Notes From December 12th Meeting

To TAPT,

Once again, I know I’m late with meeting notes from our meeting of December 12th, now over a week ago. The last week of school is always a bit busy for me.

We had lots of interesting visitors at the last meeting. We had a surprise visit from Erik Herman, who was driving the original Physics Bus. It was fantastic! We all got to have a quick tour before they headed off to the street fair. Erik, who graduated from the U of A teacher prep program, is now working in physics education outreach at Cornell University. The bus was amazing. 

Many thanks to our two guests from the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association, Jim Heasley and Mike Magras, who gave a wonderful presentation. They have a dark site about two hours from Tucson. They will host school groups there. To see pictures of their site, google Chiricahua Astronomy Complex. They have a 14” Celestron with a rolling roof. We are hoping for a TAPTouting to the site! It will be awesome. DaNel Hogan and I are going to work on it in for next spring. With professional development credit.

Meanwhile, if you would like to work with the TAAA for your class or your school, you can contact Jim Heasley at jnheasley@gmail.com. They will be happy to come visit your club or class, and brainstorm some activities that the group might like. They can do a star party, and then move on from there if you have a group that becomes interested in astronomy and would like to camp out at the TAAA dark site. This is a great group with lots of resources that they would love to share in order to get people interested in science. 

In addition, Jim Heasley, who is a former University of Hawaii astronomer, suggested a project that he thinks would make a good science fair project. People mentioned dry labs from Project CLEA and MatLab, which has a dry lab on measuring the speed of light. Jim Heasley suggested a photographic project: take a digital photo of Jupiter every night for some period of time. Using the photos of the moons of Jupiter, deduce Kepler’s law of period vs. orbital radius. The site Ugly Hedgehog was mentioned - it’s a photography site, so I think Jim was referring to it as having some hints for taking pictures of Jupiter.

Some other news: DaNel Hogan of the STEMAZing project (you should be on her mailing list) has macro lenses for 10 cents each. Also, she showed us a cool hologram viewer that you can use to see holograms from the YouTube pictures that people post. It’s amazing. Instructions, and much more, are on her site stemazing.org. Go there for some great demonstrations, sign up for the STEMAZing newsletter, sign up for workshops, lots of other great stuff. Also, DaNel visited Chernobyl. Stay tuned, she will be talking to the group about it next semester.

I am planning a Modeling Workshop for June 13th through July 1st. I’m working on getting some outside funding, so can’t tell right now how much it will cost. If you are interested, please let me know.

Our January planning meeting will be January 23rd at J.D.’s house. We are also planning a meeting in February during the Gem Show, hoping Jim Housely, our friend from Alaska can join us.

Hope everyone has a Happy Holiday! See you next year!

Karie

One More Reminder - Meeting on Saturday

Fellow physics teachers,

Just a quick reminder that we will be hosting the Tucson Amateur Astronomical Association Saturday (Dec 12)  at 8:30 am at J.D. Garcia’s house. (Directions attached.) Bring a dish to share if you can, holiday-themed or not. If you don’t have time to cook or pick something up, don’t worry about it, we always have enough. We will get to hear about the TAAA’s education outreach program, and how they have worked with BASIS schools. They are ready and willing to work with teachers, and hope to spread the word about their programs. I know they have some great educators and some great equipment, so I hope to see everyone there.

Take a break from grading and come chat with your fellow end-of-the-semester sufferers. Hope to see you there!

—Karie

Meeting This Saturday

Hi TAPT-ers,

A quick reminder that we meet Saturday as the last meeting of the semester. It's going to be a good one with a group of Tucson astronomers who have an education program and would like to come into more classrooms. 

Representatives of the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association (TAAA) will talk about what they have done with BASIS in the last three years, and what they can offer for your school. They have some great educators and fantastic equipment, and they are hoping to increase their outreach. Attending will be Dr. Jim Heasley, who is a retired University of Hawaii Astronomy professor, and Mike Magras, who has been working with the BASIS schools. It will be super interesting and useful.

