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AAPT
2012 Annual Report
The David Halliday and Robert Resnick Award for Excellence in
Undergraduate Physics Teaching
2012 Awardee:
Kevin Lee
,
University of Nebraska Lincoln Center for Science,
Mathematics, and Computer Education and the Department of Physics and
Astronomy
Talk:
Letting Technology Do What Technology Is Good At
Kevin M. Lee was recognized for his contributions to undergraduate physics teaching and his
extraordinary accomplishments in communicating the excitement of physics to students. Lee
is dedicated to elevating the teaching and learning of astronomy and physics at the college,
state, national, and international level. He has distinguished himself as a college instructor and
developer of instructional technologies for use in space-science classrooms. The teaching and
learning innovations pioneered by the astronomy education group run by Lee at the Univer-
sity of Nebraska – Lincoln is recognized as being of the highest pedagogical value by those in
the astronomy and space science community.
As a longtime member and two-year chair of the AAPT Committee on Space Science and
Astronomy (CSSA) he elevated the role of research and teaching of astronomy for the sessions/
talks sponsored by CSSA. His accomplishments include the development of numerous simula-
tions and peer instruction questions, resulting in many workshops. His two seminal works are
The Nebraska Astronomy Applet Project and ClassAction, the clicker question database.
The PaulW. Zitzewitz Award for Excellence in Pre-College Physics Teaching
2012 Awardee: Mark D. Greenman, Marblehead High School, Swampscot, MA
Talk:
Interactive Laboratory Experiences (ILE) – A Professional Development Recipe
for Success
Mark D. Greenman was recognized for his career-long concern for and attention to quality
education at the high school level. Greenman’s career included 30 years of service at Marble-
head High School where he served as a physics teacher, teacher mentor, computer director,
mathematics director, and science director. Greenman served for two years as an Albert Ein-
stein Distinguished Educator Fellow at the National Science Foundation within the Division
of Undergraduate Education (2009-2011). He is a recipient of the 2009 Presidential Award for
Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching, the Massachusetts’ Council for Technology
Education Path Finder Award. He is an inductee into the Massachusetts Hall of Fame for Sci-
ence Educators.
Greenman has served as science consultant to the Massachusetts’ “Race to the Top Devel-
oping Model Curriculum & Curriculum Embedded Performance Assessments” initiative. He
continues to provide, as recipient of several grants from the Massachusetts Department of
Elementary and Secondary Education, content institutes, “Physics I: Mechanics and Energy,”
and “Physics II: E&M and Waves.” He also served on the American Council of STEM Educa-
tors Advisory Board for their Mathematics Teacher Education (MTE) Partnership initiative
and as president of the North Shore Science Supervisors Association. Greenman has been
an AAPT Physics Teaching Resource Agent since 1985 and also shares best practices and his
enthusiasm for teaching and learning through presentations and workshops at national and
regional conferences.
Established in 1993 and now named for the authors of a very successful college-level textbook on introductory physics and funded
since 2010 primarily by a generous endowment from John Wiley and Sons, the publisher of that textbook, the David Halliday and
Robert Resnick Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Physics Teaching recognizes outstanding achievement in teaching under-
graduate physics, which may include the use of innovative teaching methods.
Established in 1993 and funded since 2010 by a generous gift to AAPT from Paul W. and Barbara S. Zitzewitz and named for Paul W.
Zitzewitz, the principal author of the highly acclaimed and widely adopted high school physics text
Physics: Principles and Problems
and a long-time member and supporter of AAPT, the Paul W. Zitzewitz Award for Excellence in Pre-College Physics Teaching recog-
nizes outstanding achievement in teaching pre-college physics.
