The Fall 1997 Meeting will be held at the
United
States Naval Academy. Local contact person
is Gene Mosca mosca@nadn.navy.mil. or 410-293-6659. Send comments and questions about this
web page to bates@saber.towson.edu
Note: ALL underlined items are links to something or someone. Try them!
The Naval Academy is located in the Historic District of Annapolis. To find it take either Route 50 or Route 2 (Governor Ritchie Highway) to their intersection just outside of Annapolis. As you approach this intersection on either Route you will find signs directing you to the Academy. Tell the Marine at the gate that you are here to attend the CSAAPT meeting and he/she will give you a parking pass with directions to Michelson Hall and the Officers and Faculty Club.
Facilities
The facilities at The Academy include a large lecture hall with rear projection screen and integrated computer projection system for the contributed paper session, computer equipped laboratories for workshops on Friday and excellent dinning facilities for the banquet on Friday night and lunch on Saturday. Tours of the physics laboratories will be available on Friday afternoon. Tours of the historic Academy grounds will be available for spouses who may not be interested in the technical programs.
Since activities are all centered at the U. S. Naval Academy, no special hotel or motel provisions have been made. There are many motels located on Ritchie Highway north of Annapolis and a number of hotels and motels in the city of Annapolis as well. Click on the above link to see local information.
Registration will take place at the meeting in the entrance hall of Michelson Hall adjacent to Room 117 at 1:30 P.M on Friday. A registration table will also be available just prior to the banquet in the Officers and Faculty Club and again starting at 8:00 A.M. Saturday morning. Membership dues are still $5.00 per year. We will be voting on a dues increase to $10.00 per year at this meeting. Registration fee for the meeting will be $3.00. Banquet tickets are $16.00 per person. Lunch tickets for Saturday at the Officers and Faculty Club are $10.00 per person. Firm reservations are required for both meals by November 3, 1997. Contact Gene Mosca mosca@nadn.navy.mil or 410-293-6659.
2:00 P.M. - 6:00 P.M. U. S. Naval Academy, Michelson Hall, Bottom Floor
Lab Rooms A Corridor
The Use of Interactive Physics in the Classroom and/or Laboratory
John P. Ertel, The United States Naval Academy
This popular workshop has been given at National AAPT meetings. A maximum of 16 people can be accommodated. You must make reservations. The 16 slots will be filled on a first come first serve basis. There is no cost for this! mosca@nadn.navy.mil. or 410-293-6659
3:00 P.M.- 6:00 P.M.
Building a Conceptual Physics Distance Learning Course
Sherman Frye, Northern Virginia Community College-Annandale Campus and Bill Warren, Lord Fairfax Community College
4:00 P.M.- 6:00 P.M.
Tutorials in Introductory Physics
Michael Wittmann and Mel Sabella, University of Maryland College Park
Banquet Speaker: Dr. Michael F. Shlesinger, ONR
8:30 A.M. Coffee and Registration Michelson Hall adjacent to Room 117
Michelson Hall Room 117
9:00 Morning Contributed Papers
Opening Remarks by the Host Institution
Contributed papers will be presented in sequence. There are no parallel sessions. Each speaker will be given a maximum of 20 minutes to present and 5 minutes for questions. Some flexibility is possible. The session will run from 9:00 A.M. until all talks are completed. There will be a coffee break from about 10:30 A.M. - 11:00 A.M. and the lunch break will be from 12:00 Noon - 1:00 P.M. Afternoon session will include contributed papers and will be followed by the annual business meeting.
Michelson Hall Lecture Hall Room 117
Light and Color Laboratory Course for the Liberal Arts Major
Harry E. Bates, Towson University
Classroom Jumping Ring Apparatus
Carl S. Schneider and John P. Ertel, The United States Naval Academy
Engineering Dean's Opinions of Physics Courses
Robert Ehrlich, George Mason University
Scanning Probe Microscopy in the Undergraduate Laboratory
David M. Schaefer, Towson University
Note: a special area will be set aside for a TYC21 working group headed by Bill Warren. Lunch will be provided by the TYC 21 grant for those participating.
