Bulletin of the American Physical Society
Joint Fall 2011 Meeting of the APS New England Section and the New England Section of the American Association of Physics Teachers (NES/AAPT)
Volume 56, Number 17
Friday–Saturday, November 18–19, 2011; Amherst, Massachusetts
Session F1: Physics Education |
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Chair: Zenobia Lojewska, Springfield College Room: Campus Center Auditorium |
Saturday, November 19, 2011 8:00AM - 8:12AM |
F1.00001: Class Explorations in Space: From the Blackboard and History to the Outdoors and Future Elizabeth Cavicchi Our everyday activities occur so seamlessly in the space around us as to leave us unawares of space, its properties, and our use of it. What might we notice, wonder about and learn through interacting with space exploratively? My seminar class took on that question as an opening for personal and group experiences during this semester. In the process, they observe space locally and in the sky, read historical works of science involving space, and invent and construct forms in space. All these actions arise responsively, as we respond to: physical materials and space; historical resources; our seminar participants, and future learners. Checks, revisions and further developments -- on our findings, geometrical constructions, shared or personal inferences---come about observationally and collaboratively. I teach this seminar as an expression of the research pedagogy of critical exploration, developed by Eleanor Duckworth from the work of Jean Piaget, B\"{a}rbel Inhelder and the Elementary Science Study. This practice applies the quest for understanding of a researcher to spontaneous interactions evolving within a classroom. The teacher supports students in satisfying and developing their curiosities, which often results in exploring the subject matter by routes that are novel to both teacher and student. As my students ``mess about'' with geometry, string and chalk at the blackboard, in their notebooks, and in response to propositions in Euclid's \textit{Elements}, they continually imagine further novel venues for using geometry to explore space. Where might their explorations go in the future? I invite you to hear from them directly! [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, November 19, 2011 8:12AM - 8:24AM |
F1.00002: Messing about with Euclid Yan Yang, Houman Harouni, Mackenzie Hird, Brian Mccarthy, Amanda Pillsbury, Zengxu Yang How to make Euclid educative and inspiring in a video demonstration for school students? This curiosity motivated our group of university students to participate in a university pilot program whose mission is to support students in producing educational videos that demonstrate classic experiments from history. The educational objective and the historical experiment focus of the pilot program intrigue us. We mess about while we encounter the geometry of Euclid's classic text. The making of the video is woven into our own exploring and our understanding of Euclid. In turn, our exploratory process strengthens our capacity to make Euclid inspiring to school-aged audiences. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, November 19, 2011 8:24AM - 8:36AM |
F1.00003: Play Ball!: The House That Euclid Built Amanda Pillsbury, Houman Harouni, Mackenzie Hird, Brian Mccarthy, Yan Yang, Zengxu Yang Our video begins in the classroom. One student laments to his fellow classmates that his baseball team will be forced to forfeit their next game if they cannot find a field to play on. In response, the other students suggest constructing a baseball diamond of their own. As soon as the first student agrees, they all begin brainstorming ways to go about making a 90ft x 90ft perfect square, the dimensions of a standard MLB baseball diamond. First the students try using a protractor. They soon realize, however, that the scale of their project is too massive to rely on such a small instrument. Next, the students attempt to make a square using GPS technology. This time it is the margins of error on these machines that stymie their pursuit. Finally, one of the class members who has been silent to this point suggests that the answer lies in the 2000 year-old propositions of Euclid. Suddenly, the ancient Greek geometer himself appears in the distance ready to assist our students. Using a synthesis of Euclidian proofs, the students then construct a baseball diamond in time for the game. Play ball! [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, November 19, 2011 8:36AM - 8:48AM |
F1.00004: Improving Astronomy Education in American High Schools and Colleges: A Review of Recent Progress William Waller Over the past 15 years, professional astronomers, their societies, and associated funding agencies have collaborated to improve astronomy teaching and learning in American high schools and colleges. In this overview of recent developments, issues, approaches, and resources, I will describe key instructional assets that have been made available to science faculty who wish to enhance their teaching of introductory astronomy. Although this faculty support has progressed intermittently, there currently exist numerous programs and resources that faculty can access to increase student engagement and learning in astronomy. As funding support for these various instructional assets have waxed and waned, the professional societies have served as vital anchors and agents for advancing the profession of astronomy education in U.S. high schools and colleges. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, November 19, 2011 8:48AM - 9:00AM |
F1.00005: Simple Pendulum on a NASA Reduced Gravity Flight Gary Garber We experimented with a simple pendulum on a NASA reduced-gravity flight. Your students can measure the period of the pendulum on our flight using accelerometer data from Vernier sensors. We also videotaped the results and image analysis can be used to measure the period. We used both a string pendulum and a rigid rod pendulum. Our data includes results from hyper gravity (2g), Martian gravity, lunar gravity, Earth gravity, and microgravity. Learn how you can access and analyze the data in your classroom. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, November 19, 2011 9:00AM - 9:12AM |
F1.00006: The Dating Game -- with Google Maps and Vector Algebra Charles H. Holbrow, Shane Larson, Margaret Jensen By measuring the shadow in a photograph of a known object at a known location you can determine the date at which the photo was taken. Photos from Google Maps or Google Earth come with latitude and longitude to six decimal places, enough precision to find the location and scale size of objects in the picture.~~The transformation of the quantities measured on the photograph into celestial coordinates is a nice exercise in 3-D visualization and the use of vector algebra. ~We show an example of the use of vectors to extract geometric information from a Google Map photo and then use the results to find the date on which it was taken. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, November 19, 2011 9:12AM - 9:24AM |
F1.00007: Misconceptions in Physical Science at the Middle School Grades Zenobia Lojewska, Robert Barkman, Peter Polito, Julianne Smist, Richard Konicek-Moran The presentation will focus on the physical science content and pedagogy workshops addressing student's misconceptions at the middle school level. These workshops were conducted at Springfield College during summer 2010 for in-service teachers from Springfield MA Public Schools. A partnership among Springfield MA Public Schools, Springfield College, and the City of Springfield Science Museum was developed to implement an innovative program to prepare highly-qualified educators. Concepts of force, motion, energy, and energy transformation were explored in a physics laboratory setting and student's misconceptions were addressed. [Preview Abstract] |
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