We meet at 8:30 am for potluck breakfast and meeting at J.D. Garcia's house (directions attached). If you can't manage to bring a breakfast dish, don't worry about it, we always have plenty. I know it's a busy time of year, but it would be great if we could have a good number of people to see what the TAAA can offer.

Hope to see you all there!

Karie Meyers, Ph.D.

Next Meeting and Last Meeting's Notes

TAP-Teachers,

This is a reminder that our last meeting will be on December 12^th at J.D. Garcia’s home. We will have the usual 8:30 a.m. start time, with potluck breakfast. I’ll send out directions closer to the meeting date.

We have as a speaker for that date the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association, which I’m sure many of you know is very active in Tucson. I was contacted by Dr. Jim Heasley, who is retired from the University of Hawaii Astronomy Department. Jim was very involved in educational outreach at U of Hawaii, and the TAAA has helped lots of high schools in the area with astronomy clubs and observing nights.

Jim and two of his colleagues will give a presentation on what TAAA can offer to teachers, and I think it will be super useful for teachers looking for an outside speaker for a lecture or observing night, or for a series of events or class activities. The group has an incredible array of expertise and willingness to work with schools, and the astronomers in the group have some ridiculously amazing equipment.

And they really want to work with teachers and schools.

Some notes from our last meeting, which was already over a week ago:

We had some good discussions about flipped or partially flipped classrooms. I showed the smartPhysics/flippit set of prelectures that have worked well for us at Pima. Website is smartphysics.com or flipitphysics.com, for calc-based or algebra-based respectively. The cost is a concern for high schools. I played around on the site, but they don’t have a lot of information, and you really have to call them for high school adoption. Try this page for the number and information about getting a sample. You can register as an instructor easily at the flipit site, then you can view the prelectures.

Chris Ubing showed the I/O lab cart that he has been working with, which is also supported by Macmillan/smartphysics. You can go to the smartphsyics site to see the I/O labs. They are designed to be done at home or at a distance, but the cart itself is an inexpensive way to do a lot of labs – it has all the sensors built in, and couples with a labtop or ipad easily. Look here for details.

Lisa Volkening gave a quick overview of a system that she uses, and I didn’t write down the name, I’m sorry. She makes Kahn Academy-style videos that explain parts of her class. Her cat appears occasionally. I’m sorry I don’t have more information, but the videos are available on youtube, and you could search on Lisa Volkening. Or email her: lisa.volkening@tusd1.org.

Lynne Gillette showed a nice lab activity that doesn’t take much equipment. By measuring the Brewster angle using a polarizer and a reflection from a whiteboard or anything really, students can calculate the index of refraction of that material. I should have that handout, but don’t; Lynne will be happy to email it to you: lmgillette@pima.edu.

Dave Katz recommended some gem show sites – the physical kind of sites. He said to look around St. Mary’s Road and Oracle for vendors that sell meteorites and fossils and will usually give a discount to teachers.

Fritz was absent, so you get a break in your reading assignment.

Thanks to all who attended, and I hope to see everyone at our next meeting, December 12^th.

Karie

Meeting This Saturday

Tucson teachers,

We meet Saturday to talk about the flipped (or partly flipped) classroom. We will meet at J.D. Garcia's house (directions attached) at 8:30 am. J.D. will have coffee; you can bring a breakfast dish to share if you can, but if you don't have time, don't worry about it, we always have plenty of food.

We have three talks scheduled, and we could have more  - you can still let me know if you have something you'd like to present. It will be pretty informal, so don't be shy. Everyone likes to see what other teachers are doing.

Hope to see you Saturday. We start at 8:30 am, and aim to end by 10:30.

Karie Meyers, Ph.D.