You must make a reservation for lunch by November 3, 1997 - Cost $10.00. Contact Gene Mosca mosca@nadn.navy.mil. or 410-293-6659
Michelson Hall Room 117
1:30 P.M. Contributed Paper Session Continues
Web Based Physics Courses, "Technology for Poets" and "Calculus-Based Electricity and Magnetism"
George Watson, University of Delaware
Gravitational Focusing of Meteoroid Trajectories: A Possible Mechanism for Selective Lunar Cratering
Sherie Kim, a student at Randolph-Macon College, Faculty Mentor George Spagna
The Tablecloth Trick: An Apparatus for the Analysis of Frictional Torque
Anne-Marie Novo-Gradac and Kirsten A. Hubbard, The United States Naval Academy
Posting Homework Solutions on the Internet: A report on design and use issues.
Anne-Marie Novo-Gradac, The United States Naval Academy
Are Reform Physics Curricula Worth The Effort? An Evaluation of Pre/Post FCI and Expectation Survey Results.
Jeffery M. Saul and Edward F. Redish, University of Maryland
Business Meeting
Executive Committee Meeting
Abstracts Workshops
The Use of Interactive Physics in the Classroom and/or Laboratory
John P. Ertel, U.S. Naval Acad., Annapolis, MD; 410-293-6657; jpe@nadn.navy.mil
It is an exciting programming idiom which allows direct simulation of mechanical processes through the construction of a visual model in either the MAC-OS or Windows environment. The programming "language" consists entirely of the selection of a number of mechanical devices and the specification of their attributes, (i.e., a spring, mass, and damper). When these objects are arranged into a typical system and the RUN command is given, Interactive Physics can execute a simulation of the system complete with graphs and fully exportable data. Workshop participants will have an introductory lesson in the use of Interactive Physics and its simulation tools/language.
Building a Conceptual Physics Distance Learning Course
Sherman Frye, Northern Virginia Community College and Bill Warren, Lord Fairfax Community College
There is a pressing need for more science education in the general college population in order that students might have a better understanding and be able to deal with the technology that drives our evolving society. Physics education for the non-science major is the one basic science that fills much of the science gap of our general population. This workshop will review the philosophy and contents of conceptual physics courses which are becoming popular at colleges and universities. The main focus of the workshop will be the process and procedures of developing conceptual physics as a distance learning (DL) course. This will include how to develop both lecture and laboratory components for asynchronous teaching.
Tutorials in Introductory Physics
Michael C. Wittmann, Mel, N. Sabella, University of Maryland, College Park
"Tutorials" are based on a University of Washington curriculum development project that has designed materials which replace traditional recitations at the college level with research-based group-learning worksheets designed to address student difficulties. We have developed additional tutorials based on our research into student understanding of sound waves. We find that students have difficulties describing the motion of a medium due to sound waves and also have difficulties with the representations of sound waves. We have developed materials that address student conceptual difficulties and the mathematics used to describe sound waves. Our workshop will include both the tutorial and a discussion of the research which led to it.
Papers
Light and Color Laboratory Course for the Liberal Arts Major
Harry E. Bates, Towson University
A light and color course with a laboratory component was developed for the liberal arts major. It has proven to be quite successful. A broad overview of the basic course and laboratory design will be described. A technique using EXCEL to assist students with laboratory computation will be discussed.
Classroom Jumping Ring Apparatus
Carl S. Schneider and John P. Ertel, The United States Naval Academy
This paper focusses on the pedagogical applications of a compact but powerful apparatus to propel a conducting ring from a magnetic coil activated by household voltage. The apparatus is roughly 6x6x15 inches, containing a magnetic core and several rings which can be fired internally or externally over twenty feet at the push of a button. Physics concepts demonstrated with the apparatus include Ampere's law, Faraday's law, impedance, phase shift, magnetic pole, skin depth, temperature dependence of conductivity, Lorentz force and magnetic, kinetic and acoustic energy.
Note: The complete physical description of this apparatus will be described in a paper Classroom Jumping Ring submitted to the American Journal of Physics in February 1997. Current numerical calculation of jump height is being completed before final publication.
Engineering Dean's Opinions of Physics Courses
Robert Ehrlich, George Mason University
Abstract: A national survey was taken of engineering deans to learn their opinions regarding the required physics courses taken by their students. The survey probed the degree of the deans' satisfaction/dissatisfaction, reasons for their opinions, their readiness to teach physics within engineering, and their opinions regarding the capability of physics majors to undertake graduate work in engineering.
