Presentations

Active Learning

Teaching Methods

Hinsdale South High School will soon be asking most of its freshman to enroll in a course titled "GeoPhysics". We believe that this course will present students with an excellent opportunity to increase their understanding of science while simultaneously laying the groundwork for future science courses. I will discuss why this choice was made as well as the challenges it has created for us.

Dean Sieglaff, deansieglaff@augustana.edu
Teaching Methods, Either day
Equipment needs: PowerPoint

Systematic Daily Use of Classroom Response Technology in Introductory Physics. Dean Sieglaff, Augustana College, Rock Island, IL 61201.

Classroom response technology (CRT) increases teaching effectiveness because it allows student participants to engage key questions of the lesson. Through the act of committing to a response, each student can reveal their own conceptual gaps and become more receptive to the principles as presented in the lesson. Incorporating CRT into the class time agenda is however challenging due to constraints of time and money. Simply adding CRT "on top of" existing, traditional in-class methods of instruction can lead to frustration. Hence the question of CRT use is not "should we do it?" but "how should we do it?" We present a strategy to build an in-class experience around the CRT as a central motivation for discussion and activity, each and every lesson. Our approach is grounded in the best practices of CRT use but utilizes a simple in-class agenda, repeated from lesson to lesson, that everybody can live with.

Curtis Hieggelke, curth@comast.net
Teaching Methods, Friday afternoon
Equipment needs: Mac computer, Projection system, PowerPoint

nTIPERs-an introduction. Curtis Hieggelke, Joliet Junior College, Joliet, IL 60431, David Maloney, Indiana University -Purdue University Fort Wayne, Fort Wayne, IN 46805, Steve Kanim, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM 88003-8001.

This paper will describe a new project to provide various tasks in a variety of formats designed to improve student learning and understanding of Newtonian mechanics. These tasks are based, in part, on efforts in Physics Education Research and thus are called nTIPERs (Newtonian Tasks Inspired by Physics Education Research). These tasks support active learning and provide an easy way of updating traditional lectures. This talk will describe the current status and future plans including the development of "iclicker"-nTIPERs. This is a collaborative project between Joliet Junior College, New Mexico State University, and Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne that is supported in part by a CCLI grant from the Division of Undergraduate Education of the National Science Foundation (grant # 0632963).

Taking Lenz's Law Seriously. Bill Hogan, Joliet Junior College, Joliet, IL 60431.

I've recently made some changes to how I approach Lenz's Law in my algebra/trig based introductory course. I will discuss the changes I have made and how my students have responded. I hope this talk will lead to a discussion with those in attendance about how others approach this topic.

Demonstrations

Andrew Johnson, AK-Johnson2@wiu.edu
Demonstrations, Saturday morning
Equipment needs: PowerPoint

Demonstrating the Principle of an rf Paul Ion Trap. Andrew Johnson, Western Illinois University, Macomb, IL 61455.

An rf ion trap uses a time-varying electric field to trap charged ions. This is useful in applications related to quantum computing and mass spectroscopy. There are several mechanical devices described in the literature which have attempted to provide illustrative demonstrations of the principle of rf ion traps, including a mechanically-rotating "saddle trap" and the vertically-driven, inverted pendulum. Neither demonstration, however, successfully demonstrates BOTH the sinusoidal variation in the electric potential of the rf trap AND the parametric stability of the ions in the trap described by Mathieu's equation. We have modified a design of a one-dimensional ponderomotive trap presented earlier so that it satisfies both criteria for demonstrating the principle of an rf Paul trap. We also present several design alternatives for constructing such a trap. Finally, we explore several experiments that might be carried out using such a device.

Research

Thomas Withee, twithee@gmail.com
Research, Either day
Equipment needs: Powerpoint
Comments: I am assuming a USB memory stick will be okay.
 
Investigating Problem-Solving and WebAssign: Recruiting and Study Design. Tom Foster, and Thomas Withee, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Edwardsville, IL 62026.

Computer aided instruction is making its presence felt across the nation. We have animations, lab acquisition, and now internet-based homework delivery systems. All these wonderful tools which can leave you wondering about their quality. For this research project, we are specifically examining the impact WebAssign has on student problem-solving skills. WebAssign is a nationally available internet-based homework delivery system with nearly every textbooks' end-of-chapter problem available. They are providing free access to those high school teachers who volunteer and meet our criteria. For this presentation, we will share our trials and tribulation in setting up the study. No data yet, but already plenty has been learned. Information on volunteering will be distributed at the meeting. Contact the author for information on how to volunteer if you cannot attend.

Other

The ISAAPT Ad Hoc Committee for the Recruitment, Preparation, and Retention of High School Physics Teachers was established in 2004. Since that time the Committee has met several times, conducted in-depth analyses, held a workshop and a cracker barrel discussion, and made a series of recommendations in a published report. The Committee has recently produced a recruitment booklet for teachers, a tri-fold brochure for students, and two follow-up Web pages. This has been done in cooperation with three other Illinois science teacher associations. The presenter will provide access to these materials for the first time, and explain their use in recruiting the next generation of high school physics teachers.

Sadri Hassani, hassani@phy.ilstu.edu
Other, Saturday morning
Equipment needs: large-screen projector and iMac (PC can work, but not as well)

Science Literacy: How Santa Claus can help. Sadri Hassani, Illinois State University, Normal, IL 61790.

I will make an audio visual presentation of the motion of Santa Claus as related to his energy consumption. This can also be tied to certain symptoms of science illiteracy and how the analysis of Santa's motion can help make students aware of these symptoms.

John Metzler, jrmetzl@ilstu.edu
Other, Friday afternoon
Equipment needs: Powerpoint

Learned It From Carl: Preparing to be a Physics Teacher. John Metzler, Illinois State University, Normal, IL 61761.

Since ISU is one of the leading schools in the nation for preparing high school physics teachers, it is important to look at what the teacher candidates must go through in order to be called the best. From a student's point of view, this presentation will look at what preparing to be a physics teacher really boils down to.

The Importance of Scientific Literacy . Erin Stefanik, Illinois State University, Normal, IL 61761.

The presentation will be about scientific literacy. It will describe its importance to our society as a whole and why we need to be a more scientifically literate as a nation. It will discuss how learning physics can help to promote scientific literacy. Most importantly as physics teachers how we can do a better job to promote this in our students and what ways this may be accomplished.

Illinois Articulation Initiative Physics Advisory Committee update. Rick Pearce, Illinois Board of Higher Education, Springfield, IL 62701.

A brief update on the work of the Physics Advisory Committee to the Illinois Articulation Initiative of the Illinois Board of Higher Education