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Southeastern Pennsylvania Section of the American Association of Physics Teachers An organization to bring together high school and college physics teachers and other professionals working in science education |
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| News, Recent Events, Upcoming Events, and Announcements |
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The SEPA Spring Meeting was held on Friday, April 26 and Saturday, April 27, at Drexel University. This was a joint meeting with Society of Physics Students (SPS) Zone 3, on the theme of "Communicating Physics".
The University of Pennsylvania Department of Physics and Astronomy presented its annual Holiday Demonstration Show on Monday and Tuesday, January 7 & 8, 2013. Click here to see the announcement. The SEPA Fall Demo Day took place on Saturday October 27, 2012, at Harriton High school in Rosemont, PA. Click here to see the announcement. Click here to see some photos. Click here for abstracts of demos.
These two PTRA workshops are offered by the Central Pennsylvania Section of AAPT.
The 2012 National AAPT Summer Meeting was held July 28 - August 1 at the University of Pennsylvania.
The Spring Meeting, "Growing Your Physics Program", was held March 30 and 31 at St. Joseph University. Friday evening featured a delicious meal and our guest speaker, Robert C. Hillborn, who spoke on "How to Grow Your High School or Undergraduate Physics Program." Saturday morning's program included two invited talks, several contributed papers and demonstrations, and the annual SEPS AAPT members' meeting. After lunch, the members attended one of two workshops. Fall Demo Night was held Friday, October 7 at Malvern Prep School. Click here for a summary of the event and Barry's demo. Click here to see some photos.
The 2011 Spring meeting was held at University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, on Friday and Saturday, April 1 and 2. Friday, April 1 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. Saturday morning 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 here for a list of contriputed papers. Saturday afternoon 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 here to download a PowerPoint presentation from the probeware workshop. Click here to see a selection of photos from the meeting.
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. 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. 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.
There are several new job announcements:
If you know of a job to be posted, or if a position listed here has been filled, please send the information to mtakats -at- ursinus.edu. |
| AAPT/SEPS Membership |
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Please join us or renew your membership by mailing $10.00 to:
Art Zadrozny Treasurer SEPS/AAPT 1229 Gail Rd West Chester, PA 19380 email: artzadrozny -at- gmail.com We have Spring and Fall meetings, demo nights, and can provide lots of information and tips on teaching and physics. |
| Contact Information |
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To get on the email list, or if you change your email address, please contact Jillian Waldman (jwaldman -at- archmereacademy.com).
To pass on your info or suggestions, please contact webmasters H. Slogoff (slogoff -at- physics.upenn.edu) or Martha Takats (mtakats -at- ursinus.edu) |