Upcoming Meeting

TAPT-ers,

Sorry I'm a bit late setting up our next meeting, which is scheduled for Saturday, November 14th. I'd like to have a session on the flipped classroom. If you would like to talk about what you do to flip your classroom, even if it is just a small thing, please let me know. I think lots of people are doing great stuff to get your students to do more at home, so they are prepared for class. So let me know if you would like to share. I would prefer 15-minute presentations, but it could be longer if you need it. Chris Ubing will show the portable lab, called IO lab, with a lab for momentum. I will show an easy-to-use system called prelectures, using short lectures that students watch before class. It would be great to have a few more talks.

As usual, we will meet at J.D. Garcia's house at 8:30 am for potluck breakfast. I'll give directions in the next reminder email.

Please join us, and please share your best practices with the group. I know everyone has some great stuff going on. Email your ideas to me, even if it's only peripherally related to flipped classrooms.

Thanks, and hope to see you there,

Karie

2015 Nobel Prize for Physics

TAPT,

Below is a message AAPT members received, and it looks like a great resource on neutrinos, available free to everyone through October 31st. 

The 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics has been presented "for the discovery of neutrino oscillations, which shows that neutrinos have mass."

In celebration of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics, AAPT presents a new resource for members to use in teaching about the physics behind the Nobel Prize, "Neutrinos: Teaching the science behind the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics" featuring articles published in the  American Journal of Physics and The Physics Teacher.  The articles in this resource are available free of charge through October 31 so please feel free to share them with your colleagues.

AAPT is a member society in the American Institute for Physics (AIP). You will find additional 2015 Nobel Prize resources on AIP's website at https://www.aip.org/science-news/nobel/physics2015/articles.

Sincerely,
Beth A. Cunningham
Executive Officer
 

Karie Meyers, Ph.D.

Meeting Notes and Upcoming Dates

TAPT,

We had a great talk Saturday, maybe the best we’ve had, though I feel disloyal to all the other great speakers by saying so. Dr. Brad Story, who is in the Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, started with a description of talking, and went on step by step to describe how words and language are formed in the head and neck. There were a slew of amazing videos and animations made using MatLab. We discussed ventriloquists, chimps,  Neanderthals, children and teens, cows, men vs. women, and the aging voice. It was incredible, and I’m not exaggerating.  Many thanks to Dr. Story for a fascinating talk. People were bursting with questions.  If you want to know more about our speaker, you can go to the website sal.arizona.edu and find his name there. 

Also thanks to the Physics Department, who provided, through J.D., a yummy breakfast.

Fritz’s books, which we didn’t have time to hear much about:

A Beautiful Question, by Frank Wilczek, a perennial favorite author of Fritz’s

Adventures in the Anthropocene,  by Vince

Why Information Grows, by Hidalgo

Stuff Matters, by Miodownik

Our next meeting is November 14^th, and I’ll let you know more in the future.

Two future events of note:

The Tucson Pumpkin Toss is October 18^th on the U of A Mall. It starts early, maybe about 8:30. Spectators welcome!

The Four Corners meeting of the APS (America Physical Society is October 16^th and 17^th. I’ll be going on Saturday and would be happy to give anyone a ride. Here is some information from Kelli Gamez Warble, who is Teacher-In -Residence at ASU:

Hello fellow Arizona STEM teachers,

Arizona State University will host the APS 4 Corners Regional Meeting https://aps4c2015a.events.asu.edu/ on Fri-Sat, October 16-17.  There is an entire thread devoted to Education & Equity in Physics & Science, and many prominent science educators will give talks.  This includes Noah Finkelstein from CU Boulder, who will give the plenary talk entitled "Educational Transformation at a Critical Time: why us and why now--the promises of disciplinary engagement".

The registration is $65 for teachers, and waivers and CEUs are available.  A flyer listing all of the sessions involving Education & Equity can be found at this link:  https://sites.google.com/a/asu.edu/aps-4-corners-fall-2015/home

Noah Finkelstein is an amazing speaker, and it is worth the drive to Phoenix to hear him. He is a leader in the field of physics education.

Thanks to all who attended Saturday. Hope to see you all next time.

