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