The American Association of Physics Teachers, Northern California/Nevada Section
Further updates and links to come… If you have any corrections please let the secretary know.
Tom Woosnam , Crystal Springs Uplands School
Tom discussed the Perimeter Institute; more information is available here: Perimeter Institute Catalogue (1)
Don Rathjen, Exploratorium
Election of officers:
David Marasco will continue as President, and will also absorb Program Chair
Dennis Buckley will continue as Treasurer and Membership Coordinator
Frank Cascarano will continue as VP Colleges/ Universities
Leanna Felardo will continue as VP of High Schools
Bree Barnett Dreyfuss will continue as Secretary
Lee Trampleasure will continue as Webmaster and will also be the Section Rep
Paul Robinson will continue as a Historian
Tom Woosnam will continue to provide insight as a Past President
We are pleased to announce that the invited speaker for our Fall 2011 Conference will be UC Berkeley’s own Richard Muller. Muller is a professor of the popular “Physics for Future Presidents” class at UC Berkeley and author of a popular book of the same name. Muller is also a Faculty Senior Scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and associated with the Institute for Nuclear and Particle Astrophysics. Read more about Muller’s career, interests and most recent book, “The Instant Physicist,” on his website. Save the Date for the UC Berkeley Physics Department Demo Show Friday Nov. 4th and the…
Notes from the Spring Conference on April 23rd, 2011 are posted with links that are currently available. If you need anything corrected or would like to add anything to a post, please email Bree at Secretary@NCNAAPT.org. If you were at the conference and would like to print out a certificate for your Professional Development records, you can download it here as a Document or a pdf. A note from our Program Chair, Paul Robinson, about our meeting: “AAPT’ers, What a great meeting! About 75 physics teachers–one of our largest turnouts in years–came to hear and see Adam Weiner’s great talk…
“Teaching Strategies for Conceptual Physics for Freshman” Bree Barnett Dreyfuss and Jon Brix Amador Valley High School, Pleasanton, CA Jon and Bree discussed several strategies for teaching freshmen Physics: Use hands on learning & projects Enforce vocabulary Use the GUESS (Givens, Unknown, Equation, Substitute and Solve) calculation method Encourage partner work Jon and Bree discussed difficulties in teaching the class due to low math skills, special needs students, varying grade levels, etc. The class requires a variety of strategies and resources in order to keep them engaged. Additional resources will be available on Bree’s website. “Developing Some of the Skills…
