will provide participants with hands-on experience working with equipment and apparatus from several physics lab exercises that can be adapted to being done at many different levels of the curriculum, potentially from Middle School to the Advanced Lab, thus moving the 'spiral curriculum' from the lecture into the lab. Participants will cycle through the various stations to optimize their 'hands-on' time. Documentation will be provided for each experiment with sample data, equipment lists, and construction or purchase info. Possible topics include (but are not limited to): acoustics & waves, the pendulum (in its many various forms), lenses & image formation, NanoTech, and examples of exponential growth & decay. The presentations will be active & interactive.

  • W14: Arduino Applications in the Lab and Classroom

    Date/Time

    • Sat, Jul 13
    • 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.

    Organizer

    Eric Ayars

    Cost

    • Members: $80
    • Non-members: $105

    Seats

    • Max: 24
    • Available: 0

    This workshop will allow attendees to see a wide variety of applications for Arduino microcontrollers in physics labs and classrooms, ranging from introductory setup and programming to advanced topics such as communications protocols with other sensors and SD-card storage. Attendees are encouraged to bring their own laptops and an Arduino Uno (or equivalent) if desired. No prior Arduino experience required.

  • W15: Introductory Labs

    Date/Time

    • Sat, Jul 13
    • 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.

    Organizer

    Mary Ann Klassen

    Cost

    • Members: $70
    • Non-members: $95

    Seats

    • Max: 30
    • Available: 0

    Whether your lab curriculum is ripe for an overhaul or well-established, this workshop will provide new ideas to bring home to your institution. Six presenters from colleges and universities across the United States will demonstrate their approach to a favorite introductory lab exercise. Attendees will have the opportunity to work with each apparatus. Documentation will be provided for each experiment, with lab manuals, sample data, equipment lists, and construction or purchase information. This workshop is appropriate primarily for college and university instructional laboratory developers.

  • W16: Introduction to Interactive Laboratory Experience (ILE) – A Hands-On and Minds-On Approach to Effective Physics Teaching

    Date/Time

    • Sat, Jul 13
    • 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.

    Organizer

    Mark Greenman

    Cost

    • Members: $85
    • Non-members: $110

    Seats

    • Max: 24
    • Available: 15

    This eight-step pedagogy intellectually and actively engages students in learning concepts in physics. The Interactive Laboratory Experience (ILE), a derivative of the Interaction Lecture Demonstration (ILD) approach, moves students through a learning cycle from soliciting student pre-conceptions, to engaging in animated peer debate, to learning from nature, confronting initial conceptions with experimental observations and making connections to the students' world outside the classroom and laboratory. Participants will leave with an annotated eight-step ILE/ILD "how to" along with a rubric to self assess fidelity to the pedagogy. Workshop participants will be fully immersed in experiencing the use of the ILE/ILD techniques. Participants will also use the ILE/ILD self-assessment rubric to evaluate the fidelity of the presenter to the pedagogy.

  • W17: (Cancelled) Closing the Gender Gap in Physics Learning Using Wise Schooling

    Date/Time

    • Sat, Jul 13
    • 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.

    Organizer

    Burrow Kreutzer

    Co-Organizer(s)

    Andrew Boudreaux

    Cost

    • Members: $60
    • Non-members: $85

    Seats

    • Max: 24
    • Available: 24

    Over the past decade or more, physics education researchers have identified a gap in the learning of male and female students in introductory physics courses. As measured on standardized tests such as the FCI or CSEM, men consistently out-gain women. These gaps, while reproducible, have not yet been fully explained or addressed. Recent work in educational psychology offers insight into how physics educators might bring about greater gender equity. Identity threat has been explored as a mechanism to account for deficits in academic performance of underrepresented groups. An associated set of recommendations for classroom practice, known as "Wise Schooling," have been suggested. In this workshop, identity threat and wise schooling will be discussed. Results of a preliminary study on implementing wise schooling to promote gender equity in the physics classroom will be shared. Participants will be asked to brainstorm together on ways that the wise schooling recommendations could be implemented.

  • W18: Physics and Toys I: Force, Motion, Light, and Sound

    Date/Time

    • Sat, Jul 13
    • 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.

