Meeting Tomorrow

TAPT-ers,

This meeting snuck up on me, what with all the end of the semester stuff. On the plus side, the semester is almost over! 

We are meeting Saturday at J.D. Garcia's house at 8:30 am for a potluck (holiday-ish) breakfast and to set our agenda for next semester. I hope you will join us. J.D.'s address is 3100 E. Calle Portal.( I decided to stop attaching directions, since everyone maps anyway, but if you want directions, please email me.) We aim to end by 10:30. 

Hope to see you all there! Bring your ideas for next semester! All are welcome, and this is a sociable meeting, so come and let us know how your semester went.

Best,

Karie

More with Arduinos

TAPT,

We had a great meeting Saturday (actually Saturday before last), playing with Arduinos. Many thanks to Juan Cuarda and Chien-Wei Han for the time taken to instruct. I was asked for a more advanced workshop, so maybe that's a future topic. 

If you missed that workshop, or even if you didn't, you might be interested in the flyer attached, kindly forwarded by Bruce Bayly. According to the organizer, Eric Case, as written to Bruce:

We are trying to make the workshop accessible to everyone.  I’m hoping some people will bring their middle school or high school children.

Room 214, in McClelland Hall, has 29 computers and holds about 50 people, although I don’t expect we’ll have that many at any one time, but if you can send 50 over, we’ll take them.  The building should be unlocked from 7 AM to 5 PM on Saturday.

I hope you and your students can make it.
-Eric

Contact for Eric:

Eric Case, CISSP
Lecturer
Information Security Evangelist
Department of Management Information Systems
Eller College of Management, The University of Arizona
ecase (at) email (dot) arizona (dot) edu
http://www.linkedin.com/in/ericcase

[There is a flyer here.]

Our next TAPT meeting is December 10, at 8:30 am, at J.D. Garcia's house. [Use the contact form on this blog if you need the address]

We'll have our usual breakfast potluck, and it could be holiday-themed if you choose, no expectations though. We will be planning our next semester dates and activities, and socializing. We aim to end around 10:30.

Hope everyone's semester is ending well,

Karie

Meeting Tomorrow

Tucson Area Teachers,

Two Pima teachers will be leading an Arduino workshop just for us Saturday. I hope you can come, and if you are planning to come, please drop me a quick line. 

We will meet at 8:30 am in room F102 at Pima Community College West Campus. Park on the north side of Pima, past the solar panels. Walk up the main steps near the J building and the F building and F102 will be right in front of you.

We have our computers configured with Arduino software, but if you would like to download your own, you will be able to do it at the workshop. Or if you have already downloaded it from Arduino at https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/Software, that works too. We will be using Arduino Unos, and if you have one of those, bring that too. 

There will be coffee and snacks, and also let me know if you would like a re-cert certificate. 

Some projects: the ubiquitous flashing light, timer, running a DC motor, ...

Chien Wei is making some handouts for us, and a rough head count would be helpful. If you decide to come at the last minute, that's fine, we just need an approximate number.

To get to Pima, 2202 W. Anklam Road: From Speedway, going west, go past the I10 freeway. There is a light at Greasewood, where you should turn left. Take the first left into Pima, and follow the drive all the way around, past the solar panels to the next parking lot. Look for my red car. There is a big set of steps, and our room, F102, will be near the top of the steps. 

Hope to see you there!

Any questions, please email me.

Karie

Meeting/Workshop this Saturday - Arduinos

Dear Physics Teachers,

We meet this week, November 19th, for a workshop on “Using Arduinos”. The workshop will be at Pima Community College in room F130 - I’ll send directions later in the week. Chien-Wei Han, Physics Instructor at Pima, will be leading the workshop. We have some Arduinos, or you can bring your own.They are widely available online or from computer stores around town. I ordered one from Amazon, and have seen them at Simutek on Ft. Lowell.

We’ll start at 8:30 and plan to end around 11:00 or so. I’ll bring coffee and cookies.

If you are using your own computer, you will be able to download the software needed at the workshop. Or you can use one of our computers. 

Here’s a little blurb about Arduino from (http://www.innovatemyschool.com/ideas/item/832-why-arduino-is-great-for-the-classroom.html):

The Arduino board is designed for artists and hobbyists – in other words people who are not necessarily roboticists or ‘geeky’ by nature, but are interested in making things that move, interactive models and projects that react to the environment and have some degree of sophistication and elegance.

If we think about young students, the majority of them will fall into that category. Most kids are usually interested in model making and it's okay to admit to liking it amongst their peers. Imagine making a board game with an electronic score keeper, or an interactive house model - gender and self-image safe projects that can be done with an arduino.

Because of this target audience, getting little models or prototypes working with arduino is really quick, easy and efficient – you plug the board into your usb port, write your code – which is simplified, yet has massive capabilities at the same time – hit download and, wahey, it works!