Karie

Meeting This Saturday

TAPT-ers and Friends,

Here’s a reminder about our meeting Saturday, October 3^rd. We’ll meet at 8:30 am in room PAS 218 on the U of A Campus. New and old members welcome, as well as a guest you think might be interested in the topic.

The PAS building is on 4^th Street between Park and Highland. ONLY THE WEST DOOR TO THE BUILDING WILL BE OPEN.  A parking map is here: Parking map. I usually suggest parking at the 6^th Street garage, off 5^th Street,  or the Tyndall Garage, off Euclid. Both are a quick walk to PAS.

The U of Arizona Physics Department will supply breakfast, and it’s always delicious. Thanks Physics Dept!

Our speaker is Dr. Brad Story from the Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences.  Here is his abstract:

Spoken communication relies on humans’ ability to generate sound waves with precise, complex structure that encodes the vowels and consonants of a language. The human sound production system utilizes vibratory and turbulent sound sources to initiate pressure waves that propagate through the vocal tract, which are the airspaces of the trachea, pharynx, mouth, and nasal passages. This talk will give overview of how the vibratory characteristics of the vocal folds,and the acoustic filtering properties of the vocal tract interact to produce the sounds of speech.

I’m sure it will be a great talk – it sounds super interesting. Please join us for our kick-off meeting.

If you have any questions, please email. Hope to see a lot of people there.

Karie

Upcoming Events and Meetings

TAPT,

Please read all the way to the end - the last item is information about the Tucson Pumpkin Toss! It’s a great activity for your class or club.

J.D. has arranged for another great speaker for our meeting on October 3rd. Brad Story is a Professor in Speech Language and Hearing Sciences, and Associate Head of the Department. Our meeting is Saturday, October 3rd, in room PAS 218 on the University of Arizona Campus. I will send a campus map in a future email. We meet at 8:30 am, and our talk will start about 9:00. The University Physics Department will supply a delicious breakfast. Here is an abstract of Dr. Story’s talk:

Spoken communication relies on humans’ ability to generate sound waves with precise, complex structure that encodes the vowels and consonants of a language. The human sound production system utilizes vibratory and turbulent sound sources to initiate pressure waves that propagate through the vocal tract, which are the airspaces of the trachea, pharynx, mouth, and nasal passages. This talk will give overview of how the vibratory characteristics of the vocal folds, and the acoustic filtering properties of the vocal tract interact to produce the sounds of speech.

I  hope you will be able to join us! 

One more date that I didn’t mention in my last email: There is a 4-corners meeting of the APS in Phoenix on October 16th-17th. There will be a lot of presenters from the four-corners area, including Kelli Gamez-Warble, teacher-in-residence for the ASU physics teacher training program, and Noah Finkelstein, University of Colorado researcher who is very well-known for his work on physics education. We are hoping that Kelli will be teaching a Modeling workshop here in Tucson next summer. Here is some information from Jane Jackson about the event:

You are invited to the American Physical Society (APS) 4 Corners Annual meeting at ASU, on Friday and Saturday, October 16 and 17.

Register at https://www.aps.org/memb-sec/meeting/startpage.cfm?event_id=1162

Teachers (HS & TYC) & retirees can register at a reduced rate of $65.

      Includes lunch on Friday, and coffee breaks on Friday & Saturday.

      Membership in APS is not required (click on register as a non-member) .

Some reasons to come:

*  Saturday plenary on physics education research by Noah Finkelstein, University of Colorado.

*  Invited talk by Kelli Gamez Warble, ASU Teacher-in-Residence in the Dept. of Physics.

Earl Barrett and I submitted these abstracts for 12-minute talks (including Q & A):

Earl's title:  The Need for Increased High School Physics Enrollment in Arizona

ABSTRACT:

    Enrollment has declined for regular high school physics in Arizona; and Arizona is doing poorly compared to the nation. In Maricopa County, only 20 percent of high school students take physics, while nationwide almost 40 percent do.