    Organizer

    Beverley Taylor

    Co-Organizer(s)

    Stephen Luzader

    Cost

    • Members: $65
    • Non-members: $90

    Seats

    • Max: 36
    • Available: 15

    This hands-on workshop is designed for teachers at all levels in search of fun physics demonstrations, lab experiments, and interactive materials through the use of ordinary children's toys. More than 75 toys will be demonstrated, and the physical principles related to these toys will be discussed. This workshop will concentrate on toys that illustrate the concepts of force, equilibrium, linear and rotational motion, optics and light, sound, and waves. You will have the opportunity to participate in both qualitative and quantitative investigations using some of these toys. The workshop leaders have found that toys can be utilized at all grade levels from kindergarten through college by varying the sophistication of the analysis. These same toys can also be used for informal presentations to public groups of all ages, whether children or adults.

  • W19: Standards-Based Grading

    Date/Time

    • Sat, Jul 13
    • 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.

    Organizer

    John Burk

    Co-Organizer(s)

    Josh Gates, Andy Rundquist

    Cost

    • Members: $60
    • Non-members: $85

    Seats

    • Max: 20
    • Available: 0

    How do your grades themselves become actionable feedback for your students? How can they reflect a student's current level of understanding and not past performance, behavior, or participation? How can grades motivate student improvement, instead of being an immutable anchor or a source of adversarial wheedling and game-playing? Standards-based grading (SBG) removes assignments from the grade book and replaces them with content standards. These grades evolve over time, giving you and your students a real-time picture of understanding. In this workshop, you will hear from experienced instructors from high schools and colleges that have successfully implemented SBG in a variety of settings, and can help with defining standards, assessment strategies, tracking and communicating progress, educating students and parents on SBG, and managing the logistics of making your classroom feedback-centered.

  • W20: (Cancelled) Career Pathways Opportunities

    Date/Time

    • Sat, Jul 13
    • 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.

    Organizer

    Toni Sauncy

    Co-Organizer(s)

    Kendra Redmond, Roman Czujko

    Cost

    • Members: $60
    • Non-members: $85

    Seats

    • Max: 48
    • Available: 48

    A student comes to you seeking aid in applying for a position in a STEM career upon graduation with a bachelor's degree in physics. What can you do to assist this student? How has your department prepared this student for this moment? This workshop will provide you with concrete advice and exercises for working with individual students. It will present findings and tools from departments that are effective in placing their bachelor's degree students into such positions. There will be time to discuss and plan what you can do in your department.

  • W21: Designing Courses with Moodle

    Date/Time

    • Sat, Jul 13
    • 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.

    Organizer

    Bill Junkin

    Co-Organizer(s)

    Wolfgang Christian Davidson College Davidson, NC 28035 wochristian@davidson.edu

    Cost

    • Members: $60
    • Non-members: $85

    Seats

    • Max: 25
    • Available: 16

    In this hands-on workshop participants will create a demo Moodle site that incorporates text, multimedia resources, and computer simulations. This workshop will benefit high school and college teachers who wish to use Moodle for curriculum distribution and course management. We will discuss the pedagogical and technical issues and have participants add to their demo Moodle site resources and activities such as warm-up (JiTT) pre-class questions, in-class polling (Peer Instruction) using mobile devices and/or clickers, Open Source Physics models, and other resources from ComPADRE. Participants will leave with copies of their demo Moodle site, providing resources for use in their Fall courses. Participants may bring their own laptops.

  • W22: (Cancelled) University Modeling Instruction

    Date/Time

    • Sat, Jul 13
    • 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.

    Organizer

    Eric Brewe

    Co-Organizer(s)

    Laird Kramer, Vashti Sawtelle, Jared Durden

    Cost

    • Members: $110
    • Non-members: $135

    Seats

    • Max: 30
    • Available: 30

    Modeling Instruction is a pedagogical approach to university-level physics that focuses on model development and testing. The Physics Education Research Group at Florida International University has been implementing Modeling Instruction for university physics for the past 10 years. This workshop presents a university version of Modeling Instruction curriculum for the mechanics semester of introductory physics. Participants will engage in inquiry activities that focus on building qualitative and quantitative models, explore the curriculum materials available on an instructional CD, and explore video examples from the Modeling Instruction classroom. Participants in this workshop will receive a CD with weekly planning guides for one semester of introductory physics, activities designed for students, and video clips for instructor use. Participants are encouraged to bring laptop computers to this workshop.