We all know how frustrating it is when, in any lesson involving technology, you can’t get past the first hurdle of getting something started up - arduino doesn’t have that issue.

Usually there’s no problem with the hardware (we have had the very occasional issue where it loses the usb port, but this is easy and quick to resolve) and no nasty bugs or strange error messages that stop it working for apparently no reason – if anyone has used the MPLAB IDE from yesteryear you’ll know what we’re talking about – there’s no need for an external debugger and all in all it is brilliant value for money.

It’s great for robotics because, essentially, a lot of hobbyist robotics projects are concerned with hardware control and reacting to sensors, which the arduino is designed to do and does well (yes you can use a raspberry pi to do this but, seriously, isn’t that a slight overkill?)

It's ease of set up and use, intuitive, simple software and low cost, makes it ideal for kids who want to start programming and a fantastic resource for classrooms.

It allows your students to focus on debugging their own hardware and code. They don’t have to worry about first learning how to use a complicated piece of software, or set up lots of hardware, just to write their first program - it's also one of the reasons that Lego Mindstorms is popular in classrooms.

The new computing curriculum states that students should be programming in at least two different languages. The arduino uses a simplified version of C, which is a hugely popular language, very different to Python - which is just as important to learn and the raspberry pi is good for this.

Recertification hours will be available. If you email me in advance, I will have a certificate ready.

Hope to see you there.

Karie Meyers, Ph.D.

Notes form Last Meeting

Our meeting Saturday was lots of fun for me, and we had some great discussion about the efficacy of group quizzes and two-part tests. If you would like information about the group quizzes, or the IF-ATs (immediate feedback assessment technique, http://www.epsteineducation.com/home/about/), please email me.  (Also, someone left a coffee travel mug – you can pick it up at J.D.’s [you can use the contact form on this blog and we'll put you in touch with J.D.]

Our next meeting is November 19 at Pima Community College West Campus. It will be in our new physics lab. Chien-Wei Han and his colleague Jorge will lead us in a workshop on Arduinos in the classroom. You can buy an Arduino on Amazon for $25 or so, or a kit for $80 or so, and Chien-Wei will have some for us to use if you don’t want to buy or bring your own.

We are thinking of subjects for future meetings. Some suggestions are : using online physics sites; improving your students’ AP scores;  group dynamics; CASTLE workshop; using Mathematica in your class; Video physics labs; using google docs etc.; making a solar oven; using VPython with your students. You are welcome to send more suggestions.

I hope members of our group will volunteer for some of these topics, or maybe you have a topic you are dying to share with the group. I’m trying to focus more on professional development for our group, and would love to hear your ideas.

Fritz’s books:

The Now, by Robert Muller, author of Physics for Future Presidents)  It’s about time. And the creation of time.

Our Mathematical Universe, by Tegmark

Computer Age Statistical Inference: Algorithms, Evidence, and Data Science (Institute of Mathematical Statistics Monographs) by Bradley Ephron and Trevor Hastie

The Master Algorithm, by Pedro Domingos

These last two books are about Artificial Intelligence, a subject about which Fritz knows a lot. In fact, he might give a presentation on it.

Other news:

There is a Math Teacher’s Circle. They meet once a month or so to investigate an interesting math topic. If you would like to sign up, go to https://goo.gl/forms/QvUrwBu7hgxIy7aE2.  More information at http://ime.math.arizona.edu/ttc/.

Thanks,

Karie

Meeting Moved/Changed for This Saturday

Hi TAPT-ers,

We have had a change in our activity scheduled for Saturday, October 22^nd. Chris Ubing was scheduled to give a Mathematica workshop, but he has had to cancel.

Instead, we will have a workshop on group quizzes and group tests. I gave a short talk on this at both the AP reading professional development night, and the recent AZAAPT meeting, and teachers were very interested. I will show the IF-AT (Immediate Feedback Assessment Test) and I’ll have some samples that you can use to get started in your classroom. These are inexpensive forms and most high school teachers I’ve talked to have been able to ask their administration to purchase enough for the year.

In addition, I’ll show what I’ve been doing to increase exam scores and understanding using a group test extension. The basic method is to extend one of your exam questions to something deeper and more conceptual, and then let students think about the questions in groups. I’ll give some sample questions that I have used, and will discuss the Physics Teacher article that this comes from. Demian Quiroz gave a TAPT 10-minute talk about two years ago, and that started my interest in it, and it’s been very successful. This is one of the best methods I’ve found for team-building in class, and for making your exams learning experiences.

Since we don’t need the laptops or equipment in my lab, I thought we would meet at our usual spot, J.D. Garcia’s home. There is plenty of room to work. We’ll have our usual potluck breakfast, and then have a working, professional development time from 9:00 - 11:00. 

