Lee Trampleasure – Page 20

Physics Instant Update – A Workshop for High School Physics Teachers (USC)

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Organizers- Topics

Ty Buxman (S. Heart Flintridge) – Refresh Physics Knowledge
Bill Layton (UCLA) – New Technology in Science Education
Stephan Haas (USC) – Design In-Class Demonstrations
Dean Papadakis (South Pasadena High) – Physics in the Laboratory
Stephen Cronin (USC) – Science & Religion

Schedule:

9:30-10:15 Secrets of Quantum Information Science (Todd Brun, USC Engineering)
10:15-11:00 The Question of Why. How do religions view science and how do scientists view religion? (Stephan Haas, USC Physics)
11:00-12:00 Science and Religion – a Buddhist Perspective (John Daishin Bukzbazen, Zen Center of Los Angeles)
12:00-1:00 Lunch (provided)
1:00-1:30 Incorporating Webcasts in the Classroom (Gene Bickers, USC Physics)
1:30-2:15 Tour of Studio Classrooms at the USC Distance Education Network (Binh Tran, USC Distance Education Network)
2:15-3:00 Microbe Power (Moh El Naggar, USC Physics)
3:00-4:00 Demonstrations, Activities and the California Standards (Bill Layton, UCLA Physics)

Location:

University of Southern California
Irani Hall (RRI) 421
Los Angeles, CA 90089
Participation, parking and lunch are free of charge.

Please register by contacting:

Stephan Haas (shaas@usc.edu or 213-740-4528)
Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0484

Web site discussing California High School Physics Standards

This is to announce a new web page that might be of interest to California High School Physics teachers. This page considers each of the High School Physics Standards individually, with a discussion of content, demonstrations, activities, misconceptions, etc., that might be of assistance to a new physics teacher. The page was created after a careful reading of the California Science Framework but rather than just discussing physics content, it also includes suggestions on how to teach the particular Standard. Every Standard is considered individually but also, every effort has been made to make the discussion brief.

The URL is: http://www.physics.ucla.edu/HighSchoolPhysics (The upper case in HighSchoolPhysics is necessary as well as the lack of spaces.)

The format of the page is to place each of the 5 Physics Standard Sets into a PDF package and each individual standard as a MS Word document. This means you can download the MS Word documents and revise them as you wish but the PDF document is not so easily altered. This and other details are explained in the introduction to the web page and the Table of Contents has the links to all of the PDF and MSWord documents.

Let me know if you see obvious mistakes or needs for improvement. I plan to add links specific to each Standard as I gather ideas from others in the physics teaching community.

I hope this effort will be useful so someone.

Sincerely,

Bill Layton layton@physics.ucla.edu

Obituary: Ken Ozawa

“It is with great sadness I learned that longtime physics professor at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and friend of AAPT, Ken Ozawa, passed away March, 4, 2009. Ken worked very hard to help bring the Northern and Southern California Sections of AAPT together by hosting meetings at Cal Poly, many of which were very memorable. The national AAPT even hosted a summer meeting at Cal Poly once. He served not only as an officer of the Southern CA Section of AAPT, he also was the national President of AAPT. He was a very hard working and dedicated fellow and will be missed by all us in AAPT.”

— Paul Robinson, NCN AAPT

Obituary: Robert H. (Bob) Good

It is with great sadness I learned that Robert H. (Bob) Good passed away August 2008 after a battle with prostate cancer. He was a professor and department chair for 42 years at Cal State Hayward. Although he authored a textbook entitled “Classical Electromagnetism”, Bob was best known for his computer simulations on the Apple II platform which he distributed for $5. Worth at least 10 times that amount, they were repackaged by Laserpoint Software for $30 and ported to the PC platform for Physics Academic Software for $50, he never accepted a dime of royalties. “Give it to your brilliant student programmer–he deserves it more than I do” he told then software entrepreneur Paul Robinson (which Paul did–whose student Jay Olbernolte went on and founded FarSight Studios and later programmed for Electronic Arts). Bob was a regular at NCN AAPT as well as national AAPT meetings and known for his pithy nonetheless inspiring style. He was not flashy although his software demonstrations were sometimes spectacular–he let the physics take the credit. He was a passionate teacher who had the ability to make physics transparent for learners far-below his ability without being the least bit of condescension (a trail not always true of physics professors). He was a regularly attended NCN AAPT meetings for many years and was the recipient of NCN AAPT’s Distinguised Service Citation. Bob was 76. He will be sorely missed by all those who knew him.”

— Paul Robinson, NCN AAPT

References:

/www.webassign.net/pas/physics_simulations/physsim.html (Physics Academic Software)
www20.csueastbay.edu/news/category-pages/archive-pre-2009/the-view/obits/article-30.html (obituary)

Advanced Lab Topical Conference at U. of Michigan

Dear Advanced/Intermediate Lab Faculty and Technical Staff,

I encourage you to consider attending the Advanced Lab Topical Conference at U. of Michigan, July 23-25 (just before the summer AAPT meeting). These conferences only happen about every 15 years, and should be of considerable interest to faculty and technical staff involved with college-level physics labs beyond the introductory level. Details can be found on the conference web page http://advlabs.aapt.org/events/event.cfm?ID=2

Registration will be capped at 120 and we currently have at least 100
registrants, so sign up soon if you plan to attend.

Lost cost ($150) registration has been extended and there is low cost
housing in the dorms as well as discounted airfares using the AAPT summer
meeting discount code. You can attend the Topical Conference without
attending the AAPT meeting, although you are encouraged to go to both.

Regards,

Jim Lockhart

James M. Lockhart, Ph.D.
Professor and Assoc. Chair
Physics and Astronomy Dept.
San Francisco State University
1600 Holloway Ave.
San Francisco, CA 94132-4163
415-338-2451 FAX 415-338-2178
e-mail: lockhart@stars.sfsu.edu