  • W23: (Cancelled) An Introduction to PRISMS and How it can be Used to Address the NGSS

    Date/Time

    • Sun, Jul 14
    • 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.

    Organizer

    Larry Escalada

    Co-Organizer(s)

    Alison A. Beharka

    Cost

    • Members: $95
    • Non-members: $120

    Seats

    • Max: 15
    • Available: 15

    Physics Resources and Instructional Strategies for Motivating Students (PRISMS) is a high school physics curriculum and professional development program that utilizes a learning cycle pedagogy (http://www.uni.edu/prisms/). PRISMS has been used extensively in UNI secondary science teacher preparation and professional development. The original PRISMS materials were a collection of 130 high interest activities related to the real-life experiences of high school physics students designed to develop student conceptual understanding and to cultivate student scientific reasoning and problem skills. The enhanced and revised version, called PRISMS PLUS, focuses on complete learning cycles that provide fully integrated experiences that enable students to develop not only their problem solving and inquiry skills but also deep, long-lasting understanding of physics concepts. Participants will work through a number of learning cycles. Discussions on how the curriculum can be implemented in middle and high school classrooms consistent with the Next Generation Science Standards will take place.

  • W24: Teaching Physics For Life Science And Pre-Health Students: Lab Activities And Strategies For Course Design

    Date/Time

    • Sun, Jul 14
    • 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.

    Organizer

    Ralf Widenhorn

    Co-Organizer(s)

    Catherine H. Crouch Swarthmore College Department of Physics and Astronomy ccrouch1@swarthmore.edu

    Cost

    • Members: $95
    • Non-members: $120

    Seats

    • Max: 30
    • Available: 6

    How can we reform introductory college level physics courses for life science students, so that we both offer the optimum physics topical coverage and present the physics in the context of rich biological and medical examples? This workshop will share the motivation and design principles used to reform IPLS (Introductory Physics for Life Sciences) courses at several different institutions. Attendees will go through both in-class and laboratory activities for life science majors and pre-health students through multiple breakout sessions, and they will leave with the instructional materials for these field-tested activities. The presenters will discuss the process of developing and refining such activities, as well as addressing the benefits and challenges of a reformed physics curriculum for IPLS. Finally, the workshop will discuss ideas and strategies for implementing changes in different institutional settings.

  • W25: Arduino Micro-controllers and Underwater ROVs

    Date/Time

    • Sun, Jul 14
    • 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.

    Organizer

    Greg Mulder

    Co-Organizer(s)

    Parker Swanson, Pat Keefe

    Cost

    • Members: $150
    • Non-members: $175

    Seats

    • Max: 18
    • Available: 3

    Arduino Microcontrollers are relatively inexpensive devices which you can program to collect data from a variety of sensors types and control external devices such as motors and actuators. Microcontrollers can be used in a variety of classroom activities and student projects. We will focus our workshop on using an Arduino Microcontroller to construct a mini-underwater vehicle that will seek out to hover at a desired programmed depth. We will also discuss how our students use Arduinos for fun, research, underwater ROVs and general exploration. An optional pool-test of your mini-underwater vehicle will occur after the workshop at a nearby hotel pool. No previous microcontroller, programming or electronics experience is required. You need to bring your own Windows, Mac, or Linux computer.

  • W26: PIRA Lecture Demonstrations I

    Date/Time

    • Sun, Jul 14
    • 8:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.

    Organizer

    Dale Stille, University of Iowa

    Co-Organizer(s)

    Sam Sampere, Syracuse University, smsamper@syr.edu

    Cost

    • Members: $95
    • Non-members: $120

    Seats

    • Max: 50
    • Available: 22

    We will introduce you to the Physics Resource Instructional Association (PIRA) and the PIRA 200 during this 1/2 day workshop. The PIRA 200 are the 200 most important and necessary demonstrations needed to teach a typical introductory physics course. Each demonstration has a catalog number according to the Demonstration Classification System (DCS); we will introduce you to the system used to classify these and the bibliography that details journal articles and demonstration manuals for construction and use in the classroom. We will show a subset of approximately 50 demonstrations and explain their use, construction, acquisition of materials, and answer any questions in this highly interactive and dynamic environment. Ideas for organizing and building your demonstration collection will be presented. Those teaching high school physics and faculty members teaching introductory physics will find this workshop extremely useful! It is recommended you also take PIRA Lecture Demonstration Workshop II if possible.