To get the most out of this, you could bring a recent or future exam that you would like to modify, and/or a quiz that you would like to modify to use the teamwork methods.

Professional development credit is available. Let me know if you would like me to bring a certificate for you.

. 

Hope to see you Saturday,

Karie

Meeting Tomorrow

One last reminder about our meeting tomorrow. We have a great speaker lined up. Dr. Jonathan Tullis, Director of the CAMEL (Cognition and Memory in Education and Learning) Laboratory at the U of A, will give a talk on the latest findings of cognitive science and learning. Here is his summary:

Cognitive Techniques to Improve Student Learning

I will provide an overview of a variety of different instructional techniques grounded in cognitive theory that can bolster student learning and performance.  Examples of effective cognitive techniques include testing, spacing, scaffolding, and self-explanations.

We meet at 8:30 am at PAS 218. PAS (Physics and Atmospheric Science) is on 4^th Street between Park and Highland. You should be able to park at the Sixth Street garage or the Tyndall Avenue garage. A parking map is here.

Only the West-facing doors of the PAS building will be open. Breakfast will be served at 8:30, and we expect the talk to start around 9:00.  

Please don’t be late - the room is awkwardly furnished and anyone who comes in late has a difficult time getting seated.  We want the best experience for our speaker and our audience.

Many thanks to the U of A Physics Department for sponsoring this event, and for buying us breakfast.

All are welcome. Feel free to attend even if you've never come to TAPT - I think it's going to be a great talk with many take-aways that teachers will be able to use right away.

See you tomorrow!

Karie

Kick-Off Meeting September 17th

TAPT-ers,

J.D. has snagged another great speaker for us for our fall-semester kick-off breakfast. We will meet on September 17th at the University of Arizona, room PAS 218, at 8:30am for breakfast and a talk by Jonathan Tullis, Director of the CAMEL (Cognition and Memory in Education and Learning) Laboratory at the U of A. Professor Tullis is a former physics teacher who now studies Cognition and Learning. Breakfast will be provided by the U of A Physics Department. Thanks, U of A!

I’ll send directions and parking information in a future email. It is a football Saturday, but it seems like the parking structure will be open in the morning. I’ll send more information in the next week.

This is from Professor Tullis, about his talk:

Cognitive Techniques to Improve Student Learning
I will provide an overview of a variety of different instructional techniques grounded in cognitive theory that can bolster student learning and performance. Examples of effective cognitive techniques include testing, spacing, scaffolding, and self-explanations.


Hope to see you all there. Everyone is welcome. If you have colleagues who might enjoy the talk, feel free to let them know about it.

Best,
Karie

Saturday's Meeting Notes

TAPT,

We had delicious baked goods at our last meeting and we decided on a format of some talks and some workshops for this semesters’ program. Here are some dates we plan to meet this semester:

September 17^th: This will be our Kick-off breakfast, kindly sponsored by the U of A Physics Department. J.D. is working on a speaker, possibly in the area of the neuroscience of learning. We’ll meet for breakfast in the PAS building.

October 22^nd: Chris Ubing will teach a workshop on using Mathematica as a teaching tool. The workshop will be at Pima Community College West Campus, 8:30 – 11:00. Recertification hours will be available.

November 19^th: Another workshop is planned. Depending on leader availability, topic will be Using Arduinos, or Physics websites update. More details to follow.

December 10^th: Planning meeting/holiday cheer at J.D.’s house. Breakfast potluck with a holiday theme. At this meeting we will decide on more workshops and activities for the spring semester.

Also please note: the AZAAPT meets September 24^th in Phoenix. Details to follow.

We had a lot of ideas for workshops, and those given above sort of floated to the top through a combination of people available and most popular ideas. Some other workshops that could be offered in the next semesters: 

• Group tests and quizzes/group dynamics in the classroom
• TAAA overnight at their Chiracaua site– still in the works
• CASTLE workshop
• Solar energy and making solar ovens
• How we learn
• Videophysics: analyzing video motion graphically
• Google apps tutorial
• Best practices for getting/keeping girls in physics

Any other suggestions are welcome; just email me, or Chris Ubing, ubingc@cochise.edu, who has volunteered to be our co-organizer. Yay, Chris! Also, Chris will start a Facebook page for us!

Fritz’s book report:

The Gardener and the Carpenter, by Alison Gopnik – I think the author is the wife of a friend of Fritz’s.

Are we Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? By Frans DeWall . The name says it all. This author also wrote The Bonobo and the Atheist, which Fritz also brought along.

Universe and Life, two anthologies edited by Brockman. Big topics.

The First Chinese American, by Seligman.

Hope to see you all at the next meeting, at Pima. And I hope everyone’s school year started off great.

