Conveners
216: Plenary Talk 1
- Carissa Capuano (Virginia Commonwealth University)
216: Parallel 1
- John Ochab (Reynolds Community College)
216: Plenary Talk 2
- Kent Yagi (University of Virginia)
216: AI Panel Session
- Michael Mailey (Collegiate School)
- Darcy Mays (Virginia Commonwealth University)
- Eileen Malick (Benedictine Schools of Richmond)
216: Parallel 2
- Renee Reisenweaver (Randolph-Macon College)
216: CSAAPT Business Meeting
- Kent Yagi (University of Virginia)
216: Opening Remark
- Joseph Reiner (Virginia Commonwealth University)
216: Closing Remark
- Kent Yagi (University of Virginia)
No physics classroom is an isolated system. Our students bring their whole selves—their emotions, dreams, and life history—into our learning spaces, and they carry their classroom experiences out into the world. In this talk, we'll explore frameworks for helping students connect the idealized content of the physics classroom with the complexities of the real world. By doing so, we can empower...
We want all of our students to see themselves as “physics people.” Helping students build their physics identity is key to deepening both their engagement in our classrooms and their interest in pursuing a physics-related career. In this session, I will share the STEP UP Everyday Actions that you can do to help foster your students’ physics identity.
Who in Physics has served as a mentor to you? What did you find valuable? In what ways do you wish you had additional or different mentorship? We asked these questions to 32 undergraduate women in physics from across the U.S. as part of a larger research study examining the experiences of undergraduate women in physics. Our analysis is ongoing, yet we already note mentorship's vital role in...
This research was conducted with the goal of better understanding the experiences of undergraduate women in physics as well as understanding the role that physics-related clubs play in cultivating and maintaining physics identity in undergraduates. We coded 31 interviews with undergraduate women in physics in the U.S. to examine the way their identities were shaped by the physics clubs that...
The slope of a graph shows up everywhere in physics, whether we call it velocity, acceleration, mass or another rate of change. Yet, for many students, connecting the simple idea of “rise over run” to its real physical meaning is surprisingly difficult. They often see slope as just a line on a graph rather than a powerful tool for describing how one quantity changes with another. Helping...
2025 was declared by UNESCO to be the International Year of Quantum, in part to recognize the foundation of Quantum Mechanics that was established in the mid 1920’s by Einstein, Bohr, Schrodinger, and many other pioneers. Those scientific underpinning gave the world the foundation for the 1st Quantum Revolution that transformed our society in the 20th Century with the transistor, laser, MRI...
In this discussion, we will ask our panelists to discuss the impact of AI in our classrooms, both present and future, and how best we can utilize this emerging technology to improve student learning.
Artificial Intelligence is rapidly shifting how teachers design lessons, differentiate content, and engage students. This discussion will focus on how AI can serve as a teaching assistant for physics educators. We will explore practical classroom applications of tools such as Brisk, which integrates seamlessly with Google Docs to streamline feedback and grading; Diffit, which adapts complex...
This study explores the teaching experiences of international graduate teaching assistants (IGTAs) in undergraduate STEM classrooms at a large regional public university in the United States. Guided by Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory, specifically the concept of power distance, the study investigates how IGTAs make sense of authority and classroom dynamics in a new educational setting....
Beach balls from 4-inch to 24-inch diameter were dropped from a 5-meter high balcony to demonstrate the important effects of buoyancy, drag and spin (Magnus) forces on slow moving beach balls. These activities were part of a class taken by students during summer session. The large size to mass ratio of the beach ball allows drag and Magnus effects to be easily observed at speeds and times...
This lab activity promotes student-led inquiry and collaboration by engaging two separate physics classes in the design, execution, and evaluation of a custom experiment. In the first phase, students are tasked with independently designing a physics lab, including defining the objective, identifying relevant equations and concepts, and outlining clear procedures and materials. These...