  • W27: Measuring of Learning in the Astronomy Classroom

    Date/Time

    • Sun, Jul 14
    • 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.

    Organizer

    Janelle Bailey

    Co-Organizer(s)

    Tom Foster

    Cost

    • Members: $70
    • Non-members: $95

    Seats

    • Max: 35
    • Available: 31

    This workshop will incorporate practice with and discussion of a variety of assessment strategies that can be used in an astronomy course. Among just some of the examples: concept inventories, ranking tasks, formative assessment probes, minute papers, exit cards - and more. We’ll look at the purposes of each, implementation aspects (including "to grade or not to grade"), and how to understand the results. Take home samples and a plan for incorporating more measurement of learning into your own course, whether it is large or small.

  • W28: Research-based Tools for Teaching Quantum Mechanics

    Date/Time

    • Sun, Jul 14
    • 8:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.

    Organizer

    Chandralakah Singh

    Cost

    • Members: $60
    • Non-members: $85

    Seats

    • Max: 20
    • Available: 6

    In this workshop we will discuss the common difficulties students have in learning quantum mechanics and how the use of research-based learning tools can reduce these difficulties. These learning tools include Quantum interactive learning tutorials (QuILTs), concept-tests for peer instruction, and reflective problems which are conceptual in nature. QuILTs are based upon research in physics education and employ active-learning strategies and Open Source Physics visualization tools. They attempt to bridge the gap between the abstract quantitative formalism of quantum mechanics and the qualitative understanding necessary to explain and predict diverse physical phenomena. This workshop is targeted to instructors who would like to supplement their existing course material with research-based field tested tools. Some learning tools deal with contemporary topics such as quantum teleportation that can be taught using simple two-level systems. Participants are encouraged to bring their own laptops. This work is supported by the National Science Foundation.

  • W29: Green Labs and Activities

    Date/Time

    • Sun, Jul 14
    • 8:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.

    Organizer

    Joe Kozminski

    Cost

    • Members: $65
    • Non-members: $90

    Seats

    • Max: 24
    • Available: 14

    Labs and activities dealing with green and renewable energy, energy and the environment, and sustainability are great for getting students interested in and excited about science. Putting physics in this context can make it more real and relevant for the students. This hands-on workshop will engage participants in several green-themed labs and activities that are at the level of juniors/seniors in high school or intro/gen ed college students. The labs and activities, which will be drawn from various courses and summer programs around the country, can be implemented at relatively low cost.

  • W30: Getting Started with eBooks

    Date/Time

    • Sun, Jul 14
    • 8:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.

    Organizer

    Danny Caballero

    Cost

    • Members: $62
    • Non-members: $87

    Seats

    • Max: 25
    • Available: 15

    This workshop is designed to help beginners get started creating and using eBooks. An eBook is unique because it is by its nature very portable, editable and can be shared easily. An eBook can even "go viral" on the web if the right readership is tapped. Another advantage of this format is that the usual trappings of publishing aren't an issue anymore - including the high publication costs. eBooks can be offered free or inexpensively to make them available to a wide audience. It is possible to use unique fonts, colored headings, photos, embedded video and slideshows as well as other visual options to add design interest. We will examine a number of eBook authoring formats for the Mac and PC including discussions about formats for the iPad, Kindle, Nook, etc. Web-based resources and a learning guide will be used as you get started creating a functioning eBook.

  • W31: Activities and Apparatus for Teaching About Climate and Climate Change

    Date/Time

    • Sun, Jul 14
    • 8:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.

