ÿþ<html> <head> <title>SEPS AAPT</title> <style type="text/css"> <!-- a {color: "#000066"} a:hover {color: "#cc0000"} --> </style> </head> <body marginheight=0 marginwidth=0 leftmargin=0 topmargin=0 bgcolor="#ffffff"> <!--THIS TABLE CONTAINS THE ENTIRE PAGE--> <table cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 border=0> <tr> <!--CELL FOR THE LOGO IMAGE AND PAGE TITLE--> <td colspan=2 bgcolor="#ffffff"> <!--TABLE CONTAINING LOGO IMAGE AND PAGE TITLE--> <table border=0 width=720 cellpadding=5> <tr> <td> <!--LOGO IMAGE--> <img src="aapt_logo.gif" width="134" height="130" border=0> </td> <td> <!--PAGE TITLE--> <font face="Verdana" size=5 color="#000066">Southeastern Pennsylvania Section of the<br>American Association of Physics Teachers</font> <br> <br> <!--MOTTO--> <font face="Times New Roman" size=3><i>An organization to bring together high school and college physics teachers and other professionals working in science education</i></font> </td> </tr> </table> <!--END HEADER TABLE--> </td> </tr> <tr> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" width=150 valign="top"> <font size=1> <center> <!--START MAIN TABLE OF CONTENTS--> <table width=140 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 border=0 bgcolor="#000066"> <tr><td> <table width=140 cellspacing=1 cellpadding=5 border=0> <tr><td bgcolor="#ffffff"> <font face="verdana" size=2 color="#000000"> <p> <b> Home<br><br> <a href="Past_Events.html">Past Events</a><br><br> <a href="photos.html">Photo Gallery</a> <br><br> <a href="officers.html">Local Chapter Officers</a><br><br> <a href="http://www.aapt.org">National AAPT</a> <br><br> <a href="http://www.njaapt.org">New Jersey AAPT</a> <br><br> <a href="http://www.aaptcps.org">Central PA AAPT</a> <br><br> Special Programs: <br> <a href="http://www.physics.upenn.edu/~pssa">PSSA</a><br><br> <a href="http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~sokoloff/chaut1.htm" target="new">Active Learning Workshop at Dickinson, June 19-21</a></b></p></font> </td></tr></table> </td></tr></table> <!--END MAIN TABLE OF CONTENTS--> <br> <br> <!--START PHYSICS REFERENCE TABLE OF CONTENTS--> <table width=140 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 border=0 bgcolor="#000066"> <tr><td> <table width=140 cellspacing=1 cellpadding=5 border=0> <tr><td bgcolor="#efefef"><font face="verdana" size=2 color="#000000"> <b>Physics Reference Websites</b></font> </td></tr> <tr><td bgcolor="#ffffff"> <font face="verdana" size=2 color="#000000"> <b><a href="http://physics.nist.gov/PhysRefData/contents.html" target="new">NIST Reference Data</a> <br> <br> <a href="http://arXiv.org/" target="new">E-Print Archive</a></b></font> </td></tr></table> </td></tr></table> <!--END PHYSICS REFERENCE TABLE OF CONTENTS--> </center> </td> <td bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top"> <center> <table width=600 border=0 cellspacing=1 cellpadding=5> <tr> <td bgcolor="#cccccc"> <font face="verdana" size=3 color="#cc0000"> <b>News, Recent Events, Upcoming Events, and Announcements</b> </font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td bgcolor="#FFFFFF"> <p align="center"><font color="red" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2><br> *** New <a href=#jobs>job</a> announcement for Spring and Fall 2012 ***</font></p> <hr noshade> <p align="center"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2><a href="http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_166735829132" target="_blank"><img src="Images/fb_logo.gif"></a> Visit our Facebook page!</font></p> <hr noshade> <p align="center"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=3><b><center>2011 Fall Demo Night at Malvern Prep</center></b></font> <br><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>Fall Demo Night is Friday, October 7 at Malvern Prep School. <a href="demonight.pdf" target=_blank">Click here for details</a>.</p> <hr noshade> <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=3> <b><center>2011 Spring meeting at University of the Sciences</center></b></font> <br><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>The 2011 Spring meeting was held at University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, on Friday and Saturday, April 1 and 2. <br><br> <b>Friday, April 1</b><br> After registration and dinner in the STC Atrium, we gathered for the invited talk, "Human vision and the nature of light" given by Prof. Phillip Nelson, University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Phillip Nelson introduced and elaborated on the remarkable fact that the human eye contains receptors capable of detecting a single photon. Through an array of captivating visuals, Dr. Nelson illustrated that it has become possible to measure the tiny currents from individual rod and cone cells as they are stimulated with flashes of light, from this, be able to measure their complete spectral response curves hence quantifying Thomas Young's 3-color theory.