Scanning Probe Microscopy in the Undergraduate Laboratory
David M. Schaefer, Towson University
Scanning Probe Microscopes have been used in research for a wide variety of applications, and plays an important role in nanometer scale technology. This technology holds promise for development in such critical areas as data storage, materials characterization, and device fabrication. The maturity of the field of scanning probe microscopy has led to the development of reliable and simple instrumentation. This instrumentation is now amenable to students at an undergraduate institution. This talk will focus how scanning probe microscopy can be incorporated into the undergraduate curriculum. Specifically, discussion will include the construction of scanning tunneling microscopes and atomic force microscopes in an upper level undergraduate laboratory, applications of the instrument, and the use of existing data in lectures.
Web Based Physics Courses, "Technology for Poets" and "Calculus-Based Electricity and Magnetism"
George Watson, University of Delaware
Use of online resources for supplementing classroom instruction has been widely heralded lately. I report back from the trenches regarding the development of two course web sites for two vastly different groups of students. One course is a science and technology literacy course designed for entering non-science majors; known as "Silicon, Circuits " and the Digital Revolution" this course serves as a gateway to the University's computer and network facilities. This course has no textbook and uses custom web pages and other online resources for the primary course materials. The other course is a conventional calculus-based electricity and magnetism course for sophomore engineering majors, ready and eager to use their computers to access course materials. In this talk I would like to compare and contrast the development issues as well as some pedagogical issues regarding the use of the Internet for instruction.
Supported in part by NSF grant DUE96-53663.
Gravitational Focusing of Meteoroid Trajectories: A Possible Mechanism for Selective Lunar Cratering
Sherie Kim, a student at Randolph-Macon College, Faculty Mentor George Spagna
(No abstract available.)
The Tablecloth Trick: An Apparatus for the Analysis of Frictional Torque
Anne-Marie Novo-Gradac and Kirsten A. Hubbard, The United States Naval Academy
The "tablecloth trick" has been used by physicists and magicians for many years. The audience is delighted as a tablecloth is pulled from beneath the pieces of an elegantly set table. This demonstration is often used to discuss inertia and friction with no attention given to torque. However, the frictional force acting on the stem ware is applied tangentially, often resulting in the glassware tipping over rather than be dragged off the table. A careful analysis of this situation provides a wealth of information about the more subtle aspects of friction and torque. Objects may tip over while still sliding on the cloth, or as they decelerate on the table top after the cloth has departed. We have designed an apparatus that allows variation of parameters such as cloth speed, surface roughness, and moment of inertia of the tipping object. We have also developed equations to predict stability conditions for the system.
Posting Homework Solutions on the Internet: A report on design and use issues.
Anne-Marie Novo-Gradac, The United States Naval Academy
The Physics Department at the United States Naval Academy has been posting homework solutions on the internet since fall semester 1996. The solutions are for assigned homework problems in the calculus based introductory physics course, in which approximately 950 students are enrolled. Our efforts have centered on providing clear, correct solutions to our students which can be accessed easily and reliably. This has entailed a number of hardware and software issues as well as internet literacy on the part of the faculty and students. It has also raised issues concerning the benefits to the students and the impact that posting solutions has on individual teaching styles. An outline of our methods past and present will be given as well as a summary of the usage levels by our students.
Are Reform Physics Curricula Worth The Effort? An Evaluation of Pre/Post FCI and Expectation Survey Results.
Jeffery M. Saul and Edward F. Redish, University of Maryland
The study of student difficulties in the introductory physics class has led to the development of several new curricula designed to improve what students get out of the introductory course. These curricula vary both in approach and in the effort and commitment required of the instructor and the institutions. As part of the Maryland Physics Expectations (MPEX) project,1 we have given the FCI and MPEX survey to undergraduate classes at 10 schools using either traditional lecture instruction, University of Washington Tutorials, University of Minnesota Group Problem Solving, or Workshop Physics. Because of the all-laboratory approach, Workshop Physics is one of the most demanding research-based curricula both in terms of equipment and facilities as well as the complete overhaul of the course and the change in teaching style required of the instructor. The MPEX and FCI results from the Workshop Physics classes will be compared with the results from classes using the other curricula.
*Supported in part by NSF grant #RED-9355849 and #DUE-9455561