Category: Uncategorized

Section Representative: Larry K. Smith, Snow College Department of Physics

The Idaho/Utah Section of AAPT had a good year in 2023, post-COVID. 

Section Meeting: We had our annual section meeting at the College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls, Idaho on April 14–15, 2023, with the ever-popular demo show in the afternoon, some telescope viewing and a planetarium show in the evening.

The next morning there was an invited talk from a biologist with ties to physics and then parallel breakout sessions. 

At the business meeting Brian Pyper ran an election to replace himself and Larry Smith was elected as the new Section Representative for 3 years. 

Next Section Meeting: Dustin Shipp is planning a section meeting at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah on March 14–15.

Short Course: Active Learning in Introductory Physics Courses: Research-Based Strategies
that Improve Student Learning (Including Virtual, Distance Learning)
See: http://pages.uoregon.edu/sokoloff/CHAUT.htm


July 29-31, 2024, Portland, Oregon

Designed for those who teach introductory physics at universities, colleges and high schools. Graduate credit will be available through the University of Oregon*

Instructors: David Sokoloff, University of Oregon and Ronald Thornton, Tufts University

Participants in this two and a half day course will be introduced to research-validated, classroom-tested strategies for each component of the introductory course that have been demonstrated to improve learning. These includeRealTime Physics (RTP) labs (including a distance-learning version), Interactive Lecture Demonstration (ILDs) (including Clicker ILDs and Home-Adapted ILDs—for distance-learning), Collaborative Problem-Solving Tutorials, and Physics with Video Analysis (PVA). Participants will be introduced to the latest, versatile data acquisition and video analysis software that—in addition to Mac OS and Windows—is compatible with Chromebooks, tablets and smartphones. Physics topics will be chosen from both semesters of introductory physics. Research on the effectiveness of these strategies will also be discussed.

Complimentary printed copies of and online access to curricula (published by Wiley and Vernier) will be distributed. (These are also available for high school use at a special price as the ABP High School E-dition.)

The course fee is $250. (Early bird registration until June 10 is $225.)

* Up to three graduate credits from the University of Oregon will be available for an additional $150/credit.

For more information and to register: http://pages.uoregon.edu/sokoloff/CHAUT.htm

David R. Sokoloff
Professor of Physics, University of Oregon

American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT)
Idaho-Utah Section

Save the Date: April 12–13, 2024

Location: Utah Valley University

Time: Friday evening through mid-afternoon Saturday

Please invite your colleagues including:

• physics teachers at the high school, college, and university level
• undergraduate and graduate students interested in teaching physics

More information coming soon!

Go to

https://utah.sjc1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9BOL3Vczd2G7XGS

to register. Details are at the link.

Thanks to Mark Dailey and his team at College of Southern Idaho (CSI) for the work preparing for us!

Update 1FEB23

Dear Friends,

After much and long-awaited effort, we are planning on renewing the Idaho-Utah Spring Section Meetings this coming spring!

Mark Daily at the College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls has agreed to help host this year, which will represent the first time we’ve held the meeting in Twin Falls since 2000.

The dates are set for Friday and Saturday April 14-15, 2023. Feel free to tell anyone you think may be interested.

Here is a link to the reserved hotel block Mark set up.

American Association of Physics Teachers UT & ID Conference

https://www.hiexpress.com/redirect?path=hd&brandCode=EX&localeCode=en&regionCode=1&hotelCode=TWNFS&_PMID=99801505&GPC=AAT&cn=no&viewfullsite=true

Put it on your calendar and we’ll hope to see you then!

Regards,

Brian A Pyper PhD

Professor, Director of Physics Education

Department of Physics

Brigham Young University-Idaho

Section Representative, Idaho-Utah Section

American Association of Physics Teachers

Mark Lattery is offering a graduate level PD course for physics teachers this spring called Modern Physics for Teachers (https://uwosh.edu/physics/outreach/ngmc/). This course part of the Next Generation Modeling Courses for Teachers (NGMC) program at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. Passing the word along.

BAP

the 2019 Spring section meeting is planned and scheduled for March 1-2, 2019, at Utah State University in Logan.

The website for this year’s Idaho-Utah Section Meeting can be found at:  www.physics.usu.edu/AAPT 

More information will be added soon.  

Registration is ready to go.  It is set up as an all in one registration process, so be ready to register for demo share, contributed talk and/or student poster when you register for the meeting.  The deadline for registration is Monday the 25th of February.

The cost is $10 and all meals are included.

If there are any problems or questions, email me at:  james.coburn@usu.edu

The 2018 Spring meeting of the Idaho/Utah section of the AAPT will be held February 23-24 in Rexburg, Idaho.  While this is earlier than normal, it is the latest weekend I could find that did not conflict with a spring break, finals, or other popular conference/teacher in-service.

More information on registration, abstract submission, etc. is available here: https://content.byui.edu/file/5faef9d2-3f50-4f0a-a853-b04b47326b0d/1/main.htm

Once again, we will be holding a student poster session, so please encourage your students to prepare and participate.

On Friday, we will have our usual demo show.  Then on Saturday will be our annual business meeting, invited and contributed talks, and raffle.

If you know of any teachers not on our mailing list, or anyone else who might be interested, please forward them this message.

Matt Zachreson

Idaho/Utah AAPT Section Vice President

Brigham Young University-Idaho

zachresonm@byui.edu

AAPT Idaho-Utah Section Meeting Report April 2017

Section Representative: Brian A Pyper – Brigham Young University-Idaho Department of Physics

The Section Meeting for the Idaho-Utah Section of the American Association of Physics Teachers was held at The University of Utah in Salt Lake City April 14-15 2017. The meeting was excellently organized by Adam Beehler and Kathrine Skollingsberg, and was attended by about 60 people, some 10 HS Faculty, 30 College/University Faculty/Staff, and 20 students some of whom were jointly attending the combined SPS Zone 15 meeting.

The program included the ever-popular Demonstration Show, a collection of contributed talks, and the section business meeting and annual section officer election.

The results of the election were as follows, with terms from 4-17 to 4-18:

Steve Shropshire from ISU is now the past-president

Adam Beehler from the University of Utah is now the section president.

Matt Zachreson from BYUI is now the vice president

James Coburn from Utah State is now the president elect

Brian Pyper, from BYUI remains the section representative with a term to expire in 2018

The section meeting for next spring is planned to be held at BYU-Idaho in Rexburg.