<br><br> <b>Saturday morning</b><br> After a continental breakfast, the SEPS AAPT meeting resumed in the Pharmacology Toxicology Center at the University of the Sciences. Drs. D. Nyamjav and Sergio Freire, University of the Sciences introduced the topic, Nanotechnology. These talks were designed to provide a brief overview of Nanoscience and technology, the challenges, the successes and breakthroughs, and how it can affect our daily lives or the future. After these guest speakers had finished, two parallel sessions on contributed papers and demonstrations took place. One of the parallel sessions further developed nanotechnology; the other one focused on a variety of high school physics concepts and demonstrations. Click <a href="spring2011papers.html" target="new">here</a> for a list of contriputed papers.<br><br> <b>Saturday afternoon</b><br> Following lunch and the SEPS AAPT business meeting and prize giveaways, the Spring Meeting resumed at the STC building, with two workshops held simultaneously. There was a nanotechnology workshop hosted by Drs. Julie Nucci and Jim Overhiser from Cornell University including two short activities based on the nanoscale and powers of ten followed by participants simulating a topographic scanner; an AFM (Atomic Force Microscopy) lab developed by the CNS Institute for Physics Teachers. The second workshop given by Barry Feierman (Westtown School) and Bill Berner (University of Pennsylvania) was on probeware; offering hands-on participation on the use of a variety of Vernier and Pasco probes. Click <a href="Probeware.ppt">here</a> to download a PowerPoint presentation from the probeware workshop.<br><br> Click <a href="spring2011photos.html" target="new">here</a> to see a selection of photos from the meeting. </font></p> <hr noshade> <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=3> <b><center>2010 Fall Demo Night</center></b></font> <br><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>The annual SEPS AAPT Demo night was hosted this year at Pope John Paul High School, Royersford by the SEPS Vice-President, Mary Sevon. The evening began with a delicious dinner where new and veteran members of the SEPS networked. We had quite a few new members who had attended the "Teaching Physics for the First or Fifty First Time" workshop held at La Salle on Saturday, October 9, 2010 in attendance at Demo night. <br><br> A variety of demonstrations ranging from mechanics to light were shared by seven members of SEPS. The "Law of Inertia" demonstration was a simply constructed apparatus which could be used to show the relationship between period and mass. A clip from the National Geographic documentary on the humming bird was used to introduce and discuss physics' concepts of sound, loss of energy, and iridescence. An array of experiments using lasers, "lights you can't see," was shown to the group; one in particular was using an infrared laser to burst an inflated black balloon inside an inflated transparent balloon. <br><br> The evening ended at around 9:00 pm, and SEPS members had quite a few new ideas to take home to the classroom. A big thank you goes to Mary Sevon for putting this very successful evening together. <br><br> Pictures coming soon! </font></p> <hr noshade> <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=3> <b><center>Workshop for New Teachers</center></b></font> <br><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>Supported by a mini-grant from the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) to the Southeastern PA Section (SEPS), a workshop for new teachers was hosted at LaSalle University on October 9, 2010. Fourteen new teachers with 0-3 years of teaching experience and several veteran teachers participated in the workshop. At 9 am, Ling Liang from LaSalle University, welcomed all participants and introduced the event co-sponsors and workshop leaders. The day-long workshop consists of four sessions: Jay Bagley led labs and demos on mechanics, followed by Bob Schwartz's presentation on waves and optics, and Barry Feierman's demos on electricity and use of Vernier sensors. It was ended with an hour-long exploration of interesting internet sites for Physics. <br><br>The overall evaluation of the workshop was overwhelmingly positive. All pre-registered workshop participants received a copy of the AAPT publication "Teaching Physics for the First Time." The new teachers were also provided with one year free section membership and encouraged to join the American Association of Physics Teachers. Thanks again to the event host, workshop leaders, and the SEPS section officers for their hard work and great support! <br><br> Click <a href="workshop2010.html" target="new">here</a> for pictures from the workshop. </font></p> <hr noshade> <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=3> <b><center>14th Annual Demonstration Show at Penn this December</center></b></font> <br><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>A two-hour presentation of Penn's best demonstrations of Electricity and Magnetism. Shows Monday Dec. 13 and Tuesday Dec. 14 at 9:30 and noon. Contact Bill Berner (berner-at-physics.upenn.edu) to reserve a place for your class (put "Physics Show" in the subject line). </font></p> <hr noshade> <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=3> <b><center>2010 Spring Meeting</center></b></font> <br><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>SEPA was joined by NJ and Central PA sections for a regional meeting on March 12-13 at La Salle University, Philadelphia, PA. The theme was "How we teach may be more important than WHAT we teach..."