    To prepare our students for Arizona's share of millions of new STEM jobs, we should do all we can to interest more high school students in physics, while attracting a world-class group of physics teachers. Physics is STEM. Physics is the one class that makes math make sense and strengthens all skills a student needs for STEM career success. We recommend physics as a choice for the 4th math course.

Jane's title:  How we can increase enrollment in high school physics

ABSTRACT:

    Physics is seen as a course only for the mathematically adept, in most high schools in Maricopa County. This is poor policy, because physics is the ideal course to reinforce skills students learn in math classes. Also it is inequitable, hindering most high school students from pursuing STEM-related careers.

    The AAPT goal is physics for ALL. Research shows that physics is the chief pathway to STEM-related careers.  Our school strategy to increase physics enrollment is simple, requiring a reform-minded teacher, changing attitudes, and ensuring that physics students have 21st century equipment.

   Also, we will need more physics teachers, so we must financially support the ASU summer Modeling Instruction program, which has enabled many biology and chemistry teachers to retool successfully to physics. The American Physical Society recognized Modeling Instruction with the 2014 Excellence in Physics Education Award.  https://physics.asu.edu/graduate/mns

Some other dates of interest, from my previous email:

September 26^th: Fall meeting of the Arizona AAPT. This will be a really good meeting. It’s at ASU, and there are some great speakers. Bob Culbertson will talk about how ASU is changing its physics classes, and Chris Ubing will be giving a demo on the I/O take-home labs he is piloting with the University of Illinois physics education group. Here is an agenda for the meeting, from Jim Ward, who is president of our local section of the AAPT, called the AZAAPT:

General Meeting Agenda

Arizona State University

September 26, 2015

 

Agenda

 

8:45 – 9:15               Check in and continental breakfast.

9:15 – 9:45               How to increase Physics student enrollment,    Jane Jackson,

                                 Melissa Girmscheid, Zachary Kovach

 

9:45 – 10:30             Business Meeting / Election of Officers

10:30 – 11:30           ‘EMystery Box’, (Participants will engage in activities used to foster productive conversation about the true nature of science, and how to ensure our classrooms reflect it.) 

                                            Kelli Warble

 

11:30 – 11:50           Resources for graduate credit to meet the new MCCCD requirements, 

                                 Robert Culbertson

 

12:00 - 1:00              Lunch

1:15 – 2:30               Evolution of Physics Instruction, Robert Culbertson

 

                                 Rube Goldberg Projects, Amy Johnson

 

                                 IO Lab, Newton’s third Law, Christopher Ubing

                                

Click the link to registerhttp://www.azaapt.org/Fall%202015.html  

It only takes a minute so do it now before you forget.

Future TAPT meetings are also scheduled for November 14^th and December 12^th. Programs to be announced.

October 17^th: There is a Star Party put on by (I think) the Cochise Amateur Astronomy group. It will be held at Kartchner Caverns! The Party starts at 1:00 with solar viewing, and I think you will be able to go into the cavern. At 5:00, U of A Professor Chris Impey will be speaking, then viewing goes into the night hours.

October 18^th: THE PUMPKIN TOSS! Applications are available at TucsonPumpkinToss.org, and are being accepted now. Run by Bruce Bayly and the Physics Factory, this is a great opportunity for student participation, or just to watch the excitement on the mall. Don’t miss this!

As usual, please email me if you have suggestions or questions. See you soon!

Karie

Meeting Notes From August 29th

Tucson-Area Physics Teachers,

Here are some notes from our meeting last Saturday, Aug. 29th. Sorry to have waited this long, there aren’t quite enough hours in the day. Please feel free to let me know if I’ve left something out, there is a lot of information and my notes aren’t completely legible.

Some dates to put on your calendar:

September 26^th: Fall meeting of the Arizona AAPT. This will be a really good meeting. It’s at ASU, and there are some good speakers. Bob Culbertson will talk about how ASU is changing its physics classes, and Chris Ubing will be giving a demo on the I/O take-home labs he is piloting with the University of Illinois physics education group.

