Bulletin of the American Physical Society
APS March Meeting 2015
Volume 60, Number 1
Monday–Friday, March 2–6, 2015; San Antonio, Texas
Session J4: Invited Session: Forum on Outreach and Engaging the Public |
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Sponsoring Units: FOEP Chair: R. Micahael Barnett, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Room: Mayor Cockrell Room 004 |
Tuesday, March 3, 2015 2:30PM - 3:06PM |
J4.00001: The Physics Force presents The Physics Circus Invited Speaker: E. Dan Dahlberg The Physics Force of the University of Minnesota is an outreach program developed with the goal to show students and the public Science is Fun, Science is Interesting, and Science is Understandable. The program grew from a rather small effort by three high school physics teachers and two University of Minnesota staff members. In the almost three decades since its humble beginnings of 100 attendees in a year, it has grown to an average attendance of over 36,000 annually. In the last three years alone, about 110,000 Minnesotans have seen a performance of The Physics Circus which is roughly 2\% of the population of the state. In addition to the performances in Minnesota, The Force performed two years at Disney's Epcot Center, was featured on Newton's Apple, and made appearances on the very successful German TV science show, the Knoff-Hoff Show. I will begin the talk with some of our motivation to develop The Physics Force arising from the current ``scientific state'' of our society and then provide more information on The Force including both some history and examples taken from our Physics Circus. [Preview Abstract] |
Tuesday, March 3, 2015 3:06PM - 3:42PM |
J4.00002: Quantum physics reimagined for the general public Invited Speaker: Julien Bobroff Quantum Physics has always been a challenging issue for outreach. It is invisible, non-intuitive and written in sophisticated mathematics. In our ``Physics Reimagined'' research group, we explore new ways to present that field to the general public. Our approach is to develop close collaborations between physicists and designers or graphic artists. By developing this new kind of dialogue, we seek to find new ways to present complex phenomena and recent research topics to the public at large. For example, we created with web-illustrators a series of 3D animations about basic quantum laws and research topics (graphene, Bose-Einstein condensation, decoherence, pump-probe techniques, ARPES...). We collaborated with designers to develop original setups, from quantum wave animated models or foldings to a superconducting circus with levitating animals. With illustrators, we produced exhibits, comic strips or postcards displaying the physicists in their labs, either famous ones or even our own colleagues in their daily life as researchers. With artists, we recently made a stop-motion picture to explain in an esthetic way the process of discovery and scientific publication. We will discuss how these new types of outreach projects allowed us to engage the public with modern physics both on a scientific and cultural level and how the concepts and process can easily be replicated and expanded by other physicists. We are at the precise time when creative tools, interfaces, and ways of sharing and learning are rapidly evolving (wikipedia, MOOCs, smartphones...). If scientists don't step forward to employ these tools and develop new resources, other people will, and the integrity of the science and underlying character of research risks being compromised. All our productions are free to use and can be downloaded at www.PhysicsReimagined.com (for 3D quantum videos, specific link: www.QuantumMadeSimple.com) [Preview Abstract] |
Tuesday, March 3, 2015 3:42PM - 4:18PM |
J4.00003: Developing a Global Science and Math Education System Based on Real Astronomy Data Invited Speaker: Carlton Pennypacker Global Hands-On Universe (GHOU) is an educational system where students use real astronomy data from (largely optical) telescopes to learn fundamental physics, math, astronomy, and technology.GHOU is a good example of a collaborative global education project, where data, software, teacher training methods, curriculum, activities, telescopes, and human resources are developed by many members of GHOU and then shared internationally.Assessments show that in this program students learn more science and math than in conventional classroom teaching, and students change their attitudes towards choosing careers in science and technology.GHOU is an exemplar of appropriate use of computers in the classroom for real data analysis.The International Asteroid Search program of GHOU has helped students discover over 700 asteroids.~Half a dozen high schools have named the asteroids they have found after their high school (some from here in Texas!).GHOU has found resonance with many teachers and students around the world, reaching approximately 20,000 global teachers in the International Year of Astronomy in 2009.In addition, activities from French HOU are part of the official French National Curriculum, and exit exam, teacher training syllabus and teacher exit exams. GHOU has found particular enthusiasms in ~nations with increasing technology basis -- for example, GHOU is reaching many teachers in China, Chile, Indonesia, Kenya, Venezuela, with expansion plans for Cuba underway. Some nations, such as Portugal, have reached reasonable fractions of their teachers through GHOU. Workshops are planned in Iran, and HOU colleagues are starting to build a GHOU telescope in Israel.~ US HOU had trained approximately 1000 teachers in the United States, before the closing of the NSF Teacher Enhancement Section.But as many new large and smaller telescopes come on line -- e.g., the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope -- the need for GHOU around the world and even the United States will only increase. [Preview Abstract] |
Tuesday, March 3, 2015 4:18PM - 4:54PM |
J4.00004: The Role of Outreach in NSF Proposals Invited Speaker: Randal C. Ruchti The NSF has two merit criteria that must be addressed in proposals, intellectual merit and broader impacts. While the former is generally well understood, that latter less so. This presentation will review the issues of broader impacts, of which outreach is but one possible approach, and give a view from the perspective of a research scientist who recently served as a program director in the NSF Division of Physics. [Preview Abstract] |
Tuesday, March 3, 2015 4:54PM - 5:30PM |
J4.00005: Developing Broader Impacts Activities through Informal STEM Education Collaborations and Strategies Invited Speaker: James Bell With the National Science Foundation and other funding agencies' renewed emphasis on broader impacts merit criterion in proposals, investigators and directors of education, outreach and engagement are challenged to identify, plan and implement innovative and transformative activities that engage a variety of audiences in the broader impacts of scientific research. These activities are also often required to have an evaluation plan for assessing the effectiveness of the strategies employed to achieve learning goals or other intended impacts. One approach to developing such plans is to partner with an informal science education institution, program, project or individual to create exhibits, media or programming that will convey the scientific concepts and processes involved in research and engage students and public audiences in appreciation for, and understanding of same. A growing body of evidence -based knowledge about what works for whom and under what conditions in fostering science learning and literacy in informal settings, as well as an expanding network of informal science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education professionals provide researchers, graduate students and staff resources to tap into as they consider their broader impacts directions. Web infrastructure like the informalscience.org website and others offer aggregated, vetted, and searchable examples of successful partnerships and strategies, as well as access to a community of colleagues working at the nexus of scientific research and informal education for further exploration. Through heightened awareness, stronger connectivity and a growing repository of knowledge, projects like the Center for Advancement of Informal Science Education (CAISE) hope to support and disseminate the results of efforts that are enhancing the quality and visibility of broader impacts activities in whatever form they take. [Preview Abstract] |
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