8/22 Mario Belloni

Posted on August 27, 2012 by arundquist

This week at the Global Physics Department meeting, we had Mario Belloni from Davison College. Mario discussed some research-based strategies for engaging students in introductory astronomy classes (mostly for non-majors). He focused his ideas on emphasizing the nature of science in astronomy by including historical perspectives. Mario also included ideas for increasing student interest in astronomy. One very cool idea was the use of video analysis on the motion of sun spots to determine the rotation rate.

This week was moderated by Rhett Allain. Although he seems to have successfully moderated, he didn’t ask as many interesting questions as Andy usually asks.

Here’s the recording.

This week we’ll talk with Gary Abud about how he creates amazing classroom culture. Join us Wednesday at 9:30pm ET.

August 15: New college physics instructors

Posted on August 20, 2012 by arundquist

We talked with several physics faculty members from around the country about issues with beginning a new physics position. We talked about maintaining respect and authority in the classroom, and how to prepare students for using interactive engagement activities.

Here’s the recording.

This week we’ll be talking with Mario Belloni from Davidson about Astronomy education practices. Please join us!

August 8: Advice for new high school physics teachers

Posted on August 13, 2012 by admin

Last week's Global Physics Department meeting was devoted to advice for new high school physics teachers, and featured presentations by 4 new-ish teachers sharing lessons they've learned, including Akwetee Watkins, Daniel Longhurst, Matt McCollum and Steve Nixon.
Here are a few more additional resources that

The 5 pieces of advice survey created by the global physics department with responses from 19 teachers.
Letters to a first year teacher: The compilation. An excellent project started by a math teacher on twitter where teachers around the world wrote letters with advice for new teachers.
AAPT's e-mentoring program. New teachers can sign up to be assigned a mentor to turn to for advice.

Elluminate recording of Wednesday August 8 discussion on New High School Teacher Advice.

This week's session: Advice for New College Physics Teachers

This week, we'll be giving advice to new college physics teachers. Come to hear advice from faculty who recently began thier careers teaching physics in college.

Wednesday, August 1: AAPT wrap-up

Posted on August 2, 2012 by admin

Last night's Global Physics Department meeting was devoted to a wrap up discussion of the Summer AAPT meeting in Philadelphia that just took place. We shared highlights from the meeting, talked about ideas that AAPT might be improved, and the overall value face to face conferences in the day of social media. links from the discussion:

U-stream recordings from the meeting (Phillip Sadler's Millikan Medal acceptance speech (slides) is highly recommended.
Minds of their own: The original video series created by Sadler to explore featuring students who have graduated from Harvard and MIT struggling to light a light bulb with a battery and a wire.
RIT's Livephoto project: Interactive video vignettes— awesome HTML5 based video analysis activities that work on tablet computers, developed by Prisilla Laws and Robert Teese.
Peter Bohacek's awesome direct measurement video analysis problems, featured on Carleton's Science Education Research Center.
Chris D'amato's presentation on Mastery Learning at AAPT.

Elluminate recording of Wednesday August 1 discussion.

Next Week's session: Advice for New High School Physics Teachers

Next week, we'll be giving advice to new high school physics teachers. To help make this session awesome, we need you to do two things:

Fill our this 5 minute survey with advice for new teachers.
Recruit any new teachers you know to come to our meeting next Wednesday at 9:30 PM EST.

In two weeks, we'll be giving advice to New College/University Physics teachers.