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The Science of Speed: Why Driving Fast Isn't as Easy as You Think Diandra Leslie-Pelecky Is it really all that hard to drive fast? No - if you assume a spherical racecar. If you think about the physics of a non-point particle turning highly banked corners at 3g on tires with coefficients of friction greater than one, you will quickly realize that there is far more to going fast than stepping on the accelerator. While the driver applies Newton's Laws on the track, a behind-the-scenes group of physicists and engineers are running computational fluid dynamics simulations, developing low-friction coatings, researching energy absorbing materials for safety, and even finding ways to use oranges to reduce flexion losses in tires. Dr. Diandra Leslie-Pelecky, author of The Physics of NASCAR and the motorspots blog Building Speed, shows why you cannot win races without getting the math and science right. Although race car drivers may not use terms like 'impulse' or 'friction', the best of them develop a strong gut-level understanding of the rules of physics. As one driver told her "If I'd only realized that racing was really just math and science, I would have paid more attention in school." The talk ends with a brief examination of how to use popular culture to get - and keep - people interested in math and science. |
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Physics Education Research: What and whom we study, and why it matters Steve Kanim If we look at the history of physics education research (PER) as revealed by its publications, we can gain some sense of the trajectory of this research. In this talk I describe some patterns that I have observed in this history related to choice of topics, research methods, and student populations studied. The first detailed studies were in kinematics, dynamics, and electric circuits, and it has only been in the past few years that there has been detailed investigation of topics such as energy, thermodynamics, and relativity. I offer a hypothesis for what has determined this sequence, and describe why I think this sequence has been both beneficial for the growth of PER and potentially problematic for its future growth. A second focus of this talk will be what I see as a disparity between the student populations that are most commonly studied by physics education researchers and the overall distribution of students taking physics. Because the research population tends to be selected from better prepared student populations and from more challenging courses, we may be in danger of developing an overly optimistic view of what students can do and of the effectiveness of research-based interventions. |
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Grading matters at least one order of magnitude more than you think it does
Shawn Cornally Whether you're the most interesting, inquiry-based physics teacher or the lecturer with a silver tongue, the way you grade your students ultimately controls how they feel about what they're learning. Let's make sure that what we're doing creates efficacy and love for physics. |
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Data Collection from There to
Where: John Gastineau Microcomputer-based laboratory equipment is now a central feature of many introductory physics courses. The use in physics education of the sonic ranger (aka motion detector) dates from 1983, yet we still use it nearly unchanged. In contrast, the computers we use are far faster and more powerful than the original microcomputers. We will review recent history in data collection for the classroom, survey current efforts, and consider directions for the future. |
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How do we "Teach Problem Solving"? Dave Maloney Many (most) physics instructors contend that one of their primary goals is to teach problem solving. But what does that mean? This presentation will explore what processes and/or knowledge an instructor might have the students engage with in order to have the students learn problem solving while they are also learning physics. |
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The Revised MCAT: Implications for Introductory Physics for the Life Sciences Robert C. Hilborn The Association of American Medical Colleges is in the process of revising the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT). The new version will be offered for the first time in 2015. Based on recommendations from a committee of medical school faculty, admissions officers, deans, and undergraduate science and social science faculty members, surveys of medical school faculty and staff, medical school students, and undergraduate science faculty members, the new MCAT will focus on testing pre-medical students' competencies in the natural sciences, behavioral and social sciences, and critical thinking and reasoning. In this talk, I will focus on changes in the science part of the MCAT and the implications of those changes for introductory physics courses for life science students. |
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The American Association of Physics Teachers: Providing Information and Professional Development Opportunities to Physics Educators Beth A. Cunningham The American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) has as its mission to enhance the understanding and appreciation of physics through teaching. Two of the primary activities of AAPT are providing information to the physics community regarding the teaching of physics and offering professional development opportunities to physics educators at all levels. One movement that will affect the teaching of physics and physical science in K-12 schools is the development of new national K-12 science standards. The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), based on the National Research Council's "A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas," are currently under development by Achieve, Inc. A summary of the role that AAPT has played in the development of the Framework and the NGSS will be discussed. In addition, AAPT's professional development activities to improve physics teaching at the high school, two-year college, and four year college and university levels will be discussed. |