Enriching the Health of Physics Education
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Enriching the Health of Physics Education 2008 AAPT Winter Welcome to Baltimore .............. 3 Meeting Acknowledgments .................... 4 Meeting Information ................. 6 Baltimore, MD Contact Information ................. 6 Bus Schedule ............................ 7 About Baltimore ....................... 8 Special Events ......................... 10 January 19–23 Exhibitors ............................... 12 Baltimore Marriott Award Winners & Plenaries ..... 16 Committee Meetings .............. 23 Waterfront Hotel Meeting at a Glance ............... 24 Workshop Abstracts ................ 28 Commercial Workshops .......... 34 SUNDAY Poster Sessions ......... 38 MONDAY Sessions ................. .40 TUESDAY Sessions .................. 66 WEDNESDAY Sessions ............. 84 Index of Participants ................ 90 Index of Advertisers ................ 92 Donors .................................... 93 Maps ...................................... 94 Future Meetings ...................... 96 American Association of Physics Teachers One Physics Ellipse College Park, MD USA 20740-3845 301-209-3300, fax: 301-209-0845 [email protected], www.aapt.org InterActions Makes Its Official Debut at the 2008 Winter Meeting What Is InterActions? – The people, places, programs and policies defining physics teaching and learning – A glimpse Inside the physics education community openforum Synopsis iAmonitor QandA Focal Point ilearn Insight causeeffect endpoint Inside InterActions – human interest in physics Welcome to Baltimore Welcome to the AAPT Winter Meeting and the beautiful Baltimore Inner Harbor! If you can find some free time, be sure to go to the many attractions and great restaurants. I hope you have an enjoyable time. Probably more important to you is the quality of the meeting. I hope you will later agree that this was a very strong meeting, starting with the workshops. No matter what your interests, you should find a work- shop to satisfy your needs. AAPT is fortunate to have members who are willing to conduct these work- shops and to share their expertise. They deserve our appreciation. The heart of the meeting is the sessions and plenary lectures. On Monday there is the High School Physics Teachers Recognition Day. I would like to welcome all high school physics teachers and especially those from Maryland and the surrounding states. I hope you find this meeting exciting and will make AAPT your professional home if it isn’t already. For those who are not high school teachers, there are other ses- sions of interest. I predict your main difficulty will be choosing among several that you want to attend, but do not forget the crackerbarrels and committee meetings. Everyone is invited to attend. Finally, there are strong plenary and award speakers. Be sure to put these on your list of events to attend. I want to thank Steve Wonnell and John Hopkins University for all they did to support this meeting. A special thank you to John Layman for spearheading the High School Recognition Day. Thanks also to the paper sorters and Central Office staff, especially the Meetings team, who made this meeting possible. Alex Dickison AAPT Vice President and Program Chair Seminole Community College Sanford, Florida AAPT Executive Board Harvey Leff, President Mary Mogge California State Polytechnic Univ. Vice Chair of Section Representatives Pomona, CA California State Polytechnic Univ. Lila Adair, President-Elect Pomona, CA Piedmont College Gordon Ramsey Demorest, GA Four-Year College Representative Alexander Dickison, Vice President Loyola University Chicago Seminole Community College Frankfort, IL Sanford, FL John Roeder Steven Iona, Secretary High School Representative University of Denver Calhoun School Denver, CO New York, NY Charles E. Robertson, Treasurer Dwain Desbien University of Washington Two-Year College Representative Seattle, WA Estrella Mountain Comm. College Avondale, AZ Ken Heller, Past-President University of Minnesota Karl C. Mamola (ex officio) Minneapolis, MN Editor, The Physics Teacher Alan Gibson John Mallinckrodt (ex officio) Chair of Section Representatives Acting Editor, American Journal of Physics Adams High School Toufic Hakim (ex officio) Rochester, MI AAPT Executive Officer 3 AAPT Sustaining Members Special Thanks to: Addison Wesley–Pearson Education – Steve Wonnell and Johns Hopkins University for help in ALTAY Scientific Spa setting up the meeting and hosting the workshops. Arbor Scientific – John Layman, for spearheading High School Physics Carolina Biological Supply Co. Teachers Recognition Day on Monday. CPO Science Daedalon Corporation – The paper sorters: Patrick Callahan, Rachel Scherr, Patricia Sievert, David Sturm, and Alex Dickison. Educational Innovations, Inc. – AAPT