March 14, 2024 Issue #25

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

• North Carolina Section of the AAPT Spring Meeting March 22-23, 2024 in Myers Park HS, Charlotte, NC OPTYCs is co-sponsoring this in-person event.

• Texas Section of the AAPT Spring Meeting March 21-23, 2024 
  OPTYCs is co-sponsoring 4 workshops at this in-person meeting.

• Parallel Pedagogy 2024 Workshop April 27, 2024 from 12:00pm- 2:00pm EST
  Parallel Pedagogy is a curriculum that introduces core concepts simultaneously, helping students apply physics to different scenarios. This workshop is intended for anyone interested in curricular changes that guide students away from approaching problem-solving as plug-and-chug problems and towards improved applications of physics concepts. Facilitators  Dean Stocker (University of Cincinnati - Blue Ash College) Pete Schwartz (California Polytechnic State University) Jennifer Klay (California Polytechnic State University)

Recent OPTYCs events

• Feb 23, 2024: Scientific Reasoning/Critical Thinking in Labs PER Interest Group

• March 01 2024 Scientific Reasoning in Physics Labs - (CPDW)

Jessamyn Neuhaus describes the different aspects of preparation that are necessary for successful teaching in her book Geeky Pedagogy: A Guide for Intellectuals, Introverts, and Nerds Who Want to Be Effective Teachers. “Preparation boils down to this: never, ever assume that you and your students are on the same page.” She discusses determining clear student learning objectives that state what a successful student should be able to do, not nebulous ideas about what our students should ‘know’ or ‘understand’:  “We’re not actually teaching a subject, we’re teaching other people how to do things with and through knowledge about that subject.” Prepare your syllabus as a promise, not as a series of potential crimes and punishments. Prepare your assessments by considering what constitutes an ‘A’, and know that you’ll have to explain these criteria. Prepare carefully for the first day of class so that you build rapport with your students, indicate that you care about their learning, be authentically you, and be sure to communicate expectations clearly. Prepare for conflicts as they will occur; consider scripting possible responses to common scenarios, not by writing down specific sentences but to think about what your objectives are and what baggage students may bring to the course, class meeting, or assignment.

Tony Musumba received the Homer L. Dodge Citation for Distinguished Service to AAPT

Generative AI in STEM Symposium 2024 - Morning Keynote (Friday) by Prof. Christopher Stubbs. This is part of a series of videos from the Symposium held at MIT in January of this year. 

Unlock the potential of a Physics Education Nature publishes a focus issue on physics education  and invites PER researchers to publish their work in the journal. The focus includes a series of articles (see the list here) that are accessible to subscribers or through Institutional access.  

• 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.