    Organizer

    Brian Jones

    Co-Organizer(s)

    Paul Williams, Austin Community College

    Cost

    • Members: $60
    • Non-members: $85

    Seats

    • Max: 30
    • Available: 11

    During the day, the Earth is warmed by sunlight that shines on it. This is something that your students can see, something that they can feel. But, over the course of a day, the surface of the Earth receives more radiant energy from the bottoms of clouds and the lower atmosphere than it does from the Sun. This influence of thermal radiation is critically important for an understanding of the Earth's climate and how it is changing. In this workshop we'll share activities that make this invisible form of energy transfer tangible. We'll also share activities that illuminate other important but complex concepts, such as how climate models work, how feedbacks - both positive and negative - affect the climate. Our goal is to give you a set of tools to give your students a real understanding of the Earth's climate and how scientists predict its development in the future.

  • W32: Ways to Teach Sound and Music

    Date/Time

    • Sun, Jul 14
    • 8:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.

    Organizer

    Wendy Adams

    Cost

    • Members: $60
    • Non-members: $85

    Seats

    • Max: 50
    • Available: 30

    The Acoustical Society of America is proud to offer a "Sound and Music Activity Kit" free to K-12 teachers. The kit includes ten high quality tuning forks (frequencies chosen to address a range of learning goals), a sound level meter, four laminated posters of the inner ear and hair cells (healthy and damaged), additional items for hands on demos and over 50 research-based, interactive, student-tested lessons, laboratory exercises and assessments. These lessons have been reviewed by the AAPT PTRAs (Physics Teacher Resource Agents). There are lessons for lower elementary, physical science and physics. Topics include basic learning goals for teaching the physics of sound with examples and applications relating to medical imaging, animal bioacoustics, physical and psychological acoustics, speech, audiology, and architectural acoustics. In this workshop the introductory lesson will be demonstrated and we will work with several of the hands-on portions of additional lessons.

  • W33: Major League Physics -- Using Baseball to Teach Mechanics

    Date/Time

    • Sun, Jul 14
    • 8:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.

    Organizer

    David Kagan

    Co-Organizer(s)

    Paul Robinson, Alan Nathan

    Cost

    • Members: $70
    • Non-members: $95

    Seats

    • Max: 50
    • Available: 34

    Baseball provides a wealth of material for introductory mechanics. We'll share a collection of demonstrations, hands-on activities, and on-line resources to enrich your physics classes. In addition, we'll be treated to a talk by Dr. Alan Nathan, the pre-eminent American baseball physicist. Among other things, you'll leave with Paul Robinson's renowned "The Physics of Baseball" DVD and, if you're lucky a raffle prize. So that you're really in the "swing" wear your favorite team gear and be prepared to sing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." Reserve your "sweet spot" now!

  • W34: Heliophysics

    Date/Time

    • Sun, Jul 14
    • 8:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.

    Organizer

    Mary Kadooka

    Co-Organizer(s)

    Michael Nassir Kathryn Whitman

    Cost

    • Members: $35
    • Non-members: $60

    Seats

    • Max: 25
    • Available: 16

    Our Sun has numerous applications for learning physics such as the solar wind and how it affects our magnetosphere to interaction of charged particles in space. It provides a wealth of fascinating resources to stimulate student interest and increase motivation to learn physics. From the twisting magnetic field lines of sunspots resulting in solar flares and coronal mass ejections that can cause blackouts on Earth, you will learn about the Sun's central role in space weather. Complementing this background knowledge will be activities using images from the NASA Solar Dynamic Observatory (SDO) developed by physics teachers and heliophysicists. You will be introduced to JHelioviewer, a database of Sun images, to stimulate your thinking to enable you to create your own lessons. University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy and Stanford Solar Center science personnel will share their curriculum materials suitable for high school and college students.

  • W35: Activity-Based Physics in the Advanced Physics High School Classroom

    Date/Time

    • Sun, Jul 14
    • 8:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.

    Organizer

    Maxine Willis

    Co-Organizer(s)

    Priscilla Laws, Steve Henning, David Sokoloff and Ron Thornton

    Cost

    • Members: $65
    • Non-members: $90

    Seats

    • Max: 24
    • Available: 0

    This hands-on workshop is designed for teachers in advanced physics classes such as AP, International Baccalaureate and honors physics. Teachers attending should be interested in enabling their students to master physics concepts in mechanics by engaging in inquiry-based active learning. Participants will work with classroom-tested curricular materials drawn from the Activity Based Physics Suite materials. These curricula make creative use of flexible computer tools available from Vernier and PASCO. These materials have been developed in accordance with the outcomes of physics education research . Affordable access to the Suite materials for secondary school use is now available and will be discussed. Workshop will be held at Vernier Software & Technology. Take MAX Blue line to Millikan Way station. See http://www.vernier.com/company/directions/

  • W36: Advanced Lab Workshop

    Date/Time

    • Sun, Jul 14
    • 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.