Meetings team: Tiffany Hayes, Janet Lane, Natasha Acknowledgments John Wiley & Sons Inc. Johns Hopkins Univ. Center for Talented Youth Randall, Annette Colemen, and Laura Headrick Kinetic Books – Our Meeting Sponsors: W.H. Freeman, PASCO scientific, Klinger Educational Prod Corp. Johns Hopkins University Press, Marriott Waterfront Ho- Math Machines tel, Herbert V. Friedman, Assoc., American Association of Physicists in Medicine, and Vernier Software Mosaic ATM Inc. OSAW Industrial Products Private Ltd. PASCO Scientific, 10101 Foothills Blvd. Physics Academic Software Physics2000.Com Spectrum Techniques LLC St Marys University StratoStar Systems LLC TeachSpin Inc. Tel-Atomic Inc. Vernier Software W H Freeman & Company Ward’s Natural Science WebAssign WW Norton and Company Ztek Co. Dear Baltimore Meeting Attendee, On behalf of the professional staff at the AAPT Central Office, I welcome you to Baltimore and to the 2008 AAPT Winter Meeting. We hope that you will find the meeting’s physics education content engaging, the networking opportunities valuable, and the facilities and organization of high quality. Many of us, staff and volunteers, have worked very hard to offer you during the next few days a very positive experience, both intellectually and socially. This meeting is fully packed with workshops, plenaries, breakout sessions, committee meetings, a symposium, and a celebration of high school teachers, among other venues . all with the intent to enrich physics teaching and learning. We thank you for being with us. And we thank our exhibitors, our sponsors, our volunteers, our colleagues at Johns Hopkins, and the hotel staff for making this meeting possible. We hope that, beyond possible, this meeting will be as successful as you desire it to be and as effective as we have endeavored to make it. The AAPT staff is ready to assist you. Please let us know how we can be of service. Wishing you a pleasant and rewarding meeting, Toufic Hakim Executive Officer 4 Jan. 19–23, 2008 Thanksthanks Travel Fast and t Thankshanks Easy with Avis thanks Avis is proud to offer special rates for the AAPT meeting in Baltimore! We want to help you enjoy Thanks THANKS your event more than ever with great rates and time saving services. Your special discounts are available Meeting Information on a wide selection of vehicles and are good from Thanks THANKS one week before to one week after your event. So take in the sights and explore the surroundings. A SPECIAL THANKS To reserve a car, contact Avis at 1-800-331-1600 and use your Avis Worldwide TO OUR SPONSORS Discount (AWD) num- ber J945158. Or reserve American Association of online and have your Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) discount number auto- matically included in Herbert V. Friedman, Assoc. your reservation and receive an email Johns Hopkins University Press confirmation. Marriott Waterfront Hotel PASCO scientific Vernier Software 2008 Winter Meeting Job Fair This event is being held at the meeting and will be W.H. Freeman located in the Exhibit Hall—designed exclusively for organizations looking to hire high-level candidates in Ameriericancan A ssociAssociationati ofon of teaching physics, research and professional develop- Physics Teachers AAPT.org Physics Teachers ment at high schools, colleges, and universities. Hours for the onsite Job Fair are 10 a.m. –2 p.m. and 4–6 p.m. on Jan. 21; 9 a.m.–2 p.m. on Jan. 22. Many face to face interviews. Employers and job seekers must register Cyber Cafe online at http://www.aapt.org/Events/WM2008/jobfair. The AAPT Cyber Cafe will be available for checking email cfm. in the Exhibit Hall in Grand Ballroom IV, during Exhibit hours. Contact Information Speaker-Ready Room AAPT Programs and Conferences There will be a speaker-ready room in the James Room Department where all presentations (invited and contributed) must be Staff: 301-209-3344 or 301-209-3040 taken in advance. Tiffany Hayes, Associate Director, [email protected] The Speaker Ready room will be open during the following hours: Natasha Randall, Meetings Assistant, [email protected] Sunday, Jan. 20: 4–9 p.m. Laura Headrick, Corporate Accounts Manager, [email protected] Monday, Monday, Jan. 21: 12–2 p.m. Annette Coleman, Programs Manager, acoleman@ aapt.org Tuesday, Jan. 22: 12–2 p.m. Janet Lane, Programs Coordinator, [email protected] Wednesday, Jan. 23: 12–2 p.m. Marriott Waterfront Hotel Information: Audiovisual Equipment 410-385-3000 Audiovisual Equipment other than a computer and com- puter projector must be ordered 24 hours in advance by contacting Philip Castro at [email protected]. 6 Jan. 19–23, 2008 Bus Schedule Shuttle Service to Workshops at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center for Physics & Astronomy Baltimore, MD January 19–20, 2008 Workshop Shuttle Schedule for Johns Hopkins University: