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Spring 2019 Meeting

7 Jan
1) The Joint Spring Meeting for AAPT-NES and APS-NES
will be held at Springfield College on March 22 & 23, 2019.
2) Contributed talks and posters are solicited in these topic areas:
  a.  Applying and Exploring Physics though Engineering Design/Maker Spaces
  b. The hybrid disciplines: Intersection of Physics with Other Scientific 
       Domains (e.g. Geophysics, Biomechanics, etc)
  c. Physics Education Research
 
3) More information and Registration will be on  aapt-nes.wildapricot.org
    around January 25.

Seeking Massachusetts Educators for Test Development Opportunities

5 Dec

MA DESE is collaborating with Pearson to review the Physics MTEL (high school teacher licensure exam) Jan 22-23 and is inviting educators to participate in the review. Would you be interested in forwarding this to MA-specific AAPT Board members…? See forwarded message below:

Dear Educator,

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education in partnership with the Evaluation Systems group of Pearson is holding an Objective Review Conference for the Massachusetts Tests for Educator Licensure (MTEL) Program.  The conference will take place in Milford, MA.

 

For this conference, we are seeking Massachusetts educators with expertise in the following subject areas to meet to review, approve, and/or revise the draft test objectives and to help ensure that the content of the materials are accurate and appropriate for testing.

 

Each committee with meet for a one-day meeting as listed below:
 
  • Biology – January 23, 2019
  • Physics – January 23, 2019
  • Technology/Engineering – January 23, 2019
  • Digital Literacy/Computer Science – January 24, 2019
  • Chemistry – January 24, 2019
  • Elementary Mathematics – January 24, 2019

 

In addition, we will convene a Bias Review Committee, on January 22, 2019, to review draft test objectives to help ensure that the test materials are free from bias and reflective of the diversity of the Massachusetts population.  

 

Substitute reimbursement is available to school districts. In addition, committee member’s travel and meal expenses are reimbursed, and hotel accommodations provided, if necessary. Additional details regarding benefits of participation are provided on the Massachusetts Educator Recruitment website.

 

How You Can Get Involved

Apply—Click here to complete an application for consideration for committee participation.

Nominate—Click here to submit your nominations of colleagues who may be interested in participating.

Share—Forward this message to other Massachusetts educators to share with colleagues.

Learn more—Visit the Massachusetts Educator Recruitment website to learn more about educator involvement in the test development process, eligibility criteria, and benefits of participation.

Questions—Contact me at evaluationsystemscrg@pearson.com if you have questions or need additional information.

Sincerely,
Robyn

Robyn Kaczowka
Recruiter
Committee Recruitment Group

Fall Regional Meeting in NJ – Call for Papers

27 Sep

For more information on the Northeast Regional Fall meeting, click here to go to the New Jersey Section to submit a paper and register.

 

Call for Papers — Regional AAPT meeting Nov 16-17, 2018

AAPT NORTHEAST REGIONAL MEETING

HOSTED BY THE NJ SECTION, ON BEHALF OF

NJ / NY / LI / NE / SEPA

CALL FOR PAPERS & POSTERS

NJAAPT is requesting proposals for papers (~20 min presentation/question time) or posters to be presented to NJ / NY / New England area Physics educators

Dates:            Friday evening and Saturday   Nov 16 & 17, 2018

Location:       Bergen Community College   Paramus, NJ

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

  • Physics education topics / issues / research
  • Classroom / lab ideas, use of technology
  • Physics/science research of interest to science teachers to keep current in the field

Abstract submissions can be emailed to njaaptsubmit@gmail.com  (deadline Oct 15, 2018)

 Questions:  contact Jim Signorelli at  Jimsignorelli@hotmail.com

Spring Meeting Update

20 Jan

AAPT – New England Section 2018 Spring Meeting, March 16-17, at Nashua Community College

AAPT-NES 2018 Spring Meeting

Please pass this information on to your Physics colleagues.

