Michigan Section of the American Association of Physics Teachers

2010 Spring Meeting

  Saturday, April 24, 2010

8:30 AM – 4:30 PM 

Hope College, Holland, MI

VanderWerf Hall

Download Full Program PDF

7:45 - 8:20       Registration/Refreshments (VWF Lobby)

                        Meeting fee $10 payable at the door (includes MIAAPT Membership)                                               

8:20 – 8:30     Meeting call to order and opening comments (VWF 102)

                        Drew Isola, MIAAPT President

                        Welcome by Moses Lee, Dean of Natural Sciences, Hope College

Morning Session I  

8:30 – 10:42    Oral Presentations (arranged from submitted abstracts) (VWF 102)

For Full Abstracts - Click Here

10:42 – 11:00             Break 

Morning Session II: Invited Talk

11:00 – 12:00        Physics boot camp for teachers – Lessons Learned: (VWF 102)

Mark Greenman, Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator, NSF

In this talk Mark will share the findings from a study of two cohorts of 25 teachers who participated in a 60-hour Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) physics summer content institute either during the summer of 2008 or summer of 2009. The study methodology used a pre- and post-test measure of participants’ conceptual understanding of ideas in mechanics. The institute instructional pedagogy modeled active learning using the RealTime Physics Mechanics laboratory curriculum and microcomputer-based Interactive Lecture Demonstrations.

Lunch

 12:00 – 12:50      Two Lunch options are available for purchase:

• • • Box lunches can ONLY be ordered in advance using this link Box Lunch Order Form

    • Lunch can be purchased the day of the meeting at the Phelps Cafeteria, a pleasant 5 minute walk across campus.

    • Solar Cooking Demonstration in VanAndel Plaza outside VanderWerf Hall (weather permitting)

    • Nuclear Science Resource Kits (funded by APS and AIP) on display.  These will soon be available for teachers to sign out and use in their classrooms

12:50 – 1:20             MIAAPT Business Meeting, Elections & Announcements (VWF 102)

                         Drew Isola, MIAAPT President

                         Election of high school representative as 2nd VP

                         Section Officer’s Report – Al Gibson

Afternoon Sessions - Concurrent 

1:30 – 2:30           Galileoscope Workshop (VanZoren 151) 

Al Gibson, PTRA

Build from a kit and then take home your own high quality Galileoscope.  These telescopes were designed by the AAS for the International Year of Astronomy.  Cost is $20 per kit payable at the workshop. If you order this kit on your own it normally costs $30 + shipping.  More information about these telescopes is available at www.galileoscope.org  

2:30 – 3:30           Astronomical Misconceptions Workshop (VanZoren 151)

Michael LoPresto, Henry Ford Community College

Both true-false and multiple-choice versions of a Misconceptions Survey, developed and implemented at HCC over the last two years will be reported on and shared with advice on implementation and discussion of attempts to dispel some of the more troublesome misconceptions identified. Discussion will also include attendees being asked to share “misconception-stories” they may have and how they dealt with them.

3:30 – 4:30           Dark Matter Workshop (VanZoren 151)

Al Gibson, PTRA

Al will present the PTRA/AAPT Dark Matter workshop designed by the Perimeter Institute of Canada.  This workshop will introduce you to a classroom-tested teaching resource on dark matter that explains this elusive substance in terms of Newton’s theory of universal gravitation and uniform circular motion. A DVD and Teachers Kit will be given to all participants.  Cost of the workshop is $5.00 payable at the workshop

Afternoon Sessions - Concurrent  

1:30 – 3:00           Laser Light Workshop (VanZoren 152)

Monica Plisch, APS and Heide Doss, APS Education Consultant

Through hands-on activities, participants will explore the properties of laser light and then use these properties for interesting applications, including the speckle pattern on human skin and measuring the diameter of hair using diffraction.  Also, participants will work through the PhET simulation of laser operation.  Each participant will receive a free kit of materials and a student and teacher manual.

3:00 – 4:00           The Quest for the Nobel Prize – The Standard Model & Quarks (VanZoren 152)

Mark Greenman, Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator, NSF

Audience: High School, Freshman College Physics. Your students use a card game to learn about the formation of common Baryons and Mesons. Participants are guided by rules of color and charge to combine quarks into Hadrons. This is a student centered fun activity that teaches basic concepts behind the Standard Model and rules for Hadron formation. Templates for all game pieces and game cards will be shared with participants.

4:00 – 4:30           Hope College Accelerator Lab Tour

Cathy Mader, Hope College Physics Dept

The Hope College Ion Beam Analysis Laboratory provides the capability to study a wide range of research projects ranging from materials analysis, environmental chemistry, electrochemistry, biochemistry, paleontology and forensic science. The specific applications of Particle-Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE) spectrometry, Rutherford Back Scattering (RBS) analysis and Proton Elastic Scattering Analysis (PESA) are used to explore new areas of interdisciplinary research. Here are some recent examples of uses of the accelerator:

http://www.hope.edu/academic/physics/facilities/accelerator/Brochure.htm#RecentExamples 

Maps and directions to Hope College can be found at http://www.hope.edu/pr/map.html.  Free parking will be available on campus the day of the meeting in all lots in the vicinity of VanderWerf Hall and Schaap Science Center.

Lodging is available on campus for overnight guests at the Haworth Inn & Conference Center.  http://www.haworthinn.com/