Bulletin of the American Physical Society
2008 APS March Meeting
Volume 53, Number 2
Monday–Friday, March 10–14, 2008; New Orleans, Louisiana
Session J19: Focus Session: How to Develop an Education Component for an NSF Proposal |
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Sponsoring Units: FEd Chair: Greg Topasna, Virginia Military Institute Room: Morial Convention Center 211 |
Tuesday, March 11, 2008 11:15AM - 11:51AM |
J19.00001: How to develop an education component for an NSF proposal Invited Speaker: NSF has two merit criteria that must be satisfied for a proposal to be successfully funded: Intellectual Merit and Broader Impact. The development and presentation of a quality broader impact program represents a challenge for many researchers. One option is an education component and there are many possible approaches: in formal or informal education; in engagement of traditional, non-traditional or underrepresented participants; in coverage over a variety of age groups; and in scope. This presentation explores such issues and is intended to elicit discussion. [Preview Abstract] |
Tuesday, March 11, 2008 11:51AM - 12:03PM |
J19.00002: Preparing Scientists for Scientific Careers: Broader Impacts from an NSF CAREER Award Alfred Crosby The scientific focus of my NSF CAREER Award is the impact of patterns, topographical and surface chemical in design, on the adhesion of soft polymer interfaces. Although this topic has provided a strong foundation for the mentoring and training of graduate students, the primary broader impacts of my award have focused on the development of ``soft'' skills in graduate and post-doctoral researchers in STEM disciplines. I have developed a course on ``Scientific and Engineering Management,'' which provides an open forum for students to explore the skills that, in many ways, define successful careers for many scientists. Topics include: leadership, proposal writing, group management, communication in diverse environments, and ethics. In this presentation, I highlight the primary phases of this program, how it meshes with scientific goals, and general statements about the mission of education outreach within STEM disciplines. [Preview Abstract] |
Tuesday, March 11, 2008 12:03PM - 12:15PM |
J19.00003: Educational Component of an NSF-CAREER Award on State Variables in Dense Granular Materials Karen Daniels I will discuss the design and goals of the educational component of an NSF-CAREER award whose research mission centers around experiments on granular materials. Two of the activities primarily involve undergraduates: providing laboratory research opportunities in support of the scientific goals of the project, and developing and disseminating an introductory seminar course on nonlinear/nonequilibrium systems. In addition, the students from both the course and the laboratory will develop, in collaboration with NC State's Science House, hands-on outreach activities for use with local school/youth groups. [Preview Abstract] |
Tuesday, March 11, 2008 12:15PM - 12:27PM |
J19.00004: Education component of NSF awards -- what can be done and where can we make a difference Alessandra Lanzara The education component of the NSF awards is often neglected or considered a minor component of the research. In this talk I will share my personal view of the importance of this component. In particular I will provide few examples of situation I have encountered in the past few years as NSF career awardees and will discuss what in my opinion are the aspects one should focus on to make a difference. [Preview Abstract] |
Tuesday, March 11, 2008 12:27PM - 12:39PM |
J19.00005: Introducing Change in Undergraduate Education (Easy Steps for Junior Faculty) Eric Hudson Bringing change to the undergraduate curriculum -- for example, as new faculty might consider proposing for the education component of their NSF Career proposals -- can be a daunting task. At many institutes classes have been ``taught this way forever'' and even the mention of changing them can induce complaints from students and faculty alike. In this talk I will describe TEAL (technology enabled active learning), a major reform to the introductory physics sequence for non-majors at MIT. I will then focus on a few aspects of the course, such as the use of in-class feedback and real world problems. These relatively small changes (in terms of expense and effort) have been very beneficial, and point to a variety of improvements which faculty (including junior faculty) could make to well established courses while avoiding the difficulties often associated with change. [Preview Abstract] |
Tuesday, March 11, 2008 12:39PM - 12:51PM |
J19.00006: Integration of Education and Research: proposed and completed activities Vera Smolyaninova In my presentation I will share my ideas of integrating education and research in a setting of an undergraduate institution. The proposed educational component of my CAREER proposal will be compared to what has been completed taking into account evolving needs and goals of our department, college and university. Organization of undergraduate research, curriculum development, and outreach activities will be discussed. Future plans will be introduced. [Preview Abstract] |
Tuesday, March 11, 2008 12:51PM - 1:03PM |
J19.00007: Caltech Classroom Connection: An Outreach Partnership Program Between Caltech Scientists and K-12 Teachers James Maloney, Jennifer Franck, Tara Gomez, Christina Smolke, John Keith The Caltech Classroom Connection (CCC) is a volunteer outreach program whose goal is to supplement science, math and engineering education in local K-12 classrooms through individual scientist-teacher partnerships. Caltech graduate students, postdocs, staff and faculty volunteers are paired with teachers to develop a mutually beneficial and sustainable partnership. Targeted schools include the Pasadena Unified School District in which 76{\%} of the student demographic consists of Hispanic and African American students, historically underrepresented in science, math and engineering careers. Student surveys are being developed to follow trends in science attitudes and science appreciation after interaction with a Caltech volunteer throughout the school year. The students are also affected by the increase in science awareness and confidence of the teacher, especially at the elementary level. We will present the program's results over the past five years as well as future plans for improvement and expansion. [Preview Abstract] |
Tuesday, March 11, 2008 1:03PM - 1:15PM |
