CSAAPT Fall 2026 Semi-Virtual Meeting / PICUP Workshop

Oct 10, 2026, 8:00 AM → Oct 11, 2026, 12:00 PM America/New_York

William & Mary, Integrated Science Center 4

This meeting is hosted by the Department of Physics at William and Mary

with additional funding from 

• Department of Physics and the College of Science at Virginia Tech 
• Departments of Physics at the University of Virginia

 

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Overview:

The Fall 2026 Meeting of the Chesapeake Section of the American Association of Physics Teachers (CSAAPT) will be held on Saturday, October 10, 2026, 8AM-5PM, followed by a PICUP Workshop on Sunday, October 11, 2026, 8AM-Noon at William & Mary in Williamsburg, VA. You can choose to attend one or both events.

The main meeting on Saturday, October 10, 2026 is semi-virtual. The in-person meeting venue will be at William & Mary. Further details can be found on the Meeting Location page. The Meeting will be broadcast on Zoom so that people from afar (both presenters and attendees) can join in.  

PICUP (Partnership for Integration of Computing into Undergraduate Physics) is a collaboration of physics educators that aims to effectively utilize computational resourses in the teaching of introductory physics. Sunday's workshop on how to accomplish this is open to physics teachers from all levels of instruction: K-12, community colleges, and 4-year colleges and universities. Please see the PICUP Workshop page for details.  

William & Mary was founded in 1693 under a royal charter issued by King William III and Queen Mary II of England, Scotland, and Ireland. It is the second oldest institution of higher education in the USA (after Harvard). Originally private, it became a state-supported public university in 1906, and coeducational in 1918. Declared one of the New Ivies by Forbes (Forbes 2025), William & Mary has a student body consisting of around 7000 undergraduate students and 3000 graduate students, and is ranked in the top 11 best value public colleges in the nation (The Princeton Review 2026).

The Department of Physics at William & Mary is part of the School of Computing, Data Sciences, and Physics. With 27 full-time faculty and about 15 adjunct and research faculty, the Department conducts research in the areas of High Energy, Nuclear, Plasma, Condensed Matter, and Atomic, Molecular, and Quantum Optical Physics.

No AAPT membership required!             
You do not have to be an AAPT member to attend. We welcome participation of all physics/science teachers and students in the region (DC, DE, MD, VA and neighboring states) as well as anyone interested in physics education, or physics in general.

About CSAAPT membership (new simplified rules):
All fee-paying in-person attendees will automatically receive CSAAPT membership effective from the day of the Fall 2026 CSAAPT meeting until the day before the Spring 2027 CSAAPT meeting, giving you the right to vote at the business meeting following the main meeting, and participate in any CSAAPT activities during that time.

If you are a zoom attendee and would like to support the activities of the CSAAPT, attend the business meeting remotely and vote, you are requested to pay the semiannual membership dues of 10.00 USD.

Lodging Support!                            
We have limited funds to provide up to $214/night for 2 nights in lodging support to high school physics teachers and community college physics faculty from within the Chesapeake region (DC, DE, MD, & VA). Please see the Travel & Lodging Info page for more details.

The semiannual CSAAPT meetings are a great forum to exchange ideas on novel teaching techniques and economical physics demonstrations, and to meet a fascinating cohort of physics education enthusiasts. Hope to see you all there!

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Featured Speakers:

Brad Miller (Spotsylvania County Schools)	Prof. Warren Christensen (North Dakota State University)

 

See the Featured Speakers page for titles, abstracts, and bios.

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PICUP Workshop:

We will host a PICUP Workshop on Sunday, October 11 from 8am to 12:30pm. Please see the PICUP Workshop page for details.

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Contributed Talks and Demos:

We solicit contributions within the following parameters:

• 15-minute talk or demo (12 minute talk + 3-minute Q&A, both in-person and via Zoom)
                    
  Talk topic/demo can be anything pertaining to physics teaching
  
  
• To submit the title and abstract of your talk, please register first and then click on Call for Abstracts in the menu
  
  
• The deadline to submit your title and abstract for talks and demos is midnight of Sunday, September 20, 2026. 
   
