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Category: Professional Development

Active Learning in Introductory Physics Courses: Research-Based Strategies that Improve Student Learning

July 15-17, 2019, Portland, Oregon (Monday-Wednesday)

Designed for those who teach introductory physics at universities, colleges and high schools. Graduate credit will be available through the University of Oregon.

Instructors: David Sokoloff, University of Oregon and Ronald Thornton, Tufts University

Participants will be introduced to research-validated, classroom-tested strategies for each component of the introductory course that have been demonstrated to improve learning. These include Interactive Lecture Demonstration (ILDs), RealTime Physics (RTP) labs, Collaborative Problem-Solving Tutorials, Workshop Physics (WP), Physics with Video Analysis (PVA), and related online video analysis exercises. The course will also include the use of video analysis to identify analytic functions describing real data. Among other more recent developments are:

Physics In and Through Cosmology Workshop 2019

2006 Nobel Prize Winner George Smoot and 2011 Nobel Prize Winner Saul Perlmutter are seeking  students for the thirteenth annual summer workshop for high school students and teachers presented by  the Physics Division of the Lawrence Berkeley Lab and QuarkNet.

The Physics in and Through Cosmology Workshop will be held at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory adjacent to the University of California Berkeley Campus beginning Tuesday, June 25 and ending Friday, June 28.

Spring Conference April 6 at University of the Pacific (Stockton)

Our next local AAPT meeting will be hosted by the University of the Pacific Physics Department on April 5th and 6th. Parking and directions can be found here. So, what will our conference look like? We’ll have vendor workshops in the late afternoon/early evening on Friday the 5th, followed by some no-host dining. Our main event will be on Saturday the 6th, and will feature invited talks from Natasha Holmes and Binod Nainabasti followed by workshops in the afternoon. Program

KITP Physics Teachers’ Conference: Automating Insight; Feb 16, 2019

The machine learning algorithms that make self-driving cars, virtual personal assistants, and computer vision work are also changing how physicists investigate matter at the quantum level. In 2019, the annual Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics (KITP) Teachers’ Conference will give teachers an accessible introduction to the topic—no quantum mechanics or machine learning background needed! Then, in interactive lectures, they will hear world-class physicists explain how they are using machine learning tools in their research.

Automating Insight: Pushing the Frontier of Quantum Physics with Machine Learning will be held on Saturday, February 16, 2019 at KITP, University of California, Santa Barbara. Join Dr. Miles Stoudenmire (Flatiron Institute) and physics educators from around the country for a look at how machine learning algorithms are advancing our understanding of physics. A description and logistical information is at  https://www.kitp.ucsb.edu/activities/machinet-c19.

PTSOS 2018-19 is here!

Physics Teacher SOS (PTSOS) is once again offering its excellent workshops in the SF Bay Area. This year’s start on Saturday, September 15th, at Los Gatos High School in Los Gatos. Get complete details and sign up here. PTSOS is a workshop and support program for new high and middle school physics teachers in Northern California. We offer 3 all-day Saturday workshops during the school year. In addition to learning about the details of the craft of physics teaching from experienced teachers, participants receive continental breakfast, lunch, and physics equipment for them to use in their classroom. The PTSOS program…