AAPT Section News, December 2013
—Page 7
Composition of Gamma-Ray Burst Jet Cocoons.” John Ai-
ken of Georgia State University received the Best Graduate
Student Paper for the presentation “Computational Model-
ing Activities for High School.” James Perkins and Judith
Beck of UNC Asheville received the Best Pedagogical Pa-
per for the presentation “Finding Physics: Recognizing and
Exploring Physics outside the Classroom.”
The NC Section also worked with the National AAPT and
NSTA to provide “Physics Day” at the Charlotte Regional
NSTAMeeting on November 8, 2013. There were 6 pre-
sentations throughout the day:
• “Modeling What You See Using Video Analysis” by
Wolfgang Christian (Davidson College)
• “PhysicsQuest: Spectra’s Turbulent Times” by Rebecca
Thompson (American Physical Society)
• “Supernova Remnants, Cosmic Rays, and Cosmology”
by Stephen Reynolds (North Carolina State University)
• “Astronomy Make-and-Take” by Mario Belloni (Da-
vidson College)
• “Using Video and Animation in Physics Instruction” by
Loren M. Winters (North Carolina School of Science
and Math)
• “Physics from the Junk Drawer” by Scott Ragan (North
Carolina State University)
As part of the day, Wolfgang Christian organized a video
conference with Beth Cunningham for a focus group of 6
high school teachers. The goal of this focus group was to
hear from high school teachers that were not AAPT mem-
bers and determine what AAPT can do to encourage more
high school members.
Our Spring 2014 Meeting is scheduled for April 10-11 at
Appalachian State University in Boone, NC.
—Mario Beloni, Section Representative
Ohio Section
The Fall 2013 Meeting of the Ohio Section of the Ameri-
can Association of Physics Teachers was held at the Lorain
County Community College in Elyria, OH on Saturday Oc-
tober 19th. Dr. Steve Majoros was the host of the meeting.
There were two plenary speakers. Steven Hauck (De-
partment of Earth, Environment, and Planetary Science at
Case Western Reserve University) spoke on the Messenger
Mission to Mercury. Robert Ferguson (Science Education
at Cleveland State University) talked about Project-based
versus Problem-based learning as they relate to Next Gen-
eration Science Standards.
The winner of the “How I Do It” session was Michael
Lerner (Beachwood High School) with his presentation of
how he uses the Mulvey Method to teach proportional rea-
soning. The business meeting consisted of announcements,
section representative’s report, and the treasurer’s report.
Following box lunches, attendees were able to participate
in two workshops. Steve Majoros (Lorain County Com-
munity College) conducted a workshop on various data-
collection techniques using Vernier sensors and Logger Pro
software. Steve Hubbard (also of LCCC) gave a tour of
the brand new fabrication laboratory. Attendees watched a
demonstration and got to fabricate a simple capacitor.
A simple capacitor made in the Fabrication Laboratory
Listening to the topic on the Mission to Mercury.
Steve Majoros explaining how he uses Vernier equipment for data
collection in his labs.
The meeting concluded with the usual “give-a-way” with
donations provided by AAPT, Vernier and Education Inno-
vations as well as donations from Section members.
—Myra West, Section Representative
