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