January 25, 2024 Issue #22

SPOTLIGHT is the OPTYCs bi-weekly newsletter. It brings you OPTYCs activity updates, highlights from recent publications related to physics education, and news & resources for Two-Year colleges.

Upcoming events

• Teaching Fields 2024 PER-Interest Session January 26, 2024 from 3:00pm- 4:00pm EST
  How do you introduce fields (electric, magnetic, gravitational) in your courses? What is your go-to activity to introduce this notoriously challenging topic in your classes? The session will include a brief review of what PER says about the topic with a discussion of some of the popular choices for interactive simulations such as PhET, The Physics Classroom and Web VPython. Participants will then be given the opportunity to share their favorite activities on the subject.
  

• ISLE 2024 Workshop  February 10, 2024 from 1:00pm- 5:00pm EST
  In this (free and virtual) workshop, you will experience learning physics through the Investigative Science Learning Environment (ISLE) approach. The ISLE approach helps students learn physics and develop confidence that they can do it by engaging in activities that mirror scientific practice. Facilitators: Eugenia Etkina (Rutgers University) and Anna Karelina (Saint Mary's College of California)

• Energy First 2024 Workshop  February 21, 2024 from 4:00pm- 6:00pm EST
  In the Energy-First physics curriculum, energy is the starting point for the rest of the course. In this workshop, you will learn more about this approach, available supporting materials, and how you can implement it in your courses. Facilitator: Chris Fischer (University of Kansas)
  

• Scientific Reasoning Labs 2024 Workshop  March 1, 2024 from 3:00pm- 6:00pm EST
  In this free, virtual workshop, you will learn about a set of introductory college-level physics labs that help students develop scientific reasoning skills. Facilitators: Kathy Koenig (Univ. Cincinnati) and Krista Wood (Univ. Cincinnati - Blue Ash College)

What is a leader? This question has been occupying my mind the past little while, since I had participated in the virtual Leadership Institute kick-off meeting. I knew I was to say a few words at the start of the gathering, and I completely missed this opportunity to talk about leadership, and my role in OPTYCs. Upon reflection, I realize that I don’t see myself as a leader, given the dictionary definition of ‘leader’ as someone who commands and rules, as “the person who convinces others to follow”. Such actions make me uncomfortable.

Looking at characteristics of good leadership, many thinkers include traits such as empathy, accountability, courage, and resilience. Effective leaders work to build relationships, have a basis for taking action, are encouraging, and embrace a growth mindset. I think that all of these attributes also describe the characteristics of a good educator. After all, aren’t effective teachers those who foster empathetic relationships with their students, conduct their classes with accountability and grounded in evidence, and have the courage and resilience to make, then learn from, mistakes?

Isn’t it interesting that the dictionary definition of a leader seems so far removed from the traits of an effective leader? And perhaps that has been the source of my discomfort identifying as a ‘leader’: I wish to be effective, not one who commands and convinces others to follow. I hope I have the courage and resilience to continue growing in effectiveness. And I hope your work as an educator continues to make you an effective leader!

This is a national competition where community college student teams, working with a faculty or administrator mentor, use science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) to innovate solutions to real-world problems; participate in an Innovation Boot Camp; and compete for cash awards.

Web site: https://www.aaccinnovationchallenge.com/

"Interactive Lecture Demonstrations" by David Sokoloff and Ron Thornton is a classic in physics education.
It can be downloaded here. A home-adapted series of ILDs for online instruction is also available here .
Interactive Lecture Demonstrations were first presented to the broader physics community through this article published in The Physics Teacher in 1997

• The American Association of Physics Teachers 
• Committee on Physics in Two-Year Colleges (AAPT area committee)
• Join the TYC Google group: Send an email to tycphysics@googlegroups.com
• PhysPort Recommendations about teaching methods, assessment, and results from PER
• PER Central A resource collection for physics education researchers 
• Physics Review Physics Education Research Fully open access journal for PER 
• arXiv Physics education The arXiv repository for physics education papers
• AIP Statistical Research Center Data on education, careers, and diversity in physics, astronomy and other physical sciences

optycs.aapt.org

The work of OPTYCs is supported by NSF-DUE-2212807.