72
Monday afternoon
in the College of Science as a whole. Finally, we will share a variety
of “lessons learned” that might prove useful to others contemplating
similar projects.
EB03: 8:10-8:20 p.m. Transferring from Red Rocks to Mines
Contributed – Todd Ruskell, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO
80401;
Barbra Maher, Red Rocks Community College
Red Rocks Community College (RRCC) and Colorado School of
Mines (CSM) have benefited from a formal transfer agreement for
about 15 years. Roughly 30% of all students transferring to CSM
originate at RRCC. We will discuss the steps we take to maintain the
agreement, which include faculty-to-faculty meetings and recruiting
events attended by CSM staff and faculty at RRCC. This agreement
results in a nearly seamless student transition from RRCC to CSM, re-
gardless of when students transfer. The agreement ensures a large en-
rollment in physics courses at RRCC, to the point that RRCC should
be able to add a modern physics course to their offerings in the near
future. And CSM is ensured that transfer students have a solid math
and science background, including their understanding of physics.
Session EC: The “Magic” of
Engaging Girls in Physical Science
Location: Salon 5
Sponsor: Committee on Science Education for the Public
Co-Sponsor: Committee on Physics in Pre-High School Education
Date: Monday, January 6
Time: 7:30–8:30 p.m.
Presider: Peggy Norris
EC01:
7:30-8 p.m. SciGirls Seven: a Tool Box for Engaging
Girls in STEM
Invited – Patricia Sievert, Northern Illinois University, STEM Outreach,
De Kalb, IL 60115;
What if there was a simple list of research-based tools for engaging
more girls in the physical sciences? Would you implement the ideas?
Join us as we explore the SciGirls Seven and the AAUW report, Why
so Few, which complement each other: one a two-page list, the other
a book providing a glance at the research that informed the list.
Through my work as STEM Outreach Director and the Illinois Girls
Collaborative Project, I have experienced successes and “learning op-
portunities” to share. How do I get 75-90% girls registering for some
of my co-ed middle school STEM camps? The concepts can be used
either in the classroom or out-of-school-time programs to increase
the number of girls and other underrepresented groups interested in
STEM.
EC02:
8-8:10 p.m. ‘Mädchen machen Technik’: A Girls’
Summer Tech Program in Germany
Contributed – Barbara Maria Hoeling, University of Applied Sciences,
Landshut, 84028 Germany;
Peter B. Siegel, California State Polytechnic University Pomona
We report on the two-day technology workshop for high school girls
“Building a programmable LED display” at the University of Applied
Sciences in Landshut, Germany. It was part of the program “Mädchen
machen Technik”, organized by the Technical University of Munich.
Nine girls (ages 14-18) worked for two days toward the goal of design-
ing a display with LEDs and controlling the lighting pattern of the
LEDs via a programmable microcontroller chip.They learned how
to use a protoboard to light LEDs in an electric circuit, and how to
modify an existing computer program to achieve the desired lighting
pattern of the LEDs. The individual programs were burnt into the
microchips, and the LEDs were soldered onto a circuit board, which
was then decorated. The girls participated with excitement, worked
very hard, and had a lot of fun.
EC03:
8:10-8:20 p.m. Physics for Girls Who Dance
Contributed – Kenneth L. Laws, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA 17013-
1714;
Melanie Lott, Denison University
It is well known that many more girls than boys participate in dance,
particularly classical ballet. It is becoming recognized that young
people are considerably more adept at understanding physical prin-
ciples than adults give them credit for, if the use of jargon and sophis-
ticated math is avoided. It is becoming increasingly recognized that
understanding the physics of dance movement contributes to dancers’
efficiency of learning dance and their proficiency of performing the
movements learned. These facts combined lead to the conclusion that
dance is an effective way of attracting girls into the activity of physics.
Examples of the application of physics to dance movement include
maintaining or regaining balance, maximizing the effectiveness of
partnered pirouettes, and the creating of illusions such as floating
horizontally during a leap. Examples will be demonstrated.
“Resource Letter PoD-1: The physics of dance,”
Am. J. Phys.
81
(1), January,
2013.
EC04:
8:20-8:30 p.m. Getting Elementary School Girls
Excited about Physics
Contributed – Michael J. Ponnambalam, Sundaranar University, Vadak-
kankulam Tirunelvely Dt, TN 627116 India; michael.ponnambalam@
gmail.com
The laws of physics are objective. However, their presentation is sub-
jective. When the presenter has experienced with Einstein “a raptur-
ous amazement at the harmony of Natural Law,” when the presenter is
passionate about physics, when the presenter is bubbling with infec-
tious enthusiasm and explosive energy, and when that presenter sings
and dances using the wavelength and vocabulary of little children,
then the little ones experience an enjoyable excitement. In this paper,
the author presents such an experience of the girls in the Elementary
Schools in Belize in Central America.
Session ED: New Technology for
Enhancing Research
Location: Salon 6
Sponsor: Committee on Research in Physics Education
Date: Monday, January 6
Time: 7:30–8:30 p.m.
Presider: David Rosengrant
ED01:
7:30-8 p.m. Using Eye Tracking to Explore Expert-
Novice Differences*
Invited – Jose P. Mestre, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign,
Urbana, IL 61801;
Jennifer L. Docktor, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse
Elizabeth Gire, University of Memphis
Sanjay Rebello, Kansas State University
We describe three experiments that combine behavioral measures
with eye-tracking data to explore expert-novices differences. Eye
tracking is a technique by which an individual’s eye fixations (loca-
tions and duration) are recorded while s/he performs a task, and has
been commonly used in psychology/psycholinguistics in the past to
study reading and other cognitive processes. As per the eye-mind
hypothesis, where the eyes go while performing a task is a proxy for
what people are attending to; thus one can draw inferences on task
performance by combining eye tracking with theoretical models of
cognition. Two of the experiments explore the fluidity of experts and
novices in using different representations (e.g., text, graphical, sym-
bolic) to portray physics phenomena. The third experiment applies
a psychological reading comprehension model to explore whether
