Bulletin of the American Physical Society
2007 APS April Meeting
Volume 52, Number 3
Saturday–Tuesday, April 14–17, 2007; Jacksonville, Florida
Session C10: Enhancing the High School Physics Experience with Research |
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Sponsoring Units: FEd Chair: Donald Franklin, St. John's Country Day School Room: Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront City Terrace 6 |
Saturday, April 14, 2007 1:30PM - 2:06PM |
C10.00001: Have You Seen Any Good Physics Fights Recently? Invited Speaker: What is a Physics Fight? A round-robin physics debate between teams of high school students that comes at the end of a year-long research program for the students and their teachers. The International Young Physicists Tournament (IYPT) is composed of physics students and their teachers who investigate interesting but broadly structured questions, both theoretically and experimentally, and develop detailed oral presentations of their work. Each summer the International Organizing Committee of the IYPT selects seventeen questions, which are distributed to teachers and students throughout the world. The teacher-student groups spend nearly a year working on solutions to these questions, and then come together in July at the IYPT to present and defend their work and critique that of their colleagues from other countries. This learning model is close to the actual process of science: 1) start with an interesting question; 2) make the question suitable for investigation; 3) search the literature to find out what has already been done; 4) develop the theory as far as the group can take it; 5) design, construct, and operate an experiment to examine the theoretical predictions; 6) prepare a report of the work; 7) submit it for peer review; and 8) defend the results. The instructional value of this approach to teaching and learning science is clear. But one of the largest benefits is to the teachers of these students, who for the most part have not had the opportunity to participate in anything like real research before and who come away from this experience with increased confidence in their understanding of the subject and their ability to teach it. We believe that doing research makes better teachers and better students. The IYPT movement was born in Moscow in the 1970s, but is relatively new to the US, our first team having been sent in 1999. Currently about 25 nations send teams to the IYPT each year. The agent for the IYPT in the US is the United States Association for Young Physicists Tournaments (USAYPT), which this year instituted a National Young Physicists Tournament for US high school teams using questions from prior IYPTs. Examples of questions and illustrations of solutions and presentations will be shown. We have found that this concept works well with physics students of varying ability. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, April 14, 2007 2:06PM - 2:42PM |
C10.00002: Enhancing the High School Physics Experience with Cosmic Ray Research -- The Cosmic Ray Observatory Project (CROP) in Nebraska Invited Speaker: The Cosmic Ray Observatory Project (CROP) is a statewide education and research experiment involving Nebraska high school students, teachers, and university undergraduates in the study of extensive cosmic-ray air showers. A network of high school teams construct, install, and operate school-based detectors in coordination with University of Nebraska physics professors and graduate students. The detector system at each school is an array of scintillation counters recycled from the Chicago Air Shower Array in weather-proof enclosures on the school roof, with a GPS receiver providing a time stamp for cosmic-ray events. The detectors are connected to triggering electronics and a data-acquisition PC inside the building. Students share data via the Internet to search for time coincidences with other sites. CROP has enlisted 27 schools in its first five years of operation with the aim of expanding to the 314 high schools in the state over the next several years. The presentation will highlight the scientific, educational, and professional development achievements of the project to date. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, April 14, 2007 2:42PM - 3:18PM |
C10.00003: The LBNL High School Student Research Participation Program (HSSRPP) Invited Speaker: The HSSRPP, which has been in operation at LBNL since 2001, places 25-35 students each year in summer research internships at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, a multi-purpose Department of Energy laboratory. The paid six-week internships, which are restricted to students who have completed their junior or senior year of high school, are highly sought over, with nearly 300 applications in 2006. With funding from Bechtel, the success of the program has been assessed through surveys and tracking of the student participants. In addition, as part of the application process, the students are asked the essay question, ``If you were in charge of the Science Department at your High School, what changes would you make to motivate more students to pursue careers in science and why?'' The responses of all applicants for 2004-2006 have been analyzed by gender and school district. The results will be discussed. [Preview Abstract] |
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