Workshop Details - Spring 2002 meeting of ISAAPT

Workshops W1-W4 will be held from 10:00 am to noon on Friday, April 5, 2002

Workshop W1. “A Taste of the Modeling Method of Instruction in Physics”, Benjamin Thompson, Jason Ryan, Aaron Stremmel, Larihel Johnson and Shannon Mandel, Student Teachers in Physics, Illinois State University, Normal, IL.

The science education reform movement is making great strides in changing the focus in science instruction from approaches that are teacher centered, to those that are student centered. Inquiry-oriented science instruction in which students construct knowledge from experiences has been shown to be most fruitful.

In this Modeling Method workshop participants will learn how to improve classroom discourse among students, how to identify and deal effectively with student misconceptions, and how to focus more time and attention on the inquiry process. Participants will become actively involved in the creation of conceptual understanding, and in the creation of laws that describe the formation of images inside pinhole projectors.

This workshop is designed primarily for teachers of high school physics and physical science, but university and two-year college faculty who are looking for ways to improve their teaching are encouraged to attend and participate. Free. (limit 24)

Workshop W2. “Lasers in the Classroom", Steven W. Daniels, Department of Physics, Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, IL. Lasers are becoming more and more common in everyday life. They are also becoming easier to obtain and use in the classroom. They are useful in demonstrating a wide variety of physical principles. In this workshop we will consider what is needed to implement some simple laser experiments into the classroom. The process from purchasing the laser to designing the apparatus to implementing the experiment will be considered. Laser safety concerns will be discussed. Various levels of laser experiments will be considered. There will be something for all levels of educator in this workshop. This should be especially useful for people that do not have, but would like to have, lasers in their curriculum. Free. (limit 10)

Workshop W3. “Inquiry Practice in High School Physics”, Carl J. Wenning, Coordinator, Physics Teacher Education Program, Illinois State University, Normal, IL. The case for using inquiry practice in the teaching of high school physics is overwhelming, and the great benefits derived from student-centered, constructivist approaches are not be denied. In this workshop participants will play the role of students to learn about buoyancy and fundamental processes of science. Participants will be guided through inductive thought processes, experimentation, and hypothesis generation to generate a law of buoyancy, and to hypothesize about the source of the buoyant force. Both small and large group processes will be employed. Free. (limit 24)

Workshop W4. “Bringing Argonne National Laboratory Data to the Classroom”, Keith Andrew, Department of Physics, Eastern Illinois University, Christopher Klaus, Division of Information Systems, Argonne National Laboratory, and Tim McCollum, Charleston Middle School. Argonne National Laboratory has been actively involved in sharing research quality data through the National Science Digital Library porthole. They have constructed a web site that shares atmospheric data from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program along with a number of computer visualization methods. Several instruments now have active lesson plans and development opportunities for teachers. In this workshop we will work through several of the features and database activities established by the working team including daily balloon launches and continuous radar imaging. Workshop members will have future opportunities to contribute to the site and to give students access to the data. Free. (limit 9)

Workshop W5 will be held from 10:00 am to noon on Saturday, April 6, 2002

Workshop W5. “Tycho: Enhancing Your Course with Web Technology”, Tim Stelzer, Department of Physics, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Tycho is a powerful computer package which will enable you to put as much (or as little) of your course online as necessary to maximize your students' learning. Tycho has two main components, a grade book, and homework drivers. The grade book provides both students and instructor with secure access to their progress in the course from any Web-enabled browser. The homework drivers allow the instructor to choose from a large variety of exercises ranging from sophisticated Interactive Examples to traditional homework problems to surveys for Just-In-Time teaching.

Tycho is available free of charge, and many Illinois schools have already incorporated it into their physics courses. In this workshop we will give you a brief tour of Tycho, as both a student and an instructor, to help you determine if it's right for your class.