Meeting of the Idaho-Utah Section American Association of Physics Teachers; Nampa, Idaho, March 28-29, 2008

The Idaho-Utah Section of the AAPT held its annual meeting, March 28-29, 2008, at the College of Western Idaho, Nampa, Idaho. Gary Hunt, section president elect, organized the meeting. Many thanks to Gary for a very successful event!

Our meeting was held jointly with the Idaho Academy of Science (IAS), although our sessions were held separately.

Printed Program

There were 33 attendees (those who paid the registration fee). These included 13 students, 3 high-school teachers, and 17 college and university faculty.

Session Presentations

There were total of 19 oral presentations given in four sessions (one on Friday and three on Saturday). one session on Friday and three sessions on Saturday. These included 5 students, 1 high-school teacher, 11 college and university faculty, and 2 presentations from Gary Bennett of Metaspace Enterprises. There was also a poster session held jointly with IAS on Friday, at which two AAPT student posters were presented.

Physics Demonstration Show

Friday evening, following a no-host dinner at a local Italian restaurant, we gathered for a physics demonstration show. The following are video clips from the show:

AlcoholRocket | AlpineHorn | AlpineHornAmazingGrace | BedOfNails | BernoulliBlower | CandleSearchlight | ConductivityOfGlass | ConduitPipeHorn | DancingLightbulb | DirectionalSpeaker | EarthMoonSystem | EggCrusher | EquivalenceFreeFall | GalliCat | GlassBreaker | HomopolarMotor | HootTubes | LaserBalloonPop | LightbulbFilament | LiquidMotor | LiquidOxygen | LN2BallBreak | LN2Balloon | LN2ExpandingBalloons | LN2IceCream | MirrorBalancing | MonkeysRevenge | PingpongBallCannon | SingingBowlRods | SpoutingBowl | Vibrations | WhatMakesSound

Our thanks to Adam Beehler for taping and editing these videos .

Business Meeting

We conducted our business meeting following lunch, which was catered and held jointly with IAS.

We held elections of section officers. The officers of our section are now constituted as follows:

  • President: Gary Hunt, Boise State University (former president elect, automatically succeeded our former president, James Coburn.)
  • President-Elect: Duane Merrell, Brigham Young University (former Vice President. He will organize our annual section meeting in 2009.)
  • Vice President: Steve Shropshire, Idaho State University (elected)
  • Treasurer: Adam Beehler, University of Utah (continuing into his second year)
  • Section Representive: Harold Stokes, Brigham Young University (continuing into his third of three-year term)

Door prizes

At the close of the meeting, we gave away prizes, drawing names at random. Most of the prizes were “physics toys” and books. Special thanks to Cenco/Sargent Welch, Pasco, Vernier, Arbor Scientific, VWR Science Education, and Ron Galli for their donations. The grand prize was an all-expense paid trip to the national AAPT meeting in Edmonton, Canada, July 19-23, 2008. The donor providing this prize specified that it be awarded to a high-school teacher who has never attended a national AAPT meeting. The winner was Brett Guisti, a teacher at Lone Peak High School, Highland, Utah.

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