October 3^rd: TAPT Kickoff Breakfast at the University of Arizona Physics Department. We, by which I mean J.D., are working on a speaker. Details to follow.

Future TAPT meetings are also scheduled for November 14^th and December 12^th. Programs to be announced, but just to tantalize you: we are trying for a report on the Ceres Dawn mission, J.D. might talk about the thermodynamics of geysers and volcanoes, DaNal will talk about Chernobyl, and we’d like to have a meeting dedicated to how people are flipping their classrooms, a lot or a little. We have more than we can fit in, so stay tuned. If you have some input and weren’t at the meeting, feel free to email me.

October 17^th: There is a Star Party put on by (I think) the Cochise Amateur Astronomy group. It will be held at Kartchner Caverns! The Party starts at 1:00 with solar viewing, and I think you will be able to go into the cavern. At 5:00, U of A Professor Chris Impey will be speaking, then viewing goes into the night hours.

October 18^th: THE PUMPKIN TOSS! Applications are available at TucsonPumpkinToss.org, and are being accepted now. Run by Bruce Bayly and the Physics Factory, this is a great opportunity for student participation, or just to watch the excitement on the mall. Don’t miss this!

We had a very nice meeting Saturday, with lots of lively discussion.

Many thanks to Jim Housley, friend of TAPT, who sent some demos to share. They were beautiful and awesome. If you have questions or want to talk to Jim about demos you would like to have, you can email him at jmhousley@aol.com.

Dave Katz showed the phone hack that makes your phone into a magnifier, using a cheap laser pointer lens. DaNel Hogan, who is the STEM Coordinator at the Pima County School Superintendent’s Office, had actually showed us this last year – she has a write-up on it on her website, which you should look at (http://www.stemazing.org), and you should subscribe to her newsletter, STEMAZing: Subscribe to STEMAZing. You can also join the STEMAZing group on Facebook.

DaNel Hogan and Bruce Bayly received a grant to buy some stuff that they will lend to teachers: A set of Little Bits, and a Space-time simulator, which sounds really cool,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfuyZlxhrEU. Contact DaNel or Bruce if you are interested.

DaNel might be in the Ukraine now, as she was selected as part of a group to visit Chernobyl. She will give a talk on her trip to TAPT soon.

Demian Quiroz is doing the cardboard boat project that Dawn Pelayo gave a talk on last year. If you need cardboard, DaNel Hogan has a source – something about mattress sales. Contact her if you need cardboard. (DaNel.Hogan@schools.pima.gov,Tel: 520-724-8395)

If you are trying to get school supplies, people have some suggestions:

For clubs, try SupportMyClub.org.

For classroom supplies and projects: DonorsChoose.org and GoFundMe.com

I looked at all of these and they seem pretty easy to use.

Fritz’s Books: 

Birth of a Theorem – A Mathematical Adventure, by Cedric Villani.

Dirt, by William Logan. A favorite of Fritz, and 2015 is International Year of Soil, (as well as Light).

How to Bake pi, by Eugenia Cheng, also a favorite of Fritz

Life’s Engines, Falkowski, by a geochemist about how microscopic life runs the world.

Mystery of Time, by John Langone? This book, unfortunately, didn’t make it around the table, because people started reading it during the meeting, so I’m not sure of the author. A quick search on Amazon gave this version, but I’m not sure it’s the one Fritz brought – maybe he will offer more clarification, or bring it again.

Practical Criticism, by I. A. Richards. This book is about the practice of close reading, and is one of Amazon’s best books of 2015.

Let me know if you have questions or comments. Thanks to everyone who came to the meeting. 

I hope to see everyone on October 3^rd, at our University of Arizona Breakfast Meeting!

Best,

Karie

TAPT Planning Meeting

Hi TAPT-ers,

I know many have started school already, so it's time! We will have our TAPT planning meeting at J.D. Garcia's house on Saturday, August 29th, at 8:30 am. I'll bring some bagels and fixins, and J.D. will have coffee. Bring ideas for future meetings, and any other calendar events that you know about.