• We plan to have a demo share-a-thon in the afternoon. 
   
• Contributors of talks/demos will be issued certificates of presentation. These will be emailed to you after the Meeting.

 

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Registration:

• In-person attendance:                                  
   
  • Please use the in-person attendance registration form on the Registration page,  
    
    
  • The deadline to register for in-person attendance is midnight of Sunday, September 20, 2026. 
    
    
  • In-person attendees are requested the following registration fees to cover lunch and coffee, and administrative costs.
     
    • • Instructors/faculty of 2-year and 4-year colleges/universities, employees of institutions/organizations/companies : $45
      • K-12 Instructors, Retirees, Students : $35
      • 1st-time in-person attendees : $25         
      • Guests : $20           
        
        
  • There is a separate $15 registration fee for the PICUP Workshop for those who are attending it
    
    
  • The registration fees are NOT payable upon registration.  A link for you to directly pay the registration fees online will be emailed to you after the registration deadline.  
    
    
  • All fee-paying in-person attendees will automatically receive CSAAPT membership effective from the day of the meeting until the day before the Spring 2027 meeting, giving you the right to attend and vote at the business meeting.
    
     
• Remote Attendance:                                  
   
  • Please use the Zoom attendance registration form on the Registration page.                  
     
  • The deadline to register for remote attendance is midnight of Friday, October 9, 2026. 
    
    
  • There is NO registration fee for remote attendees.
    
    
  • Please note that the Zoom link for the meeting will not be made public and will only be emailed to registrants, so please pay attention to what you are receiving in your email.               
     
  • Once on Zoom, please change your Zoom name to your full name followed by your affiliation in parentheses, e.g. Jane Doe (Newark High School). This is so that we can identify your presence for the purpose of issuing your certificates of attendance.     
    
    
  • Voting at the business meeting:
    If you would like to remotely attend and vote at the business meeting, you are requested to become a CSAAPT member by paying the semiannual membership dues of 10.00 USD, which will be collected in the same manner as the registration fees for in-person attendees.  The membership period covered by these dues will start from the day of the meeting until the day before the Spring 2027 CSAAPT meeting.   
                          
     
• Certificate of Attendance/Presentation:                                  
   
  • Certificates of attendance/presentation will be issued to both in-person and virtual attendees/presenters.                                  
     
  • If you need a certificate of attendance and/or presentation, please register your name exactly as it should appear on your certificate(s).  No nicknames or pseudonyms, please.                      
     
  • A detailed program in pdf can be generated by clicking on the "PDF" button at the top of the "Timetable" page (once the timetable is available).

 

Please note: When you register, you are agreeing to abide by the AAPT Event Participation Code of Conduct. 

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Important Deadlines:

• Application for Lodging Support: Sunday, September 13, 2026
• Hotel room-block cutoff (Spark by Hilton): Wednesday, September 9, 2026 [new deadline]
• Hotel room-block cutoff (Hampton Inn & Suites): Friday, September 18, 2026
• Submission of talk and demo abstracts: Sunday, September 20, 2026
• Registration for in-person attendance: Sunday, September 20, 2026
• Registration for virtual attendance: Friday, October 9, 2026

 

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Organizational Committee:

Joshua Erlich (Chair, William & Mary, VA)
Kent Yagi (CSAAPT President, University of Virginia, VA)
Jency Sundararajan (CSAAPT Vice President, University of Virginia, VA)
CeeCee Bishop (Chesapeake Bay Governor's School, VA)
Larry Engelhardt (Francis Marion University, SC)
James Freericks (Georgetown University, DC)
Ethan Kantz (Academies of Loudoun / William & Mary, VA)
Muge Karagoz (UMD College Park, MD)
Elena Kuchina (Virginia Peninsula Community College, VA)
Sithy Maharoof (Stevenson University, MD)
David Morgan (Richard Bland College, VA)
Carl Mungan (USNA, MD)
Jason Sterlace (James Madison University, VA)
Tatsu Takeuchi (Virginia Tech, VA)
Stewart Williamson (Collegiate School, VA)

Google Map of Attendee Institutions

Saturday, October 10

8:00 AM Registration & Breakfast

auditorium: Opening Remark

Convener: Joshua Erlich (William & Mary)

auditorium: Plenary Talk 1

Conveners: CeeCee Bishop (Chesapeake Bay Governor's School), Joshua Erlich (William & Mary)

1 Using Challenges to synthesize student understanding of Physics Concepts, and having a fun Physics Day at the end of grading periods

In this session I will demonstrate how I use "Challenges" like the Mousetrap 500 (Construct a car that travels the furthest distance powered by one pull of a standard mousetrap) to introduce students to Physics Concepts, but also have a good time participating in a "Physics Day" at the end of a grading period.

Speaker: Brad Miller (Spotsylvania County Public Schools)

9:45 AM Break

Room 2: Parallel 1

Conveners: David Morgan (Richard Bland College), Jency Sundararajan (University of Virginia)

2 Implementing Dual Enrollment Honors Physics: Pedagogical Shift, Administrative Alignment, and the ISLE Framework

Integrating secondary physics coursework with higher education expectations through Dual Enrollment (DE) models introduces distinct pedagogical and operational challenges. This presentation examines the alignment of a high school Honors Physics curriculum with Hagerstown Community College’s (HCC) PHS 103 course, emphasizing the significant transition required when moving from a traditional reading- and equation-focused course to an inquiry-driven instructional model. Central to this implementation is the Investigative Science Learning Environment (ISLE) approach, which restructures the learning environment around observational, testing, and application experiments—deliberately avoiding premature mathematical derivations while building rigorous conceptual understanding. We detail specific scaffolding tools, such as Ranking Tasks and Equation Jeopardy, designed to reinforce unit analysis, problem categorization, and physical reasoning. Additionally, we address the practicalities of maintaining course integrity for future educators and health practitioners, managing the extensive teacher time required to build coherent, inquiry-based resources, and coordinating common assessment standards and laboratory equipment across district high schools.

Speaker: Mr Andres Akamine (Boonsboro High School)

3 Education and Outreach Activities at QCoR, UMD College Park

The Quantum Collaborative Research Corps (QCoR) is a research organization based at the University of Maryland College Park (UMD-CP) and embedded within the Laboratory of Physical Sciences Qubit Collaboratory (LQC). In addition to advancing quantum information science and technology towards quantum computing, developing the next generation quantum workforce through education and public outreach is one of the core missions of QCoR. In collaboration with LQC and UMD-CP, we facilitate student and scientist training and mentorship, initiate workforce development pathways, and engage with outreach activities to expand the quantum workforce and public understanding of quantum science and technology. In this talk, I will outline our current workforce development efforts, report on the summer internship (EQuIPT) and post-baccalaureate fellowship programs, and will aim to reach out to regional K-12 and HE institutions for future opportunities.

Speaker: Dr Muge Karagoz

4 PhysicsFest at William&Mary

I will briefly review a history and structure of PhysicsFest - the annual WM Physics department open house, and will share some of the crowd favorite activities and events. Since the event is mostly organized by undergraduate students, I will share my thoughts on why participating in outreach provides many benefits for student organizers and volunteers.

Speaker: Irina Novikova (William&Mary)

5 Get Your Fill of Capitol Hill: Advocating for Federal Science Policy as a Physics Instructor

I recently participated in the Congressional Visits Day (CVD) program co-sponsored by the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) and the American Astronomical Society (AAS), stepping out of the classroom to advocate directly on Capitol Hill. In this presentation, I will share key takeaways regarding the major issues facing physics and astronomy research and education at the federal level—including research funding, critical teacher workforce shortages, and the challenges of navigating shifting executive branch priorities and policy uncertainties. My main goal is to demystify congressional outreach and show just how accessible it is for us educators to schedule meetings and talk with our representatives in Congress. Attendees will leave with an up-to-date overview of federal STEM policy issues, practical strategies for framing classroom realities for representatives, and an actionable roