93
July 13–17, 2013
Tuesday afternoon
CKRL07: Crackerbarrel: There’s an
App for That
Location: Broadway III/IV
Sponsor: Committee on Educational Technologies
Co-Sponsor: Committee on Physics in High Schools
Date: Tuesday, July 16
Time: 12:30–2 p.m.
Presider: Andrew Duffy
The world of apps has exploded in recent years, and there are now many
apps, on different platforms, that are useful for both the teaching and
learning of physics. If you have a favorite physics app, please come and take
a few minutes to demonstrate what it can do and how to use it. If you’d just
like to see what other people are doing with mobile devices, this cracker-
barrel session is also for you.
CKRL08: Crackerbarrel: Bringing
Apparatus to Conferences and
Organizations Nationally
Location: Galleria II
Sponsor: Committee on Apparatus
Date: Tuesday, July 16
Time: 1–2 p.m.
Presider: David Sturm
An observation of AAPT meetings has been the reduction of apparatus
on display in as many sessions as once was common. How can organizers,
presenters and attendees work together to encourage the demonstration of
apparatus at AAPT national meetings, and also at section meetings, APS
and NSTA meetings? Can we increase familiarity with apparatus in the
community? Join us for a crackerbarrel to develop ideas on how to broaden
the reach of demonstration of apparatus.
Session EA: Science and Society
Location: Galleria I
Sponsor: AAPT
Date: Tuesday, July 16
Time: 4–5 p.m.
Presider: Jim Mallmann
EA01:
4-4:10 p.m. Great Issues in Science & Society – An
Interdisciplinary Science Course
Contributed – Andrew S. Hirsch, Purdue University, Lafayette, IN 47907;
Buster Dunsmore, Michael Fosmire, Jane Yatcilla, Purdue University
A core requirement for College of Science students at Purdue University
is the completion of a “great issues” course in which critical thinking and
analytical skills developed through discipline specific studies are applied
to the global conversation of the impact of science on society and the
ramifications of scientific advances. Several “flavors” of such courses arose.
At one extreme were those dealing in depth with a single topic such as oil.
At the other extreme was a course that examined the interrelated issues
involving energy, climate change, food, and water. We will describe the
content, organization, and functioning of the latter, as well as its challenges,
assessment of learning outcomes.
EA02:
4:10-4:20 p.m. Teaching About Cosmic Timescales
When the Creation Museum’s Your Neighbor
Contributed – Richard Gelderman, Western Kentucky University, Bowling
Green, KY 42101-1077;
The Creation Museum opened near Cincinnati in May 2007 as a $27 mil-
lion, 70,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art, high-tech facility with the goal
of presenting a “young Earth” account of the origins of the universe and
life on Earth according to a literal reading of the Book of Genesis. The
founders proudly claim a million visitors in the museum’s first three years
“exposed the bankruptcy of evolutionary ideas.” We report on interviews
and open-response surveys collected before and after a tour of the museum
with a group of middle-school science teachers. The results provide some
reassurance but also suggest cautionary warnings for those who wish to
help their students appreciate the vast distances and ages that comprise our
majestic cosmos.
EA03:
4:20-4:30 p.m. The Physics of AP Environmental
Science
Contributed – James J. Lincoln, Tarbut V’ Torah, 5 Federation Way, Irvine, CA
92603;
For the past four years I have been teaching AP Environmental Science
from the unusual perspective of a physicist (the class is normally taught by
biologists). To my delight and surprise the class involved a lot of physics,
and I was able to use my physics content knowledge to enhance the science
of the class. In this talk I outline what to expect and how to structure a suc-
cessful AP Environmental Science class from the perspective of a veteran
physics teacher.
EA04:
4:30-4:40 p.m. Capacity Building in Energy Sector: The
Role of Physical Sciences
Contributed – Nnabugwu C. Peace, National Centre for Energy Efficiency
and Conservation, Faculty of Engineering, University of Lagos Akoka-Yaba,
01 234 Nigeria;
Oluwole Adegbenro, Oluwabori A. Babatunde, Azizat O Gbadegesin, National
Centre for Energy Efficiency and Conservation
Today, our nation finds itself in an energy/power crisis as a consequence of
a complex interplay of factors, some of which will take years to unravel and
straighten. The universally accepted knowledge that Energy Efficiency and
Conservation can be employed to ameliorate the situation is gradually be-
ing given a chance in the country but capacity building in this sector has to
be rigorously pursued to make the necessary impact. In this presentation,
we outline a roadmap that will ensure that more young Nigerian graduates
invest their mental acuities in academic pursuits in physical sciences so as
to earn a livelihood in Energy Efficiency and Conservation. The role of the
physical sciences is to prepare students for effective professional careers in
the many new career areas available in today’s technologically and globally
interdependent society. Physical science integrates physics, mathematics
and chemistry as core components of its curriculum.
EA05:
4:40-4:50 p.m. Marie Anne Paulze Lavoisier: An 18th-
Century Woman Learns Science
Contributed – Ruth Howes, Ball State University, 714 Agua Fria St. Santa Fe,
NM 87501;
Marie Anne Paulze met Antoine Lavoisier, the great French chemist, who
was a friend and business colleague of her father’s when she was 13 years
old. She had been brought from a convent school to act as her father’s
hostess. She married him a year later and began to learn chemistry as well
as other skills such as drawing and foreign languages so that she could
act as his assistant. Although Marie’s training was certainly hands-on, she
also learned, as was typical of the time, by acting as hostess for the leading
scientists of the day. After Lavoisier died by the guillotine on May 8, 1794,
Marie managed to escape death herself and to edit and publish Mémoires
de chimie, her husband’s final multivolume work.
