American Association of Physics Teachers
Chesapeake Section

Program

Spring 2005 Section Meeting

Lynchburg College

Lynchburg, VA 24501

March 11-12, 2005

The 2005 Spring Meeting of the Chesapeake Section of AAPT will be held on the Lynchburg College campus on Friday, March 11 and Saturday, March 12. In keeping with the traditional format, workshops will be held on Friday with a banquet held that night. Saturday will be dedicated to oral presentations and demonstrations. 

Meeting Schedule:

Friday, March 11
4:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. Workshop: Hobbs Hall 124 (Technology Classroom) (Photo)
4:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. Ongoing registration/munchies/socializing: Lobby of Hobbs Hall
6:30 p.m. - 7:45 p.m. Banquet:  Daura Gallery (located in the Dillard Fine Arts Center) (Photo)
8:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. Keynote Speaker, James Trefil: Hopwood Hall Auditorium (Photo 1) (Photo 2)
9:00 p.m. - ???  Optional socializing at one of the local downtown establishments???

Saturday, March 12
8:30 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. Registration, coffee:  Outside Hopwood Auditorium
9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Presentations:  Hopwood Hall Auditorium
12:00 p.m. - 1:15 p.m. Saturday lunch is "on your own." We will provide you with a list of nearby restaurants, or you can eat the best brunch in Lynchburg in the LC cafeteria.
1:15 p.m. - ??? Presentations:  Hopwood Hall Auditorium
After talks: wrap-up/awards presentations/business meeting

Meeting Fees:
Registration:  $15
Friday banquet:  $15

You are encouraged to reach out and contact at least one local physics teacher--or school--in your area that you could invite to this meeting. It often happens that someone might attend if given the little extra incentive of being personally invited, offered encouragement, offered a ride, or some other small boost by our regular attendees. Remember that annual dues are waived for new high school teachers and adjunct professors.

The local contact person for the Spring 2005 Section Meeting is:

Banquet

Daura Gallery (located in the Dillard Fine Arts Center)

(Photo)

RSVP  by Thursday Morning, March 10

Following Banquet in Hopwood Hall Auditorium
Keynote Speaker:  James Trefil
Clarence J. Robinson Professor of Physics
George Mason University
Fairfax, Virginia
 "Managing the Planet -- Hard Science and Hard Choices"

(Photo 1) (Photo 2)

abstract

Workshop for the Spring Meeting

"Project CLEA in the 21st Century: Observation Astronomy Simulations in the Instructional Laboratory"
Dick Cooper, Project CLEA, Gettysburg College

Read the abstract here.  The Friday, March 11th workshop will be located at Lynchburg College in Hobbs Hall 124 (Technology Classroom), 4:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. (Photo)

Papers and Demonstrations

Coffee, refreshments, and registration will be Saturday morning starting at 8:30 a.m. just outside the auditorium in Hopwood Hall. Presentation times will be 15 minutes, including discussion and questions. Beverages and snacks will be available during breaks.  Abstracts may be viewed here.

A room has been reserved for lunch on campus.

Prizes will be awarded for the best paper representing a significant contribution to the teaching of physics at each of four levels: University and College, Two-Year College, High School, and Undergraduate Research.

As usual, a business meeting will follow the contributed papers. Please plan to attend.

Business Meeting

We had a short meeting that was presided by CS-AAPT president David Schaefer of Towson University. Also present was CS-AAPT vice-president Eric Kearsley of High Point High School. Here are the highlights of what was discussed:

• Eric Kearsley reported on behalf of treasurer Deonna Woodlard of Randolph-Macon College that the Fall 2004 meeting at Mary Baldwin College generated a slight surplus of funds.
• Eric Kearsley acknowledged Lincoln E. Bragg for his most recent generous $100 contribution to the CS-AAPT fund.
• There was discussion that the meeting dues are $15, not $10. This will be corrected at the next meeting.
• Due to a conflict with the New Faculty Workshop, the date for the Fall 2005 meeting at the American Center for Physics in College Park, MD has been changed from November 11-12 to November 4-5.
• David Schaefer sought suggestions for links that could be added to the CS-AAPT web page that would be of use to physics educators. Anyone with useful link ideas should e-mail David Schaefer.
• David Schaefer initiated a discussion concerning a database that would allow CS-AAPT members to ascertain whether or not they have paid dues for a given year. This idea will be discussed again at future meetings.
• A common topic at CS-AAPT business meetings is that of enticing more high school physics teachers to attend our meetings. This topic was discussed and the idea of having a future CS-AAPT meeting at a high school was mentioned. Most members present agreed that it has been difficult to get a higher number of high school physics teachers to our meetings.
• We voted to have the Spring 2006 meeting as part of the Capital Science 2006 meeting near Washington D.C. This follows in the footsteps of the Spring 2004 meeting which was part of the Capital Science 2004 meeting held at the National Science Foundation. There was some discussion concerning the feasibility of a Friday workshop since such a workshop was not part of the Spring 2004 meeting.
• David Schaefer made an initial inquiry into where the Fall 2006 CS-AAPT meeting will be held. This topic will obviously come up again at the next meeting.
• Eric Goff was thanked for organizing the current CS-AAPT meeting at Lynchburg College.
• Meeting prizes were given out as follows:

  The Frank R. Haig Prize for the "Best Paper from a Four-Year College" went to Julius Sigler of Lynchburg College. (Photo)

  The David Dwight Prize for the "Best Paper from a Two-Year College" went to Bill Warren of Lord Fairfax Community College. (Photo)

  The "Best Student Paper Prize" went to Stuart Farrell of Lynchburg College.