1:00 - 1:15 - A1

Cinematic Physics. David C. Sykes, Lincoln Land Community College, Springfield, IL 62794-9256. One device for teaching concepts in Physics and/or Physical Science is to have students analyze particular movie scenes to determine their “physical accuracy.” In this presentation, popular movie scenes will be shown and participants will have the opportunity to investigate and describe the physical concepts present and how accurately those concepts are portrayed.

1:15 - 1:30 - A2

Assessment of a New Laboratory Initiative in University Physics. David Pawlowski, Zak Knott, Paul W. Wang, Kevin R. Kimberlin, Bradley University, Peoria, IL 61625. A new question-based laboratory style has been instituted in the introductory calculus based mechanics course for the past two years. This year, this new style is used in one section, while the traditional formal report style is used in another section of the same course and students' performance is compared. Assessment tools include the Maryland Physics Expectations Survey (MPEX)[1] and the Force Concepts Inventory (FCI). A student-designed laboratory common to both sections is included which incorporates skills and conceptual understanding learned in the earlier experiments. Comparison of performance in this student-designed laboratory for the two lab styles will be discussed. [1] Edward F. Redish, Jeffery M. Saul, and Richard N. Steinberg, Am. J. Phys. 66, 212-224 (1998).

1:30 - 1:45 - A3

Implementing Web-Based Activities (Tycho, UIUC) in the Community College. Curtis Shoaf, Parkland College, Champaign, IL 61821. In this talk I will discuss my experience with the Web based homework, quizzes and grade-book system, Tycho, hosted by UIUC. I will include the benefits as well as the difficulties encountered setting up and implementing the system in my introductory physics courses at Parkland College. I will also discuss student reaction to this change.

1:45 - 2:00 - A4

Developing Inquiry-Based In-Class Activities for the Large Lecture Astronomy Course. Rebecca Lindell, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Edwardsville, IL 62026-1654. At Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, we have recently restructured our introductory astronomy course to include inquiry-based in-class group activities. These researcher-designed activities utilize a learning cycle approach to cover specific astronomical concepts that traditionally resist conceptual change, such as phases of the moon and seasons, or that students traditionally have a great deal of difficulty mastering, such as Hubble's law and the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. Over the course of the Spring 2002 semester, students participated in 10 group activities. Each group activity was designed to be completed during one 50-minute class period. In this talk, I will discuss the design and implementation of these inquiry-based in-class group activities into the introductory astronomy course, as well as the difficulties and successes of incorporating group activities into a large lecture course.

2:00 - 2:15 - B1

* Neutron Star Structure for Various Equations of States. Kasey Wagoner, James Conwell, Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, IL 61920. We explore structure of a non-rotating neutron star using both Newtonian Gravitation and General relativity for several equations of state.

2:15 - 2:30 - B2

* The Restricted Three Body Effective Potential. Andrew C. James, Keith Andrew, Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, IL 61920. We are investigating the general nature of the effective potential in a restricted three-body orbit problem. The effective potential is motivated by the low temperature effective superstring geometry arrived at by taking the point particle limit in the gravitational sector of the theory. As with the standard two-body orbit problem in general relativity the equations of motion can be set up for any two gravitationally interacting particles. The three-body problem is simplified by restricting it to the equatorial plane. The resulting effective potential differs from the effective potential from general relativity in several interesting way and indicates that three body orbits can be chaotic.

2:30 - 2:45 - B3

* The Patience of Building a Classical Cassegrain, Part II. Anne Wake and Art Braundmeier, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Edwardsville, IL 62025. At the Spring 2001 ISAAPT meeting the beginning process for making a telescope mirror was presented. We now present the final configuration step, figuring, which changes a mirror from a spherical shape to either a parabolic or hyperbolic shape. We will also discuss the last process, applying a metallic coating to enhance the mirror's reflectivity.

8:45 - 9:00 - C1

SIUE Experience with Modern Mechanics. Tom Foster, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Edwardsville, IL 62026-1654. This academic year, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville is implementing an experimental section of the Matter & Interactions* curriculum. This curriculum was developed at Carnegie Mellon University in response to many factors such as previous physics courses of students, high skill level of students, and a lack of 20th century physics in the introductory curriculum. However, the curriculum also focuses on the major concepts in mechanics and E&M. The details of how this new course was implemented at SIUE and what we have learned will be discussed. *Chabay R. W., & Sherwood, B.A. (2002). Matter & Interaction. John Wiley and Sons, Inc. NY:NY.

9:00 - 9:15 - C2

Eeeek!  Programming and Physics and Women, Oh My!!!  Kimberly Shaw, Tom Foster, and Jerry Pogatshnik, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Edwardsville, IL 62026. The physics community has a problem in attracting and retaining women. But physics is not alone. In recent years, the discipline of computer science has posted a similar track record*. Any course that combined programming with physics could potentially be overtly hostile to female and minority students. Yet at SIUE, we are implementing a new university physics curriculum** which introduces an element of computer modeling. To combat this potential “double threat,” the authors attended the University of Wisconsin System Women in Science Program’s Curriculum Reform Institute in June 2001 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. It was our goal to develop a female (and minority) friendly pedagogy for introducing the programming aspect of the course. Some of the work products of that institute include a set of paradigm points and a “help book”. We will present these and the results of student feedback on the efficacy of this pedagogical approach. *AIP, Women in Physics 2000, www.aip.org/statistics/trends/wmtrends.htm **Chabay R. W., & Sherwood, B.A. (2002). Matter & Interactions. John Wiley and Sons, Inc. NY, NY. ***Supported by SIUE EUE program.

9:15 - 9:30 - C3

Changes in Science Education in Illinois. Duane Ingram, Rock Valley College, Rockford, IL 61114. While we were sleeping, people with questionable agendas have been making new rules that affect science education in Illinois in increasingly destructive ways. The first assault on the physical sciences and engineering consisted of fundamental changes to the A.S. degree that 2-yr colleges were pressured to accept by the Illinois Community College Board, ICCB. Students at our college has been living with the new degree for the last five years. The second assault has been at the secondary level. Following is a quote from Carolyn F. Hargrove, the Illinois State Board of Education, ISBE: "Effective July 1, 2003, endorsements in physics, chemistry, etc. will disappear to be replaced by a science endorsement. This endorsement can be earned through satisfying the standards and indicators delineated in the content-area standards for educators at http://www.isbe.state.il.us/profdevelopment/PDFs/standards.pdf.  Students will also be required to earn a designation in one of the science disciplines, such as physics, chemistry, biology, etc. Separate standards for these fields also can be found at the web address above."  While the changes sound ambiguous, they are significant. It is important that everyone examine the ISBE document and understand what is about to take place. In my presentation I will discuss these two challenges to science education in Illinois.

9:30 - 9:45 - C4

Report on the 2002 PKAL Roundtable on the Future: Assessment in the Service of Student Learning. Curtis J. Hieggelke, Joliet Junior College, Joliet , IL 60431. Project Kaleidoscope (PKAL) is an informal national alliance of individuals, institutions, and organizations committed to strengthening undergraduate science, mathematics, engineering, and technology education (SMET). Each year they sponsor of number of events designed to improve, reform, or examine timely issues in SMET. This March they sponsored a conference that looked at the issue of assessment at Duke University. This will be a brief report on this event.

10:30 - 10:45 - D1

Understanding the Universe in 75 Minutes a Day. Lee Carkner, Augustana College, Rock Island, IL 61201. Teaching college astronomy poses very different challenges from teaching physics. Information from several years of teaching general astronomy classes at Augustana College will be presented, including data from student surveys and tests which highlight common misunderstandings and pre-conceptions. The effects of student backgrounds and preparation will be explored and possible teaching solutions to common problems will be discussed.

10:45 - 11:00 - D2

Physics Instruction on the Web. Doug Davis, Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, IL 61920. All of my classroom lecture notes are now available to my students online, over the Internet.  I will show some of my Web pages and talk about the iterative process of starting with something and adding more graphics, QuickTime movies, and animations in future iterations of the course.

11:00 - 11:15 - D3

Lithium-Ion Batteries in the Principia RA IV Solar Car. Ben Brown, Principia College, Elsah, IL 62028. The Principia College RA VI solar car was entered into three Formula Sun races in 2001 with the following results: in the first race we did not finish; in the second race we came in first place, ahead of some 19 University teams; in the third race from Chicago to California we took a seventh place. One of the key contributions to the car's performance was the battery bank. The lithium-based battery technology offers some clear advantages over more traditional technologies, but this comes at a price. Increased monitoring of the batteries, increased regulation and control, and possible fire and explosion are among the additional worries that we had to contend with. The equalization of the batteries is non-trivial, and it became clear after the first race that there was a need to periodically adjust the charge in individual cells to match the rest of the pack. As the electrical consultant to RA IV I worked on a remedy to the equalization problem. I will present this remedy and compare it to other published engineering solutions.

