PHYSICS & SOCIETY EDUCATION NEWSLETTER

PHYSICS & SOCIETY EDUCATION NEWSLETTER

June 2003

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SESSIONS AT THE MADISON MEETING

Several items are of interest to our group: 2 workshops, 2 invited/contributed sessions (organized by our group and sponsored by the Committee on Science Education for the Public), an invited session (organized and sponsored the Committee on Science Education for the Public), and a crackerbarrel session on physics and society. Here is a brief summary of these sessions, listed in the order of their occurrence. If I've forgotten anything, please inform our group about it by sending a message to our listserv.

Try to attend these sessions! We need your ideas and your energy!

* Workshop, Saturday Aug 2, 08:00-12:00:

Energy, Clarifying Some Often Troublesome Concepts.

Workshop leaders: Walter Scheider and Mark Schober.

What is energy? Electrical (including chemical), gravitational, and nuclear bonds. Fuels. Entropy. Heat engines.

* Workshop, Sunday Aug 3, 13:00-17:00:

Energy in the 21st Century.

Workshop leader: Gregory S. Mulder, Linn-Benton Comm. College.

How to engage students in predictions of future energy consumption, resources, and technologies. Three modeling exercises that involve students in designing energy systems.

* Inv/contr session, Monday Aug 4, 08:00-09:45:

Fusion and Other Energy Issues.

Organizer and presider: Gordon McIntosh.

Two invited talks: The physics of burning plasmas: a frontier in fusion energy research, Stewart Prager, University of Wisconsin. The economics of renewable energy, Richard Shaten, Univ of Wisconsin.

Contributed talks: New York state's "school power naturally" program. Teach energy concepts with continuous monitoring of building electrical use. Proliferation of nuclear weapons through use of coal-fired electricity?

* Crackerbarrel (discussion session), Tuesday Aug 5, 08:00-09:00: Crackerbarrel on Physics and Society Eduction.

Discussion leader: Jane Flood.

JOIN US to discuss how our group can be more effective in promoting the teaching of physics-related societal topics such as energy, environment, arms control, and pseudoscience. What can or should physics teachers be doing in relation to such topics? We also need to discuss some organizational issues, such as how to best set up invited or contributed sessions and keeping our lines of communication clear.

* Invited session, Tuesday Aug 5, 17:00-18:00:

Physics and Civic Engagement.

Presider: Theo Koupelis, University of Wisconsin.

Two invited talks: Integrating public affairs issues into physics teaching, Art Hobson, Univ of Arkansas. Hiroshima and Nagasaki for physics teachers: a workshop report, Raymond Wilson, Illinois Wesleyan Univ.

* Inv/contr session, Wednesday Aug 6, 08:00-10:00:

Physics and Society Education: The Environment and Other Societal Issues.

Organizer and presider: Jane Flood.

Two invited talks: West Campus cogeneration facility: energy for the university and community, Robert Stoffs, Madison Gas and Electric Company. Using spreadsheets to explore population growth and the greenhouse effect, Kerry Browne, Dickinson College.

Contributed talks: The population game. Automobile fuels consumption: a 16-year record for one car (Al Bartlett). Physics teaching--the marketing concept. Using numerical data to teach energy and environment.

PHYSOC EMAIL LIST

To send an email message to everybody on the list, address it to: <physoc@listserv.uark.edu>. Think before you hit "Send," because all 142 people on the list will receive your message.

The physoc list is for all of us. Use it for anything you want to share with the group: alert us to publications or talks, alert us to relevant news, send a copy of your own article or letter to the editor, ask the group for information, etc.

If you know anybody who wants to join this list, ask them to email me at ahobson@uark.edu (do NOT email physoc for this), with: last name, first name, <email address>. OR they could sign in at http://listserv.uark.edu and type in "physoc" as the list name. I will pass around a physoc sign-up sheet at our sessions in Madison, for people who would like to be on the list but are not now on it.

To the Physics & Society Education group:

Please contribute a paper at the AAPT summer meeting in Madison, 2-6 Aug 2003. Don't be shy! We need your ideas, and we need you to speak up for socially relevant physics teaching. April 6 is the deadline for submitting abstracts. For info on submitting papers, and to submit an abstract, go to the aapt website http://www.aapt.org .

Our group is sponsoring (under the auspices of the Committee on Science Education for the Public) two invited/contributed sessions and one crackerbarrel session, described below.

Invited/contributed session:

"Physics and Society Education: The Environment and Other Societal Issues"

Please share your ideas and experience in teaching societal issues in physics classes. We welcome contributions about pedagogy, courses, activities and assignments on relating physics to environmental issues, arms control, war and peace issues, critical thinking, scientific methodology, pseudoscience or other societal issues. [This session organized by Jane Flood, email flood@hal.muhlberg.edu .]

Invited/contributed session:

"Fusion and Other Energy Issues"

Energy is a major topic in almost any physics course and in our modern society. Papers in this session will discuss scientific, societal, and/or classroom issues related to nuclear fusion and other sources of energy. [This session organized by Gordon McIntosh, email mcintogc@mrs.umn.edu .]

Crackerbarrel session:

Join us to discuss how our physics and society education group can be more effective in promoting the teaching of physics-related societal topics such as energy, environment, arms control, and pseudoscience. [Jane Flood will lead the discussion, email flood@hal.muhlberg.edu . Contact her to suggest topics for discussion. ]

Also of interest to our group:

Invited/contributed session, sponsored by the Comm on Sci Educ for the Public and the Comm on Professional Concerns,

"Physics and Civic Engagement"

We solicit contributed papers on physics-related projects (in and/or outside the classroom) that aim to educate students about their civic responsibilities. We also solicit papers on projects that give students opportunities to participate in physics-related outreach programs in their community.

About the physoc email list

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Listserv etiquette: Don't use physoc for items that are not reasonably relevant to physics and society education. When replying to somebody else's physoc message, consider whether you really want the entire list to read your reply; it might be best to reply only to the person who sent the message. Be careful about hitting the "reply" button, as it will probably send the message to the entire list. If you do reply to the entire list, be sure to include the preceding message or messages to which you are replying, so that the list can follow the complete discussion.