Karie

Karie Meyers, Ph.D.
Physics Instructor and Chair, Physics and Geosciences
Pima Community College West Campus
Office E224
phone 520-206-6695
kameyers1@pima.edu

Reminder: Planning Meeting this Saturday

Tucson Area Physics Teachers,

We will have our planning meeting Saturday, August 20, at J.D. Garcia’s house [use contact form to ask for directions]. We start at 8:30 am, and aim to end about 10:30. Bring all your ideas about meetings for this semester. We’ll set dates and discuss speakers. Bring a dish to share if you have time; if not, there’s always enough food, so just bring yourself.

Everyone is welcome, new, old, and friends of physics teachers.

Hope to see you there!

Karie

LSST Lecture Wednesday, August 17th

Hello everyone, this is to inform you about a public event from the Tucson-based Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (www.lsst.org) and encourage you to spread the word among your colleagues, students, friends, neighbors, everyone!   There are a couple of links at the top for more information and then text of a press release.  The evening includes a talk, "mixer", and star party (weather permitting). 

Thank you so much, Suzanne Jacoby, LSST Communications Manager

http://tucson.com/news/meet-the-team-seeking-to-reveal-the-secrets-of-the/article_acc58fb7-ce73-5116-8fd8-4bd5523202e6.html

https://project.lsst.org/meetings/lsst2016/agenda/public-lecture-explosions-sky-observing-our-changeable-universe-lsst

Explosions in the Sky!  - Observing our Changeable Universe with the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope Presented by Dr. Lucianne Walkowicz, Adler Planetarium

The Public is invited to attend a FREE Lecture, Wednesday, August 17th, 7pm, at the Westin La Paloma Grand Ballroom, 3800 E. Sunrise Drive, Tucson, AZ. Astronomer and TED Fellow Dr. Lucianne Walkowicz will describe how the revolutionary Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), with headquarters in Tucson, is uniquely positioned to reveal new astrophysical phenomena and how you can be involved. Two of LSST's large mirrors were spun cast into a single piece of glass in 2008 at the University of Arizona's Richard F. Caris Mirror Lab.  After six years of meticulous polishing, the mirrors are stored, awaiting shipment to the LSST site on Cerro Pachón, Chile.  For more information about LSST, go to www.lsst.org.

Following the talk, Dr. Walkowicz and other LSST team members will be available for informal conversations. We invite you to join LSST for an evening of astronomy August 17.  Light snacks and refreshments will be provided as well as a no-host bar.  Weather permitting; staff from the Kitt Peak Visitor Center will be on hand at the Westin La Paloma Grand Ballroom for binocular stargazing.

Lucianne Walkowicz holds a B.S. in Physics from Johns Hopkins University, and a M.S. and Ph. D. from University of Washington. She studies stellar magnetic activity and how stars influence a planet's suitability as a host for alien life. She is also an artist and works in a variety of media, from oil paint to sound.  More information about Walkowicz can be found at http://tangledfields.com.

Suzanne H. Jacoby

LSST Communications Manager

950 N Cherry Avenue, Room 161

Tucson, AZ  85719

sjacoby@lsst.org

www.lsst.org

Next Meeting

So, I guess the summer is over. Are they getting shorter or what? I hope your school year has started well.

We have a scheduled planning meeting on August 20, which is a week from tomorrow. I hope a lot of people will be able to join us at J.D. Garcia's house at 8:30 am for potluck breakfast. Traditionally, this is when we plan for the upcoming semester, so bring any ideas for speakers and activities.

In addition, I've recently returned from a Modeling leaders workshop, and I'm hoping we might disrupt our usual format with some new ideas.  So think about what you want from the groups, besides getting to hang out with physics teachers, an I hope to see you next week.

I'll send out a reminder with directions to J.D.'s next week.

See you soon!

Karie

End of Year Party This Saturday

Hi TAPT-ers,

Hope everyone is having a good end of the the semester. Our party is Saturday, May 14th. Hope to see you all there. Here’s a map to my house [use contact form on blog if you need this]. We’ll start about 6:00. 

If you haven’t already emailed me, let me know if you will eat a burger. I’m hoping to get a burger count before I go shopping tomorrow evening. 

Hope to see you soon! 

Karie

Navajo Math Movie

From Bruce Bayly:

I'm at the Navajo Nation Math Festival, Dine College, Tsaile, this week.  One of the folks here is Matthias Kawski from ASU (yes our honorable competition).  He has been active in Navajo Math Circles for years, and there is now a movie about these groups and the impacts they've had on students who participate.  

And it's bring screened at the Arizona Film Festival this Saturday!  See www.filmfestivalarizona.com/film-detail.php?id=451 for details, also www.zalafilms.com/navajo/.  One detail is that the only showing is 1:30 pm, so make sure you set your alarm!  Another detail is that the location is The Screening Room downtown on Congress Street, which is not very big.  So you should set your alarm a little early to get a good seat.

