Bulletin of the American Physical Society
2008 APS April Meeting and HEDP/HEDLA Meeting
Volume 53, Number 5
Friday–Tuesday, April 11–15, 2008; St. Louis, Missouri
Session J16: Physics Education I |
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Sponsoring Units: FEd Chair: Ken Heller, University of Minnesota Room: Hyatt Regency St. Louis Riverfront (formerly Adam's Mark Hotel), Director's Row 29 |
Sunday, April 13, 2008 10:45AM - 10:57AM |
J16.00001: Lessons from the Rickover summer experience for high school students D.M. Svelnys, C.J. Lister, S.M. Fischer For the last two years we have organized a one week summer school at Argonne National Laboratory for high school students from the Rickover Naval Academy, which is a magnet school in Chicago. The school has many facets; ``hands-on'' experiments, visits to facilities in the laboratory, science lectures, discussion of scientific careers, and report writing. The school is aimed at showing students the possibilities of science careers at all levels, and linking the science they learn in class to cutting edge research topics. We are still learning from the students how to best achieve these goals. I will discuss the development of the school course content and the feedback we have had for the various course elements. We are growing the school to encompass courses in Chemistry and Biology this year, and have a goal of increasing the number of schools participating in the out-years. This research was supported by the DOE Office of Nuclear Physics under contract DE-AC02-06CH11357. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, April 13, 2008 10:57AM - 11:09AM |
J16.00002: EPPOG Masterclass comes to the US Kenneth Cecire For the past several years, the European Particle Physics Outreach Group has run a series of spring Masterclasses in particle physics for high school students. Students work with physicists to analyze event displays from LEP, draw conclusions, and then discuss what they've learned with students in other locations via a videoconference moderated from CERN. In 2006 and 2007, US students were able to participate in limited numbers in the European Masterclasses. This year, a US Masterclass was conducted with videoconferences moderated from the CMS Remote Operations Center at Fermilab. This presentation is to discuss the results of this experience, the prospects for the future, and the potential for LHC awareness in the US. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, April 13, 2008 11:09AM - 11:21AM |
J16.00003: Computers in Science education, a new way to teach physics and mathematics? Morten Hjorth-Jensen, Hans Petter Langtangen, Knut M{\O}rken, Anders Malthe-S{\O}renssen, Arnt Inge Vistnes We present the Computers in Science Education project at the University of Oslo, where computational topics are baked into our undergraduate curriculum of most of our bachelor programs from the very first semester. The first semester consists of courses in traditional Calculus, mathematical modelling and computer science. Topic such as solving differential equations numerically are introduced the first semester and the students learn to program such equation using modern computing languages, in adddition to the standard analytical procedures. The first semester provides the basis for further introduction of computational topics. These are graduallly baked into many other undergraduate courses in mathematics and the sciences. We focus on training our students to use general programming tools in solving physics problems, in addition to the classical analytic problems. Our students handle now at an early stage in their education more realistic physics problems than before. We believe that, in addition to educating modern scientists, this promotes a better physics understanding for a majority of the students. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, April 13, 2008 11:21AM - 11:33AM |
J16.00004: Blogging in the physics classroom: A research-based approach to shaping students' attitudes towards physics Katherine Garrett, Gintaras Duda Even though there has been a tremendous amount of research done in how to help students learn physics, students are still coming away missing a crucial piece of the puzzle: why bother with physics? Students learn fundamental laws and how to calculate, but come out of a general physics course without a deep understanding of how physics has transformed the world around them. In other words, they get the ``how" but not the ``why". Studies have shown that students leave introductory physics courses almost universally less excited about the topic than when they came in. This presentation will detail an experiment to address this problem: a course weblog or ``blog" which discusses real-world applications of physics and engages students in discussion and thinking outside of class. Student response to the blog was overwhelmingly positive, with students claiming that the blog made the things we studied in the classroom come alive for them and seem much more relevant. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, April 13, 2008 11:33AM - 11:45AM |
J16.00005: Cosmos as Resonant Harmonies $\sim $ Singing \textit{International Year of Astronomy, 2009} $\sim $ \textit{the cultural significance of our new encounter with the universe} Kala Perkins UN Int'l Year of Astronomy (IYA), 2009 will celebrate 400 yrs. since Galileo's quests. Bringing the unifying dimensions of cosmos to the global community, sharing the wonder and calling forth the unparalleled ability of astronomy to dwarf our disputations, open our hearts to Einstein's ``cosmological feeling'' and propel us on this collective global adventure, is the nexus of intent. IYA is a global effort to bring the human creative endeavor into harmonic interplay with the universe that is singing us. We are cosmos creating ourselves, taking the reigns of our inherent potency and wondering how law and logos emerge into the entangled formulas and phenomenology of cosmic reason and reality. How is our cosmic encounter affecting our socio-cultural identity and psychology? What harmonies are emerging in researchers in response to our penetration into cosmic etudes of black holes, large-scale flows and stellar dynamics? We are learning to creatively resonate with the universe. Some excellent ideas being brewed for communicating the cosmos to students and the public will be explored. [Preview Abstract] |
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