OPTYCs SPOTLIGHT 2024 Issue 36

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OPTYCs SPOTLIGHT 2024 Issue 36

October 24, 2024 Issue #36

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.

OPTYCs News

OPTYCs Town Hall
Monday November 4th 8:00 - 9:00 pm ET

You're invited to a community discussion on the needs of two-year college physics and astronomy faculty, and the future direction for OPTYCs!

The current grant that funds OPTYCs came in being through ideas and discussions within the community during pandemic lockdowns and regular Zoom gatherings. During the summer of 2021, a working group of 30 volunteers helped to define our community's needs, and brainstormed a vision for TYC physics. From that basis, a small group crafted the grant proposal.

We're now halfway through our grant, and it's time to chart the next part of the journey. OPTYCs is about community and we need input to remain relevant and impactful.

Three virtual session and one in-person session are planned in the upcoming months to maximize opportunities to share your feedback. As always, you can contact us if you have any suggestions.

Click here for registration and dates

OPTYCS programs

CERES: Creating Environments that Reach Every Student Program. The goal for this two-year-long program is to create a capacity-building learning community among two-year college physics-related teaching instructors to support efforts to improve student success by creating welcoming learning environments. This program builds a cohort of supportive peers who are committed to self exploration, self improvement, and working in challenging spaces so as to create classroom and institutional spaces where students feel a sense of belonging, self-efficacy, and encouragement towards growth and success.
Applications for Cohort 2 (Click here) are open until 31th October, 2024.
Sensor-Based Physics Tools Workshop (In conjunction with the AAPT Winter Meeting in St. Louis, MO) Saturday, January 18th, 2025. This workshop aims to provide two-year college faculty with tools and skills to not only create more sensor-based activities for use in their own classes, but also to lead future workshops on the same topic in their local communities. Two-year college faculty who are selected for this workshop will be reimbursed for reasonable travel costs. There is no registration fee for this workshop for accepted participants. Apply here.

Upcoming events

Teaching Introductory Astronomy October 25, 2024 from 3:00pm - 4:00pm EDT
Do you teach introductory astronomy? What are your favorite activities for engaging students and helping them understand astronomical concepts? Join the OPTYCs PER-Interest Group for an interactive sharing session. Participants are encouraged to bring their favorite activities to share. The session will also include a brief overview of some recent Astronomy Education Research (AER).
js9 Workshop November 2, 2024 from 1:00pm - 4:00pm EDT
This workshop will introduce js9, a web-based image display environment, with archival satellite data that allows students to perform astronomical analysis remotely using their browser. Facilitator: Pamela Perry (Lewiston Public Schools, Maine)
Assessment and Equity December 13, 2024 from 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm EST
In this talk, I will motivate the need for the next generation of physics assessment tools and present a few projects that my physics education research lab at Michigan State University has been working on. In particular, I will discuss our efforts to build a more diverse set of tools to use within our classrooms in order to better understand our students’ learning as well as how we can best support them throughout their time in higher education. Facilitator: Rachel Henderson (Michigan State University)

Kris’ corner

Tips, summaries, and musings from Kris Lui (OPTYCs Director)

In Inclusive Teaching: Strategies for Promoting Equity in the College Classroom (West Virginia University Press, 2022), authors Hogan and Sathy encourage embedding a growth mindset in all class activities, especially into grading. Perhaps a cumulative final exam score could replace an earlier unit exam if a student has demonstrated improvement. Put less weight on work done early in the term so that students have a chance to learn the course expectations. Allow opportunities to drop a lowest homework or quiz grade. Maybe provide re-takes in some cases. Also be sure that grades reflect student learning; to that end, avoid norm-based grading as it breeds a toxic competitiveness. As Hogan and Sathy write, “It doesn’t matter if you learned 95% of the material if half the class learned 96%; you would still earn a C.”