11:15 - 11:30 - D4

* Using the Adjoint Operator to Solve Fluid-Flow Stability Problems. James Gumbart, James Rabchuk, Western Illinois University, Macomb, IL 61455. Adjoint operators used to be nothing more than a mathematical curiosity with no application to physical sciences. However, over the years, they have developed into powerful tools for analyzing differential equations. One example of their usefulness is the problem of fluid-flow stability. It has been discovered and confirmed through my research that solutions to the adjoint Rayleigh differential equation are directly related to the response amplitude for a given disturbance. I will prove this relationship as well as show an example currently under study by myself and Dr. James Rabchuk.

11:30 - 11:45 - D5

Spectroscopic Studies of the Structural Changes Associated with Low Nickel Doping in a Polycrystalline Superconductor.  No Soung Myoung, Michael C. Baxa, Doug A. Franklin, and Mark S. Boley, Western Illinois University, Macomb, IL 61455. A comparative study of the results of Raman spectroscopy and Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS) spectroscopy, along with in-field critical current density determinations, was performed to ascertain the structural changes associated with low levels of nickel doping in polycrystalline YBa2Cu3O7-d. Four samples were doped with molar-proportional percentages (0.32%, 0.64%, 0.96%, and 3.3%) of Ni (Nickel) replacing the Cu (Copper) in the starting materials, along with a control sample of pure YBCO. The Raman spectra were collected over multiple averaged scans with a GaAs PMT and a Triax 550 spectrometer equipped with a holographic Super-Notch Plus filter and were excited with 150 mW of 5145Å argon ion laser radiation at the sample surface. The Raman studies indicated the increasing presence of NiO impurity present in the sample as the doping level increased, but also clearly indicated that some of the Ni substitutes in the Cu sites of the Cu-O chains in the material, breaking their symmetry and allowing them to become Raman-active. This effect is largest in the sample with the lowest dopant level (0.32%), which also demonstrated the optimal enhancement of the in-field transport critical current density for the lower field range. The EXAFS spectra were collected using the Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Argonne National laboratory, and exhibited little, if any detectable changes in the local atomic structure across the three lowest doped samples, but did exhibit a peak of increasing intensity with higher doping levels that indicated the increasing presence of NiO impurities, and delineating the reason for the drastic reduction in critical current densities for larger nickel doping levels.

11:45 - 12:00 - D6

Standardization of a Capacitive Bridge Device for the Measurement of Minute Magnetostrictive Displacements.  Naveen K. Jha, Jason Wilson, Doug A. Franklin, and Mark S. Boley, Western Illinois University, Macomb, IL 61455. Minute displacements (in parts per million--ppm) due to magnetostriction effects have now been investigated for five different materials by using a simple, reproducible, and cost-effective method just recently developed (last year) in our research laboratory. The current study has served to standardize the measurement device and verify its calibration with well-known standard materials of high purity. The magnetostriction effects in our samples were generated by a large oscillating magnetic field produced by a high-current 60 Hz AC power supply, and then detected via a change in capacitance between a hollow cylindrical sample and a concentric brass ring, monitored at a high frequency rate by an older-model analog standard laboratory capacitance bridge meter whose null output was connected to a storage CRO and computer for follow-up analysis. Four ferromagnetic rings, constructed of highly purified nickel and iron for purposes of standard textbook comparison, and of high-speed steels 4620 and 4340 (which have proven applicability for use in magneto-elastic torque sensing), were used as the samples for investigating the magnetostriction effects, while a paramagnetic aluminum ring was used for the control sample to verify the zeroing and paramagnetic correction factors for our apparatus. The values of the engineering magnetostriction coefficients in ppm thus determined have been found to be in excellent agreement with standard tabulated values in the literature for nickel and iron, and with more recently published experimental values and torque sensor applicabilities for the two steel alloys. We have found this new measurement method to be both reproducible and reliable in measuring minute magnetostrictive displacements as well as in determining "engineering" values of the magnetostriction constants for ferromagnetic materials.