<br> <ul> <li>Friday 9-4: pre-conference PTRA Workshop on Physics with Video Analysis</li> <li>Friday night: dinner, student poster session, and invited lecture (Derrick Pitts).</li> <li>Saturday morning: invited speakers (Warren Hein, Matt Greenwolfe), contributed talks</li> <li>Saturday afternoon: business meetings, great demos.</li></ul> Click <a href="spring2010report.html" target="new">here</a> for a brief report on the meeting. A summary of the meeting in photos may be found <a href="spring2010.html" target="new">here</a>.<br><br> Complete details (registration, agenda...) may be found <a href="http://www.lasalle.edu/schools/sas/conferences/aapt/" target="new">here</a>. </font></p> <hr noshade> <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=3> <b><center>2009 Fall Demo Night</center></b></font> <br><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>The 2009 Fall Demo Night was held on Friday, October 30th at the Science Leadership Academy at 22nd and Arch Streets in Philadelphia. Click <a href="falldemo2009.html" target="new">here</a> for report and pictures. </font></p> <hr noshade> <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=3> <b><center>2009 Spring Meeting </center></b></font> <br><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>The SEPS/AAPT Spring Meeting was held at Villanova University on April 24 and 25, 2009. Click <a href="spring2009.html" target="new">here</a> for pictures from the meeting. <br><br> <b>Friday Night April 24</b><br> Philip Maurone from Villanova hosted the meeting. There were about 50 registered attendees. The meeting began with a dinner on Friday evening hosted by Villanova, followed by an invited talk on Energy and Environment given by Ken Lande from University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Lande talked about what he described as the dominant problem of our society for the coming century: "the generation of enough energy to sustain our mode of living without at the same time creating severe and irreversible climate changes." He has been teaching a course on this topic at the University of Pennsylvania for the past several years entitled, "Energy, Oil and Global Warming". The goal of this course is not only to inform the students about issues that will profoundly affect their lives, but also to teach them that they are able to calculate the underlying numbers. During his talk, he discussed some of the critical issues about our energy utilization and its impact on the environment and used simple calculations to illustrate his examples. Among these calculations were: (1) the amount of CO2 emitted annually by U.S. power plants, (2) the Earth's temperature for a simplified Sun - Earth radiation balance model, (3) the maximum amount of corn based ethanol that can be produced in the U.S. and compare that to our annual petroleum consumption, (4) the power output of a wind turbine, (5) the amount of U-235 consumed per year by U.S. power reactors and the mass of the dominant fission products produced, (6) the battery stored electrical energy required for a hybrid or electric vehicle of a given driving range, etc. <br><br><b>Saturday April 25</b><br> On Saturday, our invited speaker, Bruce Sherwood, gave a talk titled "Unification and parsimony: Can students learn to think like physicists?" In this talk he described an approach to teaching that introduces students to a modern, unified view of physics in the introductory university-level (calculus based) course, Matter & Interactions, and to avoid the compartmentalization of topics and techniques that usually occurs. This course was developed in response to the major new discoveries in physics during the 20th century, the way practicing physicists think about physics has itself evolved. By reorganizing the introductory curriculum along the lines of 20th century physics, not only is it more authentic to the contemporary view of physics, it also can lead to significant cognitive benefits for students. This course is the only opportunity to convey this unified picture to the many students who will take no further physics courses, and this course is an optimum time to convey a unified view to the small number of potential physics majors who will spend the rest of their college careers studying specialized topics in significant depth. One way that this course is delivered is by introducing students to computational and physical modeling to explain and predict a broad range of natural phenomena by starting from a very small set of fundamental principles, combined with microscopic models of matter. This technique of computational modeling has become centrally important in all branches of science and engineering. <br><br>After this talk, a series of contributed talks followed. These talks had a general theme of Energy. <ul><li>Jeff Wetherhold demonstrated Apple's Keynote as a way to animate presentations for a class.