    Organizer

    Van Bistrow

    Cost

    • Members: $85
    • Non-members: $110

    Seats

    • Max: 30
    • Available: 18

    This workshop is appropriate for college and university instructional laboratory developers. At each of five stations, presenters will demonstrate an approach to an intermediate or advanced laboratory exercise. Each presenter will show and discuss the apparatus and techniques used. Attendees will cycle through the stations and have an opportunity to use each apparatus. Documentation will be provided for each experiment, with sample data, equipment lists, and construction or purchase information.

  • W37: Strategies to Help Women Succeed in Physics Related Professions

    Date/Time

    • Sun, Jul 14
    • 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.

    Organizer

    Chandralekha Singh

    Cost

    • Members: $60
    • Non-members: $85

    Seats

    • Max: 20
    • Available: 11

    Women are severely under-represented in physics-related professions. This workshop will explore strategies to help women faculty members in K-12 education, colleges and universities understand and overcome barriers to their advancement in careers related to physics. A major focus of the workshop will be on strategies for navigating effectively in different situations in order to succeed despite the gender schema, stereotypes and subtle biases against women physicists. We will also examine case studies and learn effective strategies by role playing.

  • W38: LEAP: Learner-Centered Environment for Algebra-based Physics

    Date/Time

    • Sun, Jul 14
    • 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.

    Organizer

    Paula Engelhardt

    Co-Organizer(s)

    Steve Robinson

    Cost

    • Members: $60
    • Non-members: $85

    Seats

    • Max: 30
    • Available: 0

    The Learner-centered Environment for Algebra-based Physics (LEAP) is a newly developed, two semester physics curriculum for algebra-based physics appropriate for both university and high school settings. The course pedagogy and activity sequence is guided by research on student learning of physics and builds on the work of the NSF supported project, Physics for Everyday Thinking (PET). Students work in groups to develop their understanding of various physics phenomena including forces, energy, electricity and magnetism, light and optics. Students utilize hands-on experiments and computer simulations to provide evidence to support their conceptual understanding. Traditional problem solving is scaffolded by using the S.E.N.S.E. problem solving strategy. During this workshop, participants will be introduced to the LEAP curriculum and S.E.N.S.E. problem solving strategy, will examine and work through a sample of the types of activities students do and view video from the college LEAP classroom. *Supported in part by NSF CCLI grant #DUE-0737324

  • W39: (Cancelled) Energy Theater

    Date/Time

    • Sun, Jul 14
    • 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.

    Organizer

    Rachel Scherr

    Co-Organizer(s)

    Stamatis Vokos, Amy Robertson, Lane Seeley, Abigail Daane

    Cost

    • Members: $60
    • Non-members: $85

    Seats

    • Max: 40
    • Available: 40

    The Energy Project at Seattle Pacific University has developed representations that support learners in conserving and tracking energy as it flows from object to object and changes form. In one of our representations, Energy Theater, each person in a group identifies as a unit of energy. Each Energy Theater enactment represents the energy transfers and transformations in a specific physical scenario (for example, a refrigerator cooling food or a light bulb burning steadily). Objects in the scenario correspond to regions on the floor. As energy moves and changes form in the scenario, participants move to different locations on the floor and change handsigns indicating form. Such representations enable detailed modeling of energy dynamics in complex physical processes. In this workshop we will do Energy Theater, watch video of learners engaged with Energy Theater, and learn complementary static representations that are useful for ongoing learning and assessment.

  • W40: New RTP and ILD Tools and Curricula: Video Analysis, Clickers and E&M Labs

    Date/Time

    • Sun, Jul 14
    • 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.