If you go you will be able to meet not only Dr. Kawski but also the director George Csicsery.  Supposedly one or two of the youngsters who took part in these circles and went on to  further success will also be there.

Any other questions?  Contact me or Matthias https://math.la.asu.edu/~kawski/ , kawski@asu.edu .

Cheers, Bruce

Clarification

TAPT-ers,

Apparently my last email wasn’t clear about our end of the year party. Thanks to everyone who read the email and let me know. 

My plan is to have the party at my house, 7135 N. Skyway Drive, directions attached. It is going to happen on Saturday, May 14th at about 5:30. Chris and I will cook burgers and fixin’s. Please bring a dish to share. I’ll send a few reminders,., and I’ve attached a map. The party will be a combo even for Pima Physics and Geosciences, and TAPT. Last year we had a good time.  I hope you can all come.

Sorry if my previous email was confusing. Hope to see you all soon!

Meeting Notes and End of Year Party

TAPT-ers,

Just a few notes from our last meeting and a heads-up for our end-of-the-year party.  

We had a fantastic meeting two weeks ago –sorry to be late with notes.  There were a lot of new faces, and it was great to see Bob Capen, legendary CDO teacher who is now retired. Thanks to everyone who attended. It’s wonderful to have a big enthusiastic group.

Our speaker, Dr. Eduardo Rozo, was inspiring. His enthusiasm for figuring out the nature of the universe was infectious.  We found out that dark matter is about 80% of the matter in the universe, and simulations of the universe with expansion yield realistic-looking models. The shape of galaxies (visible matter) is shepherded by the distribution of dark matter. Some of the videos of the simulations were incredibly real-looking. We also found out that, if dark energy pushes as hard as it possibly can, considering the acceleration of the expansion leads to a universe that is 75% dark energy, 20% dark matter, and 5% ordinary matter. Alternatively we may need to tweak our theory of gravity and general relativity. Lastly, Dr. Rozo talked about LIGO. The expansion of the universe depends on a “standard candle” measurement of distance. But LIGO is a really good distance determiner for black holes. So there is a possibility that LIGO can help pin down the rate of expansion of the galaxy, since it will give us accurate distance measurements to colliding black holes.

On a more concrete note, we need to plan our end-of-the-year party.  Last year I combined the Pima physics and geoscience people with TAPT, and I thought it was pretty successful. The date we have scheduled is May 14^th. I hope that will be agreeable for everyone. Format will be the same: starting around 5:30 pm, we will be cooking burgers and veggie burgers and chicken. Bring a dish to share. It should be fun! 

Let me know if you have any suggestions or additions. 

Karie

Modeling Workshop in Tucson

Tucson Area Physics Teachers,

I want to remind everyone that we are offering a workshop in the Modeling Method of teaching physics in Tucson this coming June.  The dates are June 13^th – July 1^st.  Thanks to generous support from Pima Community College and from our HSI STEM grant, the workshop is offered at a cost of just $250. This is a bargain! Workshops across the country are offered at costs of $750 and more, and that doesn’t include the room and board that you would need if you had to travel.

I hope teachers in Tucson will take advantage of this opportunity. This is the first time a modeling workshop has been offered in Tucson in almost 20 years. Also, Kelli Gamez Warble, who will lead the workshop, has had experience teaching at all levels, from middle school to university and teacher prep – she is the best! 

For your $250, you will receive:

·              3 week of exciting, useful instruction in implementing Modeling

·              A printed manual for mechanics

·              Access to the complete curricula of all Modeling Instruction™ content areas

·              A free one-year AMTA membership

·              A set of 8 white boards

·              A set of dune buggies

·              105 hours of professional development

And you will be part of a larger, international community of physics teachers.

I am attaching a flyer for the workshop, with the registration information, and a synopsis of the Modeling Method. Please ask your administrator to sign you up for this great workshop. If you know someone who wants to teach physics, this would be a good workshop for them too – it will develop a deeper knowledge of physics principles to help with certification. It’s also great for math teachers – we all know that physics is a great way to teach math.

Please let me know if you have questions. I’m looking forward to seeing many of you in June.

Best,

Karie

Meeting This Saturday

TAPT, 

Just a quick reminder. We are meeting this coming Saturday, April 9th, at J.D. Garcia’s house for breakfast and a talk everyone in the world is interested in.  Dr. Eduardo Rozo will talk about dark energy, and the recent LIGO results. Here is his description: 

Understanding Dark Energy, or How to Blow the Universe Apart

Gravity pulls.  However, when it comes to the Universe as a whole, the data is unequivocal.  Gravity is blowing up the Universe, making it expand faster and faster.  I will discuss the evidence for dark energy, and the ongoing experiments designed to help us understand how this may be happening.  I will finish by briefly discussing the recent LIGO results, and the implications of these results for dark energy studies.

Please join us for potluck breakfast at 8:30 am. We aim to end by about 10:30. Directions to J.D.’s house are attached [use the Contact form on the right for directions]. All are welcome, new members and old.

Hope to see you Saturday!

Karie

UA Professor on the Radio Tomorrow and other News

TAPT,

 Some news from J.D.: U of A Physics Assistant Professor Sam Gralla will by on the noon newscast on AZPM, tomorrow, March 25, talking about gravitational waves and his work. A longer version is also available online: https://radio.azpm.org/arizonascience/

Registration is open for the Tucson Modeling Physics Mechanics Workshop. A flyer is attached. Cost will be $250. The workshop is partially supported by a Pima Community College grant through our STEM HSI initiative. I am attaching a flyer with all the information, including a link to sign up. Any questions, please email me.

We are meeting at J.D. Garcia’s house on Saturday, April 9, to hear a timely talk on dark energy and gravitational waves. Our speaker is Eduardo Rozo. Here is his abstract: 

Understanding Dark Energy, or How to Blow the Universe Apart

 Gravity pulls.  However, when it comes to the Universe as a whole, the data is unequivocal.  Gravity is blowing up the Universe, making it expand faster and faster.  I will discuss the evidence for dark energy, and the ongoing experiments designed to help us understand how this may be happening.  I will finish by briefly discussing the recent LIGO results, and the implications of these results for dark energy studies.

 We’ll meet as usual at 8:30 am for potluck breakfast, coffee and physics. I’ll send directions in a week or so. Plan to join us – everyone welcome. Bring a friend or colleague.

 Hope to see you soon!

Karie

Next Meeting: Dark Energy and LIGO

TAPT,

We have an exciting talk lined up for Saturday, April 9th, the date of our next meeting. Professor Eduardo Rozo, new faculty in the Physics Department, will speak about Dark Energy AND LIGO! Yikes! Don't miss it.

Here is Dr. Rozo's description: 

Understanding Dark Energy, or How to Blow the Universe Apart

Gravity pulls.  However, when it comes to the Universe as a whole, the data is unequivocal.  Gravity is blowing up the Universe, making it expand faster and faster.  I will discuss the evidence for dark energy, and the ongoing experiments designed to help us understand how this may be happening.  I will finish by briefly discussing the recent LIGO results, and the implications of these results for dark energy studies.

Our meeting will follow the usual format, potluck breakfast at 8:30 am, talk shortly after. We are debating about moving the meeting to the University. If you have a chance, drop me a line to let me know if you are attending. If the meeting will be small, we'll meet at J.D.s, if large, J.D. will get us a room at the U. 

Thanks in advance for letting me know,

Karie

Karie Meyers, Ph.D.

Notes From Last Meeting and Upcoming Dates

TAPT-ers,

There is a Star Party this Saturday, Feb. 13, all day at Pima Community College East Campus, sponsored by Astronomy Magazine and the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association.  Look here for details

http://cs.astronomy.com/asy/b/astronomy/archive/2016/01/18/come-enjoy-the-2016-tucson-star-party.aspx

Some notes from our last meeting: It was awesome! Jim Housley came to the meeting and gave away a bunch of great stuff – he brought a suitcase just for us. (I’ll plug Southwest Airlines here – two free bags.) Also, if there are things you need that his company, Transparent Devices, manufactures, you can email him (jmhousley@aol.com) or me and he will send them to you. He is happy to supply free stuff to us, as he has some amount of overstock and scratch-and-dent, and has been able to absorb the shipping cost so far. While he was here, Jim visited Mark Stockwell’s school, and Allison Lemons’s school. He is always happy to see what people are doing and what devices would be useful. Jim is hoping to give over some of his manufacturing responsibilities to a couple of young engineers, so hopefully he will have more travel time and fewer headaches.

Some Physics Factory News: There is a new physics bus! It’s going to be great. Kip Perkins and Bruce Bayly and Dolly Spalding were all at the meeting representing. Kip is especially looking for demos that would interest middle school students. Kip is driving the original physics bus back to Cornell via the Little Shop of Physics at CSU in Fort Collins. You might have heard of Brian Jones, who is a CSU physics professor and runs the Little Shop. Very inspirational.

Some quotes from the meeting: “Things should be beautiful as well as educational.” That’s Jim’s philosophy for physics demonstration and lab equipment. “Human nature is not factored into education.” Basically, the point was that having attractive things makes students want to learn about them. From Fritz: “The nice thing about Russian mathematics is that they think about physics and mathematics as the same thing.” 

Fritz’s books: Lots of math: Vladimeer Arnold, Mathematical Understanding of Nature.