</li> <li>Barry Feierman demonstrated different types of light bulbs and talked about the "warmth" of the light that each type of bulb emitted as a function of the energy each bulb consumed.</li> <li>Jeff Goldader presented a cosmic ray detector that he mentored an advanced high school student to build using parts purchased off ebay and at Radio Shack.</li> <li>Art Zadrozny presented a research project into alternative energy types and sources that he has his student complete and present. He also provided the grading rubric that is used to evaluate this assignment.</li> <li>Carl Schmiedekamp presented the approach to reporting uncertainty using excel in his Introductory college physics lab course.</li> <li>Fran Poodry demonstrated the flexibility and utility of VPython, a computational modeling programming language that is highlighted in Matter and Interactions. </li> <li>Harriet Slogoff talked about how she saved on her energy bills by insulating her home. She introduced the idea of degree days as a tool to normalize the change in her energy bills.</li> <li>Deborah Goldader demonstrated conservation of energy using a roller coaster made from cardboard and card stock as well as cardboard models of some everyday items.</li> </ul> The contributed talks were followed by the SEPS business meeting. The new officers for 2009-2010 were elected and their names and contact information can be found <a href="officers.html">here</a>. The business meeting also highlighted AAPT initiatives including Associate Membership available to section members (click <a href="http://www.aapt.org/Membership/upload/2009-Associate-Application.pdf">here</a> for an application for Associate Membership). During the business meeting, a special award recognizing 50 years of Physics teaching was presented to Tom Foley at Saint Joseph's University by one of his former students Bill Berner. <br><br>The meeting recessed for lunch around 1 pm. After the lunch, Oliver H. Perry, the President of the Eastern Electric Vehicle Club of Valley Forge PA, led an Electric Car workshop. About half dozen electric vehicle owners and specialists also made themselves and the vehicles available for questions at the workshop. Click <a href="electriccar.doc">here</a> for Ollie's report on the Electric Car Workshop. </font></p> <hr noshade> <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=3> <b><center><a name="jobs">Job Openings</a></center></b></font> <br><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2>Click <a href="jobs.html" target="new">here</a> for recent physics teaching job announcements which were received by SEPA. There is currently one announcement for Spring and Fall 2012: physics teacher in Central Bucks School District.</font></p> </td> </tr> </table> <br> <br> <table width=600 border=0 cellspacing=1 cellpadding=5> <tr> <td bgcolor="#cccccc"> <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2 color="#cc0000"> <b>AAPT/SEPS Membership</b> </font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td bgcolor="#efefef"> <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2> Please join us or renew your membership by mailing $10.00 to: </font><font face="verdana" size=1> <center> <font size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br> Art Zadrozny<br> Treasurer SEPS/AAPT<br> 1229 Gail Rd<br> West Chester, PA 19380<br> email: artzadrozny -at- gmail.com </font> </center> <font size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> <br> We have Spring and Fall meetings, demo nights, and can provide lots of information and tips on teaching and physics. </font></font> </td> </tr> </table> <br> <br> <table width=600 border=0 cellspacing=1 cellpadding=5> <tr> <td bgcolor="#cccccc"> <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2 color="#cc0000"> <b>Contact Information</b> </font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td bgcolor="#efefef"> <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size=2> To get on the email list, contact Fran Poodry (fpoodry -at- speakeasy.net). <br><br>If you change your email address, please write to <a href="mailto:sepaaapt@aol.com">sepaaapt@aol.com</a> to inform us. <br><br> To pass on your info or suggestions, please contact webmasters H. Slogoff (slogoff -at- physics.upenn.edu) or Martha Takats (mtakats -at- ursinus.edu)<br> <br> </font> </td> </tr> </table> <br> <br> </center> </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan=2 bgcolor="#ffffff" align="center"> <font face="verdana" size=1> Design by <a href="mailto:lty2@cornell.edu">LTY</a> last update 7/6/10 MT </font></td> </tr> </table> </body> </html>