    Organizer

    David Sokoloff

    Co-Organizer(s)

    Priscilla Laws, Dickinson College Ronald Thornton, Tufts University

    Cost

    • Members: $75
    • Non-members: $100

    Seats

    • Max: 24
    • Available: 1

    RealTime Physics (RTP) and Interactive Lecture Demonstrations (ILDs) have been available for over 15 years - so what's new? The just released Third Edition of RTP includes five new labs on basic electricity and magnetism in Module 3 as well as a new approach to projectile motion in Module 1. Some of these new labs make use of video analysis. Also new are clicker-based ILDs. This hands-on workshop is designed for those who want to make effective use of active learning with computer-based tools in their introductory courses. These active learning approaches for lectures, labs, and recitations (tutorials) are based on physics education research (PER). Participants will work with new activities as well as original ones. The following will be distributed: Modules from the Third Edition of RTP, the ILD book, the Physics with Video Analysis book and CD, and Teaching Physics with the Physics Suite by E.F. Redish. Partially supported by the National Science Foundation. Workshop will be held at Vernier Software & Technology. Take MAX Blue line to Millikan Way station. See http://www.vernier.com/company/directions/

  • W41: Interactive Engagement in the Upper-division: Methods and Materials from CU-Boulder

    Date/Time

    • Sun, Jul 14
    • 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.

    Organizer

    Steven Pollock

    Co-Organizer(s)

    Charles Baily, Marcos (Danny) Caballero, Bethany Wilcox

    Cost

    • Members: $70
    • Non-members: $95

    Seats

    • Max: 30
    • Available: 11

    The physics department at the University of Colorado Boulder has been developing active-learning materials and research-based assessments for courses beyond the introductory level: Modern Physics, Math Methods/Classical Mechanics, Quantum Mechanics, Electrostatics & Electrodynamics. We have shown that improved student learning can be achieved in advanced courses by adopting and adapting student-centered pedagogies and instructional techniques proven effective in introductory courses. This workshop will provide participants with an overview of the research base and course transformation process, along with a guided exploration of our online resources. Discussions of how learning goals for advanced courses differ from those for introductory courses will help you to adapt these resources to your classroom. We will provide practical demonstrations of how clicker questions and activities can be incorporated into advanced courses. Please bring a laptop. (You will also receive a flash drive containing a complete collection of our latest materials and assessments. See http://www.colorado.edu/sei/physics)

  • W42: Skepticism in the Classroom

    Date/Time

    • Sun, Jul 14
    • 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.

    Organizer

    Dean Baird

    Cost

    • Members: $60
    • Non-members: $85

    Seats

    • Max: 24
    • Available: 11

    If our students learn that kinetic energy is one half mass times speed squared but then proceed to check psychic media to learn what the future holds, have we done our job as science teachers? I will present a variety of lessons, appropriate for the physics classroom, that focus on the skeptical and critical thinking nature of science. Some lessons involve obvious physics content; some bring in examples from the real world. Participants will leave with ready-to-use lessons and resources designed to bring healthy, scientific skepticism to their classrooms - lessons that slip into content-based instruction without disruption. Topics include fire walking, ghosts and angels, balance bracelets, pareidolia, back masking, media credulity, and more. This is an interactive workshop: participants are encouraged to share their experiences and lesson ideas.

  • W43: Physics TIPERs and Ranking Tasks

    Date/Time

    • Sun, Jul 14
    • 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.

    Organizer

    Curt Hieggelke

    Co-Organizer(s)

    David Maloney Steve Kanim

    Cost

    • Members: $70
    • Non-members: $95

    Seats

    • Max: 24
    • Available: 9

    This workshop will deal with alternative task formats such as Ranking Tasks, Bar Chart Tasks, Changing Representations Tasks, Comparison Tasks, Student Contentions Tasks, Troubleshooting Tasks, Working Backwards Tasks, Linked Multiple Choice Tasks, Qualitative Reasoning Tasks and What, if anything, is Wrong Tasks that are useful in improving student learning and understanding of physics. The exercises that have been developed are based, in part, on efforts in Physics Education Research and thus are called TIPERs (Tasks Inspired by Physics Education Research). These tasks support active learning approaches and can be easily incorporated into instruction. TIPERs focus on making connections between the concepts and helping students to make sense of them. This workshop will feature new TIPERs that have been developed for high school physics and conceptual physics as well as issues in using and grading these tasks. Participants will receive copies of published TIPERs and Ranking Tasks.