Aleksandrov et al.,  Mathematics, Its Content, Methods and Meaning, apparently three volumes in one. Everyone who had read them agreed that these two books are great.

Bruce’s mother was featured in an article in the Daily Star. She is a champion athlete. Look for Helen Bayly.

Richard also brought a book about nothing, called the Zero.

J. D. had just returned from an advisory committee meeting at the APS. He filled us in on the URM Bridge program, very successful. Also LIGO will have an announcement February 11^th, and CERN will have an announcement soon. Lots to look forward to.

We don’t have a next meeting planned. The AzAAPT meets April 16^th in Prescott at Embry Riddle University. I am trying for an early April AAPT meeting, but the speaker is TBA. I will keep everyone informed.

There will be a Modeling Workshop at PCC West Campus, in our new labs in June, from June 13 – July 1. Here is a link with the latest information: http://www.phystec.org/pd/detail.cfm?ID=6432. I hope you will all consider attending. It changed my teaching. I have a great teacher from Phoenix lined up. I think a PCC grant will cover some of the costs and it will be offered at a reduced rate to teachers. Right now, that rate looks like it will be about $200, which will include an AMTA membership and some other goodies, as well as about 90 or so hours of professional development credit. It will also help teachers prepare to teach physics, so if you know someone who has been wanting to teach physics, this is the way to start.

March 12, as part of the Festival of Books, all U of A physics labs will be open for touring. This is a great opportunity for students to see what is going on at the U. 

See you soon,

Karie

Meeting This Saturday

TAPT,

We are meeting this Saturday, February 6. We’ll meet at J.D. Garcia’s house at 8:30 am for potluck breakfast. We will host friend of TAPT Jim Housley, who will be visiting from Alaska. Jim is interested in talking with the group about demonstrations and things you might like in your classroom. Also, if you can host Jim in your class this week, email him at jmhousley@aol.com. 

So, for the meeting, think about bringing a favorite demo or question about what kind of demo or lab would be best for a subject you are working on. 

Also, I want to remind everyone on the list that I will be hosting a Modeling Workshop at Pima West Campus this June, from Monday, June 13, through Friday, July 1, 2016. I’m working on some funding sources for the workshop, and I think the cost for teachers will be pretty reasonable. I have a great teacher lined up, who has taught many Modeling workshops. So, if this is something you are interested in, please put it on your calendar. If you know a teacher who wants to teach physics, please mention it to him or her. It’s a great training, and helps to prepare teachers for to teach physics. Recertification hours will be available, they should add up to about 100 hours. 

Hope to see everyone Saturday.

Karie

Notes From Last Meeting + Upcoming Dates

TAPT,

Here are some notes from our last meeting.

We agreed to meet on February 6^th at J.D.’s house so that we can see Jim Housley. Jim is a friend of TAPT from Alaska, where he is retired from physics teachers, and where he manufactures and develops physics demonstration equipment.  Jim is interested in visiting some classrooms, so if you are able to host him during the week, he would appreciate it. You can contact him atjmhousley@aol.com if you have a time that he can visit your classroom. He is especially interested in physics and physical science. I think he will be here for most of the week after February 6^th, but am not sure of his travel dates.

The next meeting date after Feb. 6 is TBA – we are working on a speaker for early April.

The Festival of Books is March 12, and on that day all of the physics labs at the University are open to visitors. It’s a good day for your students to see all of the cool stuff going on there.

The Arizona section of the AAPT meets April 16^th in Prescott at Embry-Riddle University.

There is a transit of Mercury on May 9 at 6:00am – 11:45. Chris Ubing is making his astronomy students come to see it as part of his final. I think we can go too, or maybe there will be some telescopes available closer to home. It’s a Monday, so I guess it would be a school day.

We will have our end-of-the-year party on May 14th. 

I showed some of Derrick Muller’s videos from Veritassium. He was one of the speakers at the recent AAPT meeting in New Orleans.

A website that is useful for contextual problems is: http://groups.physics.umn.edu/physed/materials.html

Fritz had been sick and had too much time to read, and he brought way too many books, but here’s a list.

The Evolution of Everything, by Matt Ridley. The title says it all.

The Swerve: How the World Became Modern, by Steven Greenblatt. It sounds great.

The Nature of Things, by Lucretius. I think this is an old one.

Wolfram Language, by Stephen Wolfram. It’s a tutorial. Several people tried to steal this at the meeting.

How to Read a Page, by I.A. Richards. Something about 100 important words.

Thing Explainer, by Randall Monroe, author of xkcd and everyone’s favorite, who also explains things in simple words in this book.

Thhe Invention of Science by David Woolton. A history of the scientific revolution.

Fritz’s illness is hard on us all. Way too much to read.

Dave Katz was nice enough to summarize his knowledge of the gem show. I have attached his hints and advice.

