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Building on the many efforts to reform the Introductory Physics for
Life Science (IPLS) majors, institutions are increasingly expanding
the physics major by integrating biology and medicine applica-
tions in new majors, minors, and higher level courses. How do the
foundational topics in an IPLS course taught in a life science context
compare with the same physics topics taught at higher levels, for ex-
ample, in a Physics in Medicine major? How do the student learning
outcomes compare? What can student projects or lab activities look
like at different levels? How is spiraling of student learning achieved?
Representatives from different institutions with varying approaches
in course design will provide a spectrum of curricular materials and
resources to help participants implement their own profile of life or
health science focus to existing or new courses.
W16: Distance and Remote Labs
Sponsor: Committee on Laboratories
Co-sponsor: Committee on Apparatus
Time: 1–5 p.m. Saturday
Member Price: $60
Non-Member Price: $85
Location:
208
Jacob Millspaw;
Distance education is on the rise. This includes courses delivered
through live video feed to remote locations or through online
learning. The need for hands-on exploration in distance classes and
developing labs for online courses poses new challenges! Come
explore various tabletop physics investigations that can be packaged
into an inexpensive kit for remote class and online students! The
topics include motion, forces, harmonic motion, work, color mixing,
geometric optics and various other introductory physics concepts.
Workshops – Sunday, January 5
All workshops are held at Rollins College, Bush Science
Center
W19: A Kaleidoscope of Great Online Tools for
Teaching Physics
Sponsor: Committee on Educational Technologies
Co-sponsor: Committee on Teacher Preparation
Time: 8 a.m.–12 p.m. Sunday
Member Price: $62
Non-Member Price: $87
Location:
310
Cathy Ezrailson, 1301 Over Drive, Vermillion, SD 57069;
Educators have more opportunities than ever to begin teaching in to-
day’s “smart environments” through e-texts, simulations, and today’s
emerging and “customizable” web-tools—especially since web-based
tools can also be pressed into service in order to organize, design, and
assess learning. This workshop is one opportunity to access, investi-
gate, and begin to use a few of these resources in your courses. Most
of these tools and applications are free on the web, easy to grasp and
implement. Coupled with a course redesign, implementation could
markedly enhance your course and communication with students.
This workshop aims to help you to model, create and gain experience
with some of these free tools.
C.M.
Ezrailson, A Kaleidoscope of Free and Easy Web Tools for Teachers,
WM13, New Orleans, LA. (2013, Jan.).
W20: Exploring the Milky Way Using Small Remote
Radio Telescopes
Sponsor: Committee on Space Science and Astronomy
Time: 8 a.m.–12 p.m. Sunday
Member Price: $60
Non-Member Price: $85
Location:
160
Joe Heafner, Department of Physics, Guilford College, 5800 West
Friendly, Greensboro, NC 27410;
Don Smith
This workshop will demonstrate, and allow, participants to operate a
remotely controlled radio telescope, take data, and analyze that data.
W21: In Home Low-cost Labs
Sponsor: Committee on Laboratories
Time: 8 a.m.–12 p.m. Sunday
Member Price: $75
Non-Member Price: $100
Location:
210
Alex Burr, 695 Stone Canyon Drive, Las Cruces, NM 88011; aburr@aol.
com
A physics course without experiments is not a physics course. How-
ever many general physics instructors in high schools and colleges
feel pressured in terms of money and time to neglect this aspect of
physics instruction. This workshop will address these problems. The
participants will actually do real experiments that do not have to use
expensive sophisticated equipment and take up valuable class time.
These experiments can illustrate advanced experimental concepts
and show that if you ask questions of nature, she will answer. Topics
mentioned include mechanics, electricity, and optics. They will be
done individually and in groups. Participants should bring Apple or
Android smart phones or tablets if they have them. Participants will
leave with inexpensive apparatus, detailed notes, and a renewed com-
mitment to physics as an experimental science.
W22: Using Invention to Promote Mathematical
Thinking
Sponsor: Committee on Research in Physics Education
Time: 8 a.m.–12 p.m. Sunday
Member Price: $62
Non-Member Price: $87
Location:
228
Andrew Boudreaux;
Stephen E. Kanim, Suzanne White Brahmia
Students often struggle to make sense of mathematical representations
of physics concepts. Invention instruction, developed by Schwartz
and colleagues, requires students to invent procedures or quantities
that allow them to compare a set of situations, a process that primes
students to make sense of the subsequently presented scientific
procedure or quantity. In an ongoing collaboration between Rutgers,
WWU, and NMSU, we have adapted this approach for use in intro-
ductory physics courses. Before a new quantity is introduced, students
work collaboratively through an invention sequence designed to
connect students’ sense-making resources to the scientific challenge
at hand. A primary goal is to promote active sense-making in lieu of
common memorization or equation matching approaches. Prelimi-
nary assessment data indicate positive impacts on student reasoning,
including in some cases the closing of performance gaps between
mainstream and underrepresented groups. In this workshop, we will
engage participants in invention work and present assessment data.
W23: Activities for Engaging Girls in Physical Science
Sponsor: Committee on Science Education for the Public
Co-sponsor: Committee on Physics in Pre-High School Education
Time: 8 a.m.–12 p.m. Sunday
Member Price: $60
Non-Member Price: $85
Location:
105
Peggy Norris, Sanford Underground Research Facility, 630 E. Summit
St., Lead, SD 57754;
Patricia Sievert
AIP statistics show that the number of females majoring in physics
and engineering in college is still hovering around 20%, well below
gender equity. How can girls become engaged—inside or outside of
formal school time—in activities that lead them to identify physics as