  • W44: Modeling Applied to Problem Solving with Associated Free Online Course

    Date/Time

    • Sun, Jul 14
    • 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.

    Organizer

    David Pritchard

    Co-Organizer(s)

    Colin Fredericks, Saif Rayyan, Raluca Teodorescu, Andrew Pawl, and Analia Barrantes

    Cost

    • Members: $60
    • Non-members: $85

    Seats

    • Max: 40
    • Available: 28

    Modeling Applied to Problem Solving (MAPS) pedagogy applies ideas from Hestenes' seminal work on modeling: existing physics knowledge is cast into core models whose structure (System, Interactions, Model) parallels the general problem-solving approach students are advised to use. MAPS generates problem-solving skills that transfer to a subsequent E&M course and helps students develop more expert-like attitudes towards science. The workshop goal is to enable participants to introduce some or all elements of this pedagogy into their courses with the help of our free Mechanics Online course (http://relate.mit.edu/physicscourse). This open source mechanics learning environment incorporates MAPS into a standard introductory mechanics course combining multi-level research-based homework sets with e-text. Workshop participants are encouraged to bring their laptops for a hands-on introduction to our course. We seek users/collaborators for our materials, which can be freely modified. We acknowledge support by NSF and MIT.

  • W45: PIRA Lecture Demonstrations II

    Date/Time

    • Sun, Jul 14
    • 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.

    Organizer

    Dale Stille

    Co-Organizer(s)

    Sam Sampere, Syracuse University, smsamper@syr.edu

    Cost

    • Members: $95
    • Non-members: $120

    Seats

    • Max: 50
    • Available: 39

    We will introduce you to the Physics Resource Instructional Association (PIRA) and the PIRA 200 during this 1/2 day workshop. The PIRA 200 are the 200 most important and necessary demonstrations needed to teach a typical introductory physics course. Each demonstration has a catalog number according to the Demonstration Classification System (DCS); we will introduce you to the system used to classify these and the bibliography that details journal articles and demonstration manuals for construction and use in the classroom. We will show a subset of approximately 50 demonstrations (E&M thru Astro) and explain their use, construction, acquisition of materials, and answer any questions in this highly interactive and dynamic environment. Ideas for organizing and building your demonstration collection will be presented. Those teaching high school physics and faculty members teaching introductory physics will find this workshop extremely useful! It is recommended you also take PIRA Lecture Demonstration Workshop I.

  • W46: Exoplanets

    Date/Time

    • Sun, Jul 14
    • 1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.

    Organizer

    Mary Kadooka

    Co-Organizer(s)

    Gary Nakagiri

    Cost

    • Members: $70
    • Non-members: $95

    Seats

    • Max: 20
    • Available: 1

    The NASA Kepler satellite has found hundreds of stars that may have orbiting planets. Could they be terrestrial like the Earth? Astrobiology, the search for life in the universe, is fascinating to everyone. Since the 1990's when the first exoplanets were discovered, the number of other star systems found keeps increasing with improved technology. Learn how to access and use Kepler archived data. You and your students would then be able to conduct actual research using the transit method of light curves. A wealth of available online resources such as activities and timelines will be shared. This workshop is sponsored by the University of Hawaii NASA Astrobiology Institute team and the SETI Institute, both doing extensive exoplanet research.

  • W47: (Cancelled) Physics and Astronomy by Design

    Date/Time

    • Sun, Jul 14
    • 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.

    Organizer

    Julia Olsen

    Cost

    • Members: $108
    • Non-members: $133

    Seats

    • Max: 20
    • Available: 20

    What is understanding? What is the relationship between knowledge and understanding? What does 'teaching for understanding' look like in the physics and/or astronomy classroom? How can we implement reformed teaching along with new standards? These and other important questions will be explored as participants design, develop, and refine a cohesive unit plan based on the principles found in Understanding by Design (UbD). In the UbD classroom, there are high expectations and incentives for all students while exploration of big ideas and essential questions is differentiated, so students who are able delve more deeply into the subject matter than others. This workshop is appropriate for instructors from pre-high school through college levels. Participants will receive a copy of UbD, 2ndEd.(print or pdf) Note: participants are strongly encouraged to bring their own laptops to the workshop.

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