J19.00008: Squishy Physics Field Trips Eric R. Weeks, Gianguido Cianci, Piotr Habdas Our laboratory studies soft condensed matter, which means we investigate squishy materials such as foams, emulsions, and colloidal suspensions. These materials include common things such as peanut butter, toothpaste, mayonnaise, shampoo, and shaving cream. We have conducted several field trips for grade school students, where they come to our laboratory and play with squishy materials. They do both hands-on table-top projects and also look at samples with a microscope. We have also developed some of these activities into labs appropriate for first-year college students. Our first goal for these activities is to show students that science is fun, and the second goal is to get them intrigued by the idea that there are more phases than just solids, liquids, and gases. [Preview Abstract] |
Tuesday, March 11, 2008 1:15PM - 1:27PM |
J19.00009: Moving Research into the Classroom with the Electron Microscopy Database Paul Voyles Due to the strongly interdisciplinary nature of research in nanotechnology and materials, a course on transmission electron microscopy (TEM) must often serve student from a very broad range academic disciplines, level of background, and research interests. Someone in the class will want to learn about all the possible capabilities of the TEM, which span diffraction, spectroscopy, and imaging. Research students learn best from real-world examples, which are usually drawn from the research of the instructor, but very few instructors have the breadth of research and instrumentation needed to obtain high-quality examples of all the possible combinations of techniques and materials. I have therefore developed the Electron Microscopy Database (EMdb, http://tem.msae.wisc.edu/emdb/) as part of the education plan of my NSF CAREER project. The goal of the EMdb it to enable TEM teachers to easily exchange high-quality TEM example data and associated homework problems. This serves the NSF education goals of promoting excellence in research training and of bringing cutting-edge research into the classroom, and has significantly improved my own teaching. [Preview Abstract] |
Tuesday, March 11, 2008 1:27PM - 1:39PM |
J19.00010: Research Experiences for Teachers: How professional development through directed research can revitalize your classroom teaching Shelly Hynes Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) is an NSF-funded program that provides high school teachers with the opportunity to do research at select institutions across the country in a wide variety of fields. I performed research at two institutions under this program; The National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank, WV in 2006 and Baylor University in Waco, TX in 2007. My work at NRAO utilized IDL programming to analyze the nonlinearities in the signal processing components of the GBT (Green Bank Telescope). My research at Baylor University required me to write a program in Mathematica to analyze the frequency of pulsation of variable white dwarfs, data that was taken at the Paul and Jane Meyer Observatory in Clifton, TX. I will explain how I have incorporated both research experiences into my courses and how each of these experiences has refocused my teaching. [Preview Abstract] |
Tuesday, March 11, 2008 1:39PM - 1:51PM |
J19.00011: Having Fun with High School Teachers and Students Making Atomic Force Microscopy Chang Y. Ryu, Paul Fedoroff, Tom Pittman As a type of scanning probe microscopy, atomic force microscopy (AFM) is a powerful tool that allows us scientists and engineers to visualize, characterize and manipulate nanostructures in both hard and soft materials. In particular, AFM has served as an invaluable tool for researchers working on nanotechnology, which is a subject of uprising interests to many high school students and teachers. As a part of high school educational outreach program called ``Bringing Nanotechnology to the Classroom'' in the NSF Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center (NSEC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, we were fortunate to interact with high school teachers and learn more about the opportunities to infuse principles used in AFM into the physics laboratory sessions in high schools. After showing AFM at NSEC to high school teachers, using wood blocks, hex saw and speaker coils, we have constructed AFM model and used it to demonstrate the resonance frequency of vibration and magnetic properties of materials in high school physics classroom. In addition, using LEGO Mindstorm Robotics, conceptual AFM has been made by high school students as a part of high school engineering course. Principles of controlling the motion of objects using gears with an emphasis of team work have been covered in the LEGO AFM project for high school students. [Preview Abstract] |
Tuesday, March 11, 2008 1:51PM - 2:03PM |
J19.00012: Conceptual Learning Approach to Waves John Cerne, Frank Nappo, Michael Gerfin Waves represent one of the most important concepts in physics, playing a crucial role in topics ranging from acoustical phenomena, electricity and magnetism, optics, Fourier analysis, and even quantum mechanics. However, since waves have both a temporal and spatial dependence (often in more than one dimension) that may be difficult to visualize, many undergraduate and graduate students have a poor understanding of even basic wave concepts. We are creating a web site (electron.physics.buffalo.edu/claw/) that explains many basic wave concepts using dynamic and interactive graphical simulations. Our goal is to create simulations that enable students to visualize how waves behave and better connect this behavior to the equations and concepts that describe the use of waves in applications. There are many excellent web sites using similar graphical interactive tools, but they tend to focus on mechanics, electrostatics, and magnetism. I am actively using this site for my introductory physics courses, as well as a magneto-polarimetry teaching lab that I have created (www.physics.buffalo.edu/cerne/education/moke\_manual.pdf). [Preview Abstract] |
Tuesday, March 11, 2008 2:03PM - 2:15PM |
J19.00013: Inciting High-School interest in physics. Jiandi Zhang We report on our outreach effort on material-physics education program as one part of my NSF Career award project. This is a program incorporated with the NSF funded Physics Learning Center at FIU, focusing on the material physics enrichment both high school students and teachers. We particularly pay attention to minority students by taking the advantage of FIU's composition and location. The program offers a special/session-style workshop, demonstrations, research lab touring, as well as summer research activities. The goal is to enrich teacher's ability of instruction to their students and inspire students to pursue scientific careers. The detailed outreach activities will be discussed. [Preview Abstract] |
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