Spring 2008 meeting of ISAAPT at the University of Illinois

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Spring 2008 Meeting of the Illinois Section of the AAPT

"Physics Education and Student Cognition"
April 4-5, 2008
Department of Physics, University of Illinois
Urbana, Illinois 61801-3080

Fresnel formulas

We are pleased to invite you to attend the spring meeting of the ISAAPT. Please come to learn more about physics, discover new tools and techniques for teaching physics, share your experiences via contributed presentations and Take Fives, and meet old and new friends. The registration table will be in the foyer of Loomis Laboratory - just outside of Loomis 151, 1110 W. Green St., Urbana. Here are the program details and pictures taken at the meeting.

Program Details (pdf)	Workshops	Call for Presentations	Take Fives	Registration	Motels	Maps	Contact
Program Details (pdf)	Workshops	Call for Presentations	WITHITs	Registration	Directions	Parking	Restaurants
Current tabulation:		presentations	attendees	fees	workshops	take fives	WITHITs

Invited speakers

The Ultra-Cold Frontier
Prof. Brian DeMarco
Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Banquet speaker on Friday evening

Cognitive Science: Problem Solving and Learning for Physics Education
Prof. Brian Ross
Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Friday afternoon at 3:00 pm

Mental Models in Understanding Physics: Misconceptions and Learning
Dr. David Brookes
Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Friday afternoon at 3:30 pm

What Instructors Should Know About How Students Interpret Symbols in Physics
Eugene Torigoe
Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Saturday morning at 9:30 am

Do Problem-Solvers Notice Changes Made to a Physics Problem
while They are Reading and Explaining It?
Adam Feil
Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Saturday morning at 10:00 am

Workshops - Friday morning, Apr. 4

W1	"Increasing Student Engagement Using Personal Response Systems (Clickers) in Lecture" - Mats Selen, Department of Physics, University of Illinois. 10:00 am to noon. 151 Loomis. No fee.
W2.	"Inquiry-Based Teaching in High School Physics"- Members of the 2008 graduating class of PTE majors at Illinois State University including Erik Brieger, Christopher Bush, Drew Sulski, Shane Hanson, Scott Kupiec, Mathew Herzau, John Metzler, Michael Turner and Ted Heyduck. 10:00 am to noon. Provides a working example of inquiry-based teaching along with rebuttal of arguments arrayed against teaching by inquiry at the high school level. 234 Loomis. No fee.
W3.	Cracker Barrel: "Physics Teacher Candidate Preparation" - Ad Hoc Committee for the Recruitment, Preparation, and Retention of High School Physics Teachers. 11:00 am to noon. Led by Carl Wenning, David Sykes, and Tom Foster. Discussion focusing on improved preparation of high school physics teachers in Illinois. 158 Loomis. No fee.

Call for 15 minute Contributed Presentations - Deadlines: Title (Mar. 21), Description (Mar. 28)

Contributed presentations are scheduled on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. There are six categories of presentations:
(a) Active Learning, (b) Teaching Methods, (c) Demonstrations, (d) Research, (e) Student Research Symposium and (f) Other.
Please check the appropriate box when you fill out the Online form. Here is the current list of presentations.

A special reminder for students: As in the past, this spring you have an opportunity to win an award for your contributed presentation in the Student Research Symposium.

Call for judges: We need instructors to serve as judges for this symposium. Please indicate on your registration form if you are willing to serve. (current list)

Take Fives

WITHIT - What in the heck is this?

Anyone who registers for the meeting may take 5 minutes or less to share a favorite item related to teaching physics - a demonstration, a new Web site, announcement of an upcoming event, ... Please use the Registration form to tell us the title of your Take Five. There may be time for a few unannounced Take Fives at the end of the last session of the day.

Do you have something in your storeroom that has you baffled? Please bring it, place it on the designated table (with your name) so we can all look at it during the Breaks. Please use the Registration form to tell us that you will be bringing an item. If there are enough, we will schedule one or two sessions for the audience to figure out what these things are. It should be fun!

Registration form. The deadline for banquet and lunch reservations is Mar. 28

The 2007-2008 Outstanding High School Physics Teacher Award will be awarded to John Baier, Glenbard South High School, Glen Ellyn, at the banquet on Friday evening.

The Council plans to meet at 7:00 am on Saturday morning.


Gabriel Caceres	Tim Garvin	Kara Lovelace	Michael Stachyra

Student Research Symposium award winners

John Baier
HS Teacher Award

Lenore Horner's Take 5

Mid-morning break
on Saturday

The local contact for checking on classroom and lab facilities is:

Cindy Hubert, Staff Clerk
Undergraduate Physics
University of Illinois
231 Loomis, MC-704
217-244-6225, chubert@uiuc.edu

The chair of this meeting is:

Jose Mestre, Prof. of Physics and Educational Psychology
Department of Physics, Loomis Lab, University of Illinois
217-333-9819, mestre@uiuc.edu

If you have any problems with submitting information via the online forms or if there are corrections to be made, contact:

David R. Renneke
309-786-5247
DavidRenneke@augustana.edu