The 2018 Spring Meeting of the AAPT New England Section will be held on March 16 & 17 at Nashua Community College, Amherst Street, Nashua, NH.

Theme:  Increasing Diversity in Physics

Keynote speaker: Dr. Beth Cunningham, Executive Officer of AAPT.

Working Schedule:

Friday, March 16, 2018
4:00 pm Registration
5:00 pm Poster Session & Vendors
6:30 pm Buffet Dinner
7:30 pm Keynote Speaker

Saturday, March 17, 2018 
7:30 am Continental Breakfast & Late Registration, Posters & Vendors
8:45 am Contributed Talks**
10:15 am Coffee Break
10:30 am Panel Session & Discussion
12:30 pm Buffet Lunch. Posters & Vendors
1:30 pm – 4:30 pm Workshops (1.5 hour and/or 3 hour sessions)4:30 pm – 5:00 pm Pick up Professional Development certificates.

Workshops Run Concurrently:
Choose Track A or either / both of the Track B offerings.

Track A

A: 1:30 – 4:30 pm  PTRA TIPERs Workshop by Steve Henning of PTRA —
PTRA TIPERS (Tasks Inspired by Physics Education Research) are tasks inspired by Physics Education Research to provide alternative learning formats. TIPERS provide students with tasks that address physical ideas and principles in a variety of ways. Some of these are Ranking Tasks, Bar Chart Tasks, Linked Multiple Choice Tasks, Working Backwards Tasks, Predict and Explain Tasks and many others. These are designed to help students learn the important concepts and principles of physics while providing a conceptual base upon which students can solve physics problems with understanding. Participants will be receiving two free books: the latest TIPERS Manual and the Ranking Tasks manual.

Track B

B1: 1:30 – 3:00 pm  Integrating Computation into STEM Courses by Jay Wang, UMass Dartmouth — Integration of computation into STEM education is increasingly being recognized nationally as an important component to increasing students’ computational thinking skills. In this workshop, a learning-by-doing framework will be described that integrates computation into the physics classes at every level from introductory physics classes to graduate courses. It enables students to actively do, rather than just think, physics.

B2: 3:00 – 4:30 pm  Getting Started in Physics Education Research by Andria Schwortz, Quinsigamond CC.  — Do you have burning questions about how your students are learning?  Why can they answer a question if phrased one way but not another?  What can you do to improve your teaching?  Skeptical of new teaching styles and want to test if they’re effective in your classroom?  This workshop will give you some basics on how to perform education research, including styles of research, when and how to get approval from an Institutional Review Board, what to do with your results, and publishing.  Group time will include discussing your own questions and how you can investigate them.

** The call for contributed papers/posters is at

We are encouraging contributions in these 3 tracks:

  1. Increasing Diversity in Physics
  2. General Physics Pedagogy: ideas related to effective high school and post-secondary physics teaching
  3. Assessment: how & what do we measure so that we know our teaching is effective.

There is a block of 24 rooms reserved for Friday night for $99.00 at the Hampton Inn Nashua, 407 Amherst St, Nashua, NH 03063. Reservations: 844-262-2822. You will need to request the Nashua Community College rate. Register by 2/16 for the discount.

Spring 2018 meeting

8 Jan

Spring New England AAPT Meeting

Location: Nashua Community College

Dates: Friday and Saturday, March 16-17, 2018
 
Theme:  Effective Ways for Increasing Diversity in Physics.
 
Please submit papers on this Google Form
We will solicit contributed papers/posters in three tracks. 
– Increasing diversity in Physics
– General Physics pedagogy contributions: ideas related to effective high school and post-
  secondary physics teaching
– Assessment: how & what do we measure so that we know our teaching is effective. (At
  least at the post-secondary level, assessment pressure is increasing.)

Fall Northeast Regional AAPT Meeting

9 Aug

So, New York State section is moving fast to finalize the Regional for September 29/30 at Syracuse University.

Friday, September 29 will include registration from 4 to 6, vendors, posters and cocktail hour 6 to 7, banquet 7 to 8:30 including keynote plenary in person from Dr. Beth Cunningham, Executive Officer of AAPT.

Saturday, September 30 will include contributed talks and invited speakers featuring both AAPT candidates for Vice President, Chandralekha Singh, and Genaro Zavala; and including talks from Joseph Ribaudo (How killer black holes saved astronomy–see article in July 2017 Physics Today), and Ryan Fisher (LIGO).  Workshops will include a PTRA workshop from Steve Henning, a new workshop from Shawn Reeves, and a demo workshop.

Syracuse SPS will also host a concurrent Saturday+Sunday Zone Meeting for SPS chapters from all around the Northeast.

Costs should be under $60 for registration, banquet, and Saturday breakfast and lunch inclusive.  Registration site details to follow.  Submit contributed papers now to Sam Sampere smsamper@syr.edu

HOTEL for Spring meeting

31 Jan
HOTEL:  Marriott Courtyard in Worcester.
To make a reservation, guests should call the hotel at 800-363-0300 and mention Quinsigamond Community College to get the group rate. For Friday, 3/17 they reserved 10 king bed rooms, and 10 rooms with 2 queen beds.  For Saturday 3/18 they also reserved 5 of each type of room, so, if some people want to stay 2 nights, they can still get the group rate.

Spring Meeting 2017

31 Jan

AAPT–New England Section
Spring Meeting

March 17-18, 2017

Quinsigamond Community College

602 West Boylston ST, Worcester, MA 01606

https://aapt-nes.org/regional-meeting

Theme:  AIM Higher – Astronomy, Instrumentation and Making

You are cordially invited to the 2017 Spring Meeting of the AAPT–New England Section, and encouraged to contribute posters, papers and demonstrations related to teaching at the high school and college/university levels.

Register for the meeting: https://aapt-nes.wildapricot.org/event-2332622

There are special registration rates for students and early career high school teachers.

Submit Abstracts Online by March 1, 2017 for Posters, Contributed Talks & Share-a-Demo Contest: https://goo.gl/forms/n5XKtxvpBhEXBJZ42

Contributed Talks & Posters: We invite you (and your students) to contribute 15-minute talks and posters relevant to secondary- and college-level physics instruction in these areas:

  • Astronomy: observation & measurements; optics; etc.
  • Instrumentation: using or programming instrumentation for instruction/lab experiences
  • Making: Have you or your students built a device that you used to explain a concept or experiment with some phenomenon? (3-D printing, etc.)
  • Teaching: What new approaches/methods are you trying in your classes?
  • Assessment: how do you know that your students are learning?

Share-a-Demo Contest: Do you have an especially effective 5-10 minute demo that you use in your teaching?  Enter it in the Share-a-Demo Contest.  The winner will be chosen by audience vote.  Please note: due to facilities restrictions, we will not be able to host anything pyrotechnic.

Venue: All events will be in the Harrington Learning Center and the QuEST Building on the QCC campus at 602 West Boylston ST, Worcester, MA.

Hotels: We have reserved a block of 20 rooms at the Marriott Courtyard. You must book by 2/17 for the group rate of $189.  We are also working on other hotel options. See aapt-nes.org for details.

Parking & Access: Parking will be available in the Faculty and Staff lots.  Both buildings are handicap accessible.

Planned Schedule

Friday, March 17, 2017 – Room 109 & Adjacent Foyer, Harrington

4:00 pm       Registration
5:00 pm       Poster Session, Vendors
6:30 pm       Buffet Dinner
7:30 pm       Key Note: Dr. Jay Pasachoff, Field Memorial Professor & Director of the Hopkins
Observatory, Williams College

The August 21, 2017, Total Solar Eclipse: Science, Equipment, and Circumstances

9:00 pm       Observing with the local Amateur Astronomers (weather permitting).

Saturday, March 18, 2017

7:30 am       Continental Breakfast, Registration, Posters & Vendors – Harrington
8:00 am       Share-a-Demo Contest – Harrington
9:00 am       Coffee Break – Harrington
9:15 am       Contributed Talks – QuEST
11:00 am     Invited Talks – Harrington
12:30 pm     Buffet Lunch. Board Meeting and Brief Section Meeting
Posters, Vendors, Janet Guernsey Award and Share-a-Demo Prizes

1:30-4:30    Workshops in the QuEST Building.

4:30 pm       Pick up Professional Development Certificates – Harrington

Workshops

Teaching with Telescopes
A. Schwortz, QCC

Do you have a telescope just gathering dust? Are you looking for ways to integrate it into your curriculum?  Or do you just want to take some students out at night to look at the stars?  This workshop will include hands on time with reflecting and refracting telescopes, examples of class activities, time to brainstorm and lesson plan with colleagues, and resources for maintaining or purchasing telescopes.  If you have access to a telescope, you are encouraged to bring it (and any accessories) and will learn to use it or assess the maintenance needs.

 Arduino
R. Dorland, St. Joseph’s College

Design & build creative circuit projects using Arduino!  Unlock the “do-it-yourself” maker potential in your classroom. Participants will build a simple sensor project using an Arduino UNO board that can be used to introduce circuits and E/M topics in any level physics course.  The workshop assumes no prior experience with Arduino.  You will learn how to setup and connect to a new board, and how to adapt existing code for your project.  Materials provided, and registered participants will be able to take their completed project home. Partly funded by a NASA grant.

 Video Analysis
S. Henning, PTRA

Short videos, often just 20 to 30 frames long, are designed for analysis in a computer, iPad, iPhone, or iPod. Using LoggerPro (or, the free Tracker software) positions of objects in the video frame can be measured. The data can be graphed, analyzed, compared to theoretical models, and even used to display vectors or points superimposed on the original video.  Participants will receive hands on experience with video analysis and a copy of Physics with Video Analysis from Vernier, which has a generous site license. AAPT-NES will cover part of the PTRA cost. $20 fee for participants.

 

Submit a paper for the Spring Meeting

16 Jan

You can submit a paper to the Spring Meeting of AAPT at this link.

https://goo.gl/forms/n5XKtxvpBhEXBJZ42

The Spring meeting will be at Quinsigamond Community College

March 17-18

Details on the meeting will be available here

https://aapt-nes.wildapricot.org/event-2332622

 

 

 

Fall AAPT Meeting at Wesleyan University

5 Sep

For the Regional Meeting look at this link:

https://aapt-nes.org/regional-meetings/

Regional Meetings

Upcoming Meetings

Theme: How Physics Teaching Has Changed Since 1950: 66 years after the landmark AAPT National Meeting at Wesleyan University

In 1950, the first AAPT National Meeting was held at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT. Travel down Rt. 66 and meet us on October 21-22, 2016 for the Tri-Regional meeting of the New England, New York and New Jersey Sections of AAPT.

We will look at how we taught Physics, how we teach Physics now, and where we’re headed in the future.

We invite you to contribute talks, workshops and posters related to secondary- and college-level Physics pedagogy:

  • The history of Physics education
  • Teaching methods:Studio, Flipping, Team-based Learning, Guided and Open Inquiry, Problem-based Learning, Project-based Learning, Modeling Physics, Blended/Online courses, the new AP Physics, etc.
  • How does conceptual understanding inform mathematical rigor?
  • Experiments in process: What new approaches are you trying in your classes? What are your preliminary results?
  • Assessment:How do we know our teaching is effective? What are the best assessment tools?
  • And, by the way, how does it all fit with NGSS?

Please submit your abstracts on-line. or cut and paste

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1fg4jmkpJxmZ9cVpRrwEF6VW0RCI3FyQksENZVQzcrp8/viewform

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