Fall 2002 Meeting of the Illinois Section of the AAPT
"Teaching Better Physics Better"
October 18-19, 2002
Department of Physics and Astronomy
Millikin University
Decatur, Illinois
Ralph Miller, Professor Emeritus of Physics at Greenville College, will be honored on Friday evening with the 2002 Distinguished Service Citation.
Invited Speakers
"Just In Time Teaching to 600 Students", Friday at 3:45 pm
Mats Selen, Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
Just in Time Teaching (JiTT) is a technique that is being used with great success in classes of all types in colleges and universities around the country. Using lots of examples I will describe my own very positive experience with JiTT in a large introductory physics course at UIUC. I will also discuss the web-based tools we have developed to make reading and reacting to the responses of hundreds of students before every lecture a manageable task.
"Recent Advances in Observational Astronomy", Friday at 8:00 pm
Jim Kaler, Astronomy Department, University of Illinois, Urbana
New technologies and telescopes are providing spectacular views into the cosmos, allowing us to peer outward to watch the evolution of galaxies, to look into the depths of dark interstellar clouds to examine the formation of stars, to search for new planets in orbit about other stars, even to discover what may be new physical principles. The talk will focus on results from the Hubble Space Telescope, other orbiting systems, and on discoveries by the current generation of ground-based instruments.
"Progress in Material Science", Saturday at 10:00 am
Ian Robertson, Dept. of Material Science and Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana
This talk will focus on the progress that has been made in materials science, illustrating work in both functional and structural materials. Examples from photonics, superconductivity, ceramics, polymers, semiconductors, solar cells, and coupling computational and experimental materials science will be presented. The final section will highlight new instrument development that will provide new scientific opportunities.
Workshops
W1. "PTRA Rural Institute - Microcomputer Labs: LabPro and LoggerPro", Bernard Ricca, DePaul University School of Education - Barat Campus, Tom Holbrook, University High School, Illinois State University and Carl J. Wenning (facilitator), Physics Department, Illinois State University, Normal, IL
The mission of the AAPT's Rural Physics Teaching Resource Agent (PTRA) Project is to improve the teaching and learning of physics and physical science in precollegiate education for all teachers and students in the rural United States. This PTRA Rural Institute will give practicing teachers an opportunity to improve themselves professionally. At this workshop teachers will grow in the knowledge and skill associated with teaching physics and physical science. The knowledge and skills include, but are not limited to, leadership, classroom organization, physics content, teaching techniques, trends in science education and equity issues.
External funding for the PTRA program is provided by the National Science Foundation and the Campaign for Physics. The subject for this fall's Institute is Microcomputer Labs: LabPro and LoggerPro. Participants will learn how to use the desktop computer to conduct physics and physical science lab activities using a variety of probes, as well as other hardware and software from Vernier Software & Technology.
Participants in the workshop will receive a $60 stipend (for attending both sessions) and a reimbursement for travel expenses ($5 cap for this meeting). Twenty-four participants maximum. Admission to this workshop is restricted to high school teachers of physics and physical science working in rural school districts. Admission to this workshop is by pre-approval only.
W2. "A Web-based Prep Course for Calculus Physics", Gary Gladding, Department of Physics, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL
The participants in this workshop will learn about Physics 100, a preparatory course for the introductory calculus-based sequence at UIUC. Dr. Gladding and two students will present what is done in this course. Workshop participants can check it out on the Web while the workshop leaders are present to answer questions and have discussions.