July 26–30, 2014
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Monday afternoon
PST1E02: 9:15-10 p.m. Guitars in the Classroom? Absolutely!
Teaching Physics/STEM with Guitars
Poster – Debbie A. French, University of Wyoming/CAPER, Dept. 3374
Secondary Education, Laramie, WY 82070;
Thomas M. Huber, Gustavus Adolphus College
Richard M. French, Purdue University
Doug Hunt Southern, Wells Community Schools
Imelda Castaneda-Emenaker, University of Cincinnati
This study highlights the educational impacts from the 2010-2013 NSF-
funded grant, “Faculty Professional Development in Design, Construction,
Assembly and Analysis of a Solid Body Guitar Design,” which provided
innovative STEM professional development to high school and community
college faculty. Workshop participants built their own custom solid-body
electric guitar, engaged in and developed their own STEM learning activi-
ties related to the guitar to take back and implement in their classroom.
PST1E03: 8:30-9:15 p.m. ATE Workshops for Physics Faculty
Poster – Thomas L. O’Kuma, Lee College, Baytown, TX 77522-0818;
Dwain M. Desbien; Estrella Mountain Community College
The ATE Workshop for Physics Faculty project is into its fourth year and
has finished its 19th workshop/conference. In this poster, we will display
information about the project, information about these workshops/confer-
ences, and information about future workshops/conferences. Information
concerning development of laboratory activities will also be displayed.
PST1E04: 9:15-10 p.m. Using Gadgets & Gizmos in Phenomenon-
based Learning
Poster – Matthew Bobrowsky, 11300 Classical Ln., Silver Spring, MD 20901;
Phenomenon-Based Learning (PBL) is a research-based approach designed
to produce increased learning while making science education more en-
gaging for the student and more interesting for the teacher. PBL arose from
a collaboration with teachers in Finland, which is now seen as a major
international leader in education. The PBL teaching philosophy combines
elements of what’s done in Finland with what’s known about effective
teaching based on science education research. The approach includes
responsive teaching and inquiry-based collaborative learning, along with
elements of problem-based learning, project-based learning, and hands-on
experiments. The idea is to teach broader concepts and useful thinking and
performance skills (as with NGSS) rather than asking students to simply
memorize facts. By exploring first and getting to a theoretical understand-
ing later, students are working like real scientists, having the opportunity
to pursue creative approaches to understanding, learning more, and having
fun in the process!
PST1E05: 8:30-9:15 p.m. Understanding and Explaining Equa-
tions in Physics Teacher Education
Poster – Ricardo Karam, University of Hamburg, Binderstraße 34 - Raum 21a
Hamburg, HH 20146 Germany;
In this work I describe a semester course given to pre-service physics
teachers at the Technical University of Dresden. Its main goal was to ad-
dress issues related to understanding and explaining physics equations.
Besides lessons dedicated to general historical and epistemological reflec-
tions on the interplay between physics and mathematics, four equations
traditionally taught in high school level (free fall, centripetal acceleration,
simple pendulum and refraction law) were approached in the course.
During instruction, the students were presented with different ways of
deriving these equations and were given the task to explain each of them
to the whole class. Using multiple data sources, which include pre-/post-
instruction questionnaires, association maps and explanations’ repertoire
to each equation, interviews with selected students and the recording of the
meetings, several aspects that influence students; understanding of these
equations, as well as their views on how to explain them in classroom situ-
ations, were identified. The main findings of this study will be presented
and discussed.
Teaching III program (IMPACT III), teachers in a large Midwestern school
district administer common formative assessments (CFAs) of science con-
tent to their middle and high school students. These assessments, created
by the teachers for the purpose of informing their teaching, both assess and
further develop student understanding of complex scientific content. This
talk will focus on the development of a four-part rubric including evalua-
tion of student reasoning, clarity, use of analysis, and correctness.
*Research supported in part by grants from the Ohio Department of Education
C1457-OSCI-09-49 (2008-2009), C1667-MSP-10-410 (2009-2010), EDU01-
0000006141 (2010-2011), EDU01-0000007902 (2011-2012), GRT00029161 (2012-
2013), and ODE-MSP-10673 (2013-2014).
PST1D17: 8:30-9:15 p.m. Using CFAs in Inquiry-based Middle
School Science Teaching. II*
Poster – Caryn A. Palatchi, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210;
Jennifer L. Esswein, Tennessee Department of Education
Gordon J. Aubrecht, Jessica G. Creamer, Ohio State University at Marion
Bill Schmitt, Science Center of Inquiry
We analyzed common formative assessments (CFAs) administered to
middle and high school students across a broad range of science sub-
jects including biology, geology, physics, etc. For the analysis of CFAs,
we established a rubric with four defining parameters: reasoning, clarity,
analysis, and correctness.
1
Teachers worked with PER faculty to improve
their teaching methodology and CFAs were used to analyze and quantify
changes in student learning across the four rubric parameters that resulted
from the intervention.
1. Esswein, Palatchi, Aubrecht, Schmitt, and Creamer, “Using CFAs in inquiry-based
middle school science teaching.
* Research supported in part by grants from the Ohio Department of Education
C1457-OSCI-09-49 (2008-2009), C1667-MSP-10-410 (2009-2010), EDU01-
0000006141 (2010-2011), EDU01-0000007902 (2011-2012), GRT00029161 (2012-
2013), and ODE-MSP-10673 (2013-2014).
PST1D18: 9:15-10 p.m. Analyzing Projectile Motion Uncertainty
Poster – Kent W. Scheller, University of Southern Indiana, Evansville, IN
47712;
Ian Parker, University of Southern Indiana
Projectile motion is one of the first core concepts demonstrated in the
undergraduate laboratory and it provides an initial opportunity for
students to learn uncertainty in measurements and the statistical analysis
of data. Using the PASCO Projectile Launcher, students make multiple
measurements of the range of a ball fired from the device. Inherent in the
experiment are uncertainties in all variables used to make a theoretical
calculation of the expected range. These uncertainties manifest themselves
as an uncertainty in the calculated range. After multiple firings of the
device, it is possible to experimentally determine the range with its associ-
ated statistical distribution. Here we compare the calculated uncertainty
in the measurements of the range with the actual observed spread of the
range data from 500 shots of the PASCO device. We use this exercise to
emphasize the distinction between experimental uncertainty and statistical
deviation in the measurement process.
E – Teacher Training and Enhancement
PST1E01: 8:30-9:15 p.m. AAPT Films – A New Video Series
Created to Help Physics Teachers
Poster – James J. Lincoln, Tarbut V’ Torah HS, 5 Federation Way, Irvine, CA
92603;
For the past year, I have been creating videos that are designed to both
train new physics teachers and provide ideas and inspiration to experi-
enced teachers. This poster describes and summarizes the AAPT Films
Project and provides a chance for AAPT members to make requests and
suggestions. This project was funded by the Meggers Award Grant and the
Karl L. Brown Foundation. At the moment the videos are being hosted at
.