Next meeting: February 6^th at J.D.’s house, 8:30 am. Hope to see everyone there.

Best,

Karie

Meeting Reminder

Just a quick reminder - we meet Saturday, Jan. 23, at 8:30 am at J.D. Garcia’s house, directions attached [use the contact form on this blog if you need directions]. Bring a breakfast item if you can, if it’s not convenient, don’t worry about it. We’ll have coffee and something for everyone. No agenda, except: Set our semester meetings and activities, show off your holiday physics-related gifts, and I’ll give a rundown of the most recent AAPT meeting. Keep a couple of possible activities in mind: We could meet again in two weeks, February 6th, and host TAPT friend Jim Housley, who has generously donated lots of equipment to Tucson teachers - he’ll be in town for the gem show. Also, we want to consider arranging a trip to the TAAA observing site in the Chiricahua mountains. It would be an overnight observing trip for teachers. So we will need to consider dates.

Hope to see you there,

Karie

Meeting this Saturday

TAPT,

Happy New Year! 

We meet Saturday, January 23, at 8:30 am at J.D. Garcia’s house for potluck breakfast. We usually use our January meeting to plan the next semester, so bring all of your ideas. Also, if you happened to get any physics toys, or other cool toys, for Christmas or other holidays, this is a great time to show them off. Bring all of your show and tell. 

Bring a dish to share if you have time, if not, come anyway, we always have plenty of food. We start at 8:30 and aim to end around 10:30.

I’ve attached directions to J.D.’s. Hope to see everyone there. 

[Use the contact form on the this blog for directions.]

Karie

Particle Fever on PBS + Updates

TAPT,

Happy New Year! TAPT meets January 23rd. I’ll send reminders, but you can put in on your calendar: 8:30 am at J.D. Garcia’s house.

Here are a few reminders that I’m passing along from Jane Jackson:

PARTICLE FEVER
   Wednesday, January 6, at 9pm on KAET channel 8.
  http://www.azpbs.org
Follow six brilliant scientists for the launch of the Large Hadron Collider, built to recreate the conditions of the Big Bang and search for the Higgs boson.

(Also Fri. 1/8 at 3 a.m.; Sun. 1/10 at 2 p.m.)

Jane's note: On the PBS website, you can view a new 8-minute video, produced in summer 2015:   Particle Fever: Extra Dimensions.
Physicists Daniel Whitestone and Jonathan Feng update us after finding the Higgs Boson.
      http://www.pbs.org/video/2365551825/

The official website for Particle Fever is http://www.pbs.org/wnet/particle-fever/ . The director and producer are both PhDs in particle physics.

Also from Jane, details about the Physics Bowl, which is a fun exercise for your students:

2016 AAPT  PHYSICS BOWL

Each year, approximately 10,000 students take a 40-question, 45-minute timed, multiple-choice test under their school's supervision. The 2016 exam will be given between March 30 and April 15, 2016.

To enhance the distribution of awards, Division I is for first-year physics students and Division II is for second-year physics students. Each Division has 14 regions. Regions are listed at
    http://www.aapt.org/Programs/PhysicsBowl/codes.cfm  (Specialized math and science schools compete in a separate region, just for them.)

The deadline to register is FEBRUARY 29, 2016.

You, the teacher, can register a team of your students. Register at http://www.aapt.org/Programs/PhysicsBowl/howto.cfm (online or mail or FAX)

Your team of students take a 40-question, 45-minute timed, multiple-choice test under your school's supervision.

Exam questions are based on topics and concepts covered in a typical high school physics course.

School Team scores are determined by the sum of the scores of the top five students.

Info at http://www.aapt.org/Programs/Physicsbowl/

JOIN AAPT
One more thing: If your New Year’s Resolution is to join AAPT, here’s some information:

WHY?
*  AAPT advances the greater good -- through physics education.
*  AAPT promotes best practices for physics education -- through teachers.
*  AAPT membership CONNECTS you with physics teachers worldwide.

Watch physics teachers tell why they value AAPT (a 2-minute video) at  http://www.aapt.org/Membership/Connections_Matter.cfm

AAPT BENEFITS:
* eNNOUNCER each month: many opportunities
* online journals:
       American Journal of Physics (my favorite, for PER!) and
       THE PHYSICS TEACHER (great short articles -- useful in the classroom)
* PHYSICS TODAY magazine: keep up with physics

*eMentoring, for high school teachers

* Summer meetings, often at universities with affordable dorm housing.
      Focus on high school and college.
      Insightful talks
      Fun to make new friends and share ideas

* Winter meetings, that focus on college physics

* AAPT staff are friendly and helpful.

*  Much more!  Watch this 4-minute video by AAPT President Steve Iona:
       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXlYWy84OtI

It is easy to join AAPT, at http://www.aapt.org .

Hope to see you January 23rd!

Karie