I'll send another reminder in a week or so with a map to J.D.'s house. Let me know if you have questions, or if you know of someone who would like to be on this email list.

Hope to see everyone soon! Put August 29th, 8:30 am on your calendar!

Karie

End of Year Party

TAPT-ers,

J.D. won't be in town for our planned end-of-year party, which is scheduled for Saturday, May 9th. 

So I know it's kind of late notice, but I'd like to go ahead with the party at my house. I am combining a get-together with Pima teachers and TAPT teachers. We'll grill burgers as usual. My address is [use the contact form on the right side of this page for the address] near 1st and Ina, and we will start at 6:00 pm. 

I hope you'll come celebrate the (near) end of the school year, and say hi to those you may not have seen for a bit. Families and guests welcome, just let me know how many people are in your group.

Hope to hear from you and see you soon!

Karie

Our Meeting Next Saturday, April 11th: AzAAPT

TAPT-ers,

Here’s a quick reminder that the Arizona section of the AAPT meeting is being held here next Saturday, April 11^th. WE will be meeting at the University of Arizona in the room that we usually use for our September meeting, PAS 218. In addition, we will hold some parts in the lecture hall, PAS 220. Please note: only the WEST DOORS will be open. We have a great speaker scheduled, one whom we have wanted to speak to TAPT for several years. Dr. John Hildebrand is the Regents Professor in the Department of Neurology, and also the Foreign Secretary for the National Academy of Sciences. Here is an abstract of his talk:

"From the Big Bang to Bug Brains and Other Adventures."

My pathway from public school to college and beyond has followed an unexpected route in which the Big Bang, an extraordinary professor, and a chance encounter with a little book about insect brains provided key turning points. A long career investigating the physics and biology of those little brains has been fascinating and rewarding and has taught us a lot about brains in general.  I will discuss some of the science highlights in  that journey. 

Now, after another unforeseen pivot point, I am enjoying the novelty and challenges of serving as an officer of the National Academy of Sciences.

It’s sure to be awesome. In addition, lots of people will be contributing short talks about what is working in their classroom – see the agenda below. I will be talking about a Gauss’s law lab for calc-based physics.

I know you aren’t used to registering for TAPT meetings, but you should register for this one. Our state organization needs your support. You can register online athttp://www.azaapt.org/membership.html. Or you can register at the door.

Lunch will be available – Tucson’s own eegee’s – for a single price of $5. I’ll be getting a variety of sandwiches, taking into account the usual dietary restrictions.

I hope you’ll join us. Also think about asking your biology colleagues – when do they get a chance to hear such a renowned speaker?

Agenda

8:45 – 9:15                           Executive Meeting

9:15 – 9:30                           Registration and continental breakfast

9:30 – 10:30                         Key Note Address: John G. Hildebrand, Ph.D

10:30 – 11:30                      Business meeting

11:30 – 12:00                      Lunch

12:00 – 2:00                         Ten Minute Talks

                                                        Magic Mountain Field Trips

                                                        Resources for flipped/blended classes

                                                        Rube Goldberg projects

                                                        Soak the Teach (this should be good)

                                                        Movie Mistakes

                                                        Gauss’s Law

                                                        IO lab demo

Hope to see you there!

Karie

February 21st Meeting Notes

TAPT,

Some questions/actions for the group:

1) J.D. has to be out of town during May, when we usually have an end-of-the-year party. To have the party at a central location, it would probably have to be in a park. Alternatives are my house, near 1st and Ina, or the clubhouse at my parent's townhouse, near Oracle and Orange Grove. Or skip a party, regroup in August. Let me know if you have a preference.

2) I am planning to organize a Modeling Workshop in the summer of 2016. Are there takers for this? It would be for three weeks in mid-June to early July.

3) Our April 11th meeting will coincide with the state AZAAPT meeting. Since our local meeting of 10-minute talks was great, I suggested we should follow that format for part of the meeting. Please share an idea you have used in your class. Send your topic to me and I will pass on to Jim Ward. Or, if you are on the state list serve, just reply to Jim when he asks for contributions. For that meeting, we have a keynote speaker from the University: Dr. John Hildebrand will talk about brain science, I'll have an abstract soon. Then there will be a business meeting, as part of a working lunch, then the individual talks. The meeting will end by 2:00. I know that's a lot of Saturday to give up, but hopefully you will also get a lot of inspiring ideas.

About our Saturday meeting:

Allison Lemons in a finalist for the KOLD-Circle K Teacher of the Year. Way to go Allison! You're awesome! See a video about Allison at http://www.tucsonnewsnow.com/category/121751/teacher-tributes

A dropbox link for the DM (Direct Measurement videos) material is https://www.dropbox.com/sh/rpjf9zfmm9h47md/AADpaDMKNM2LUVRHuDxY0xkba?dl=0.

Fritz brought a book: The Anthropology of Childhood, by Lancy, delves into the connection between math achievement scores and socioeconomic status. Very interesting and relevant.

Hunter brought a gyroscopically controlled screwdriver. Super clever.

We had 10 or so hydrometers to give away, and all were taken. 

Jim Ward wrote to ask what else we could use. I will discuss that in another email. 

Email me if you have suggestions about our end-of-the-year party or a Modeling workshop. Also, if you want me to send you AAPT information, I have some brochures from the national organization. I will also have material from the AAPT at the state meeting on April 11th.

Thanks,

Karie

Upcoming Meeting and AP Physics C MOOC

TAPT-ers,

We meet Saturday at J.D. Garcia’s house. The meeting starts at8:30 am with pot-luck breakfast. Bring a dish to share if possible. Lynne Gillette will show examples of Direct Measurement Videos. She has developed activities for some of the videos. Bring a laptop if you like to view and bookmark the videos. Also, if we have time, you can work on developing an activity for your class to go with a DM video. We will end around 10:30. Directions to J.D.’s house are attached.

I received the information below from Dedra Demaree, who develops the AP Physics C exam. The class starts March 2^nd, and is aimed at both teachers and students of AP Physics C.

From Dedra Demaree:

I am writing to inform you of the free GeorgetownX MOOC (massive open online course) titled: “Preparing for the AP Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism Exam.” This course is being offered through GeorgetownX, a partnership between Georgetown University and edX, and is funded by a grant from edX as part of their high school initiative, which has received national press such as this report from NPR.

The course features the expert instruction of Physics Education Research (PER) faculty from around the country, each addressing one of the course’s five main content areas: Electrostatics, Conductors, Capacitors and Dielectrics, Electric Circuits, Magnetic Fields, and Electromagnetism.

In addition to expert-led lectures, the course includes extensive use of PhET Simulations, the first edition of the Physics Active Learning Guide (ALG), the UMd Open Source tutorials, the UPitt E&M tutorials, and other free resources such as the OpenStax Physics text and YouTube videos.

The course launches on Monday, March 2nd, and you can register on the course’s edX page.

This course serves two main audiences - teachers of AP Physics C who may benefit from a fresh way to approach the materials and gain familiarity with great PER-based resources, and studentsplanning to take the AP Physics C exam looking for additional practice and review.  Please note that the MOOC also functions as a stand-alone course for each of the featured topics, addressing them fairly comprehensively, and we encourage you to use the course resources and videos in whatever way you may find them beneficial to your instruction.

Please encourage your students to register for the MOOC, and we also welcome your participation in the course! We invite questions and feedback at gux@georgetown.edu.

You can help us spread the word by sharing physics resources on our Pinterest board, and by joining us in conversation through ourFacebook page.

Thank you,

Dedra Demaree

AP Physics C Development Committee Member

Affiliate Faculty of Physics, Georgetown University

and

Learning Design and Research Specialist, CNDLS

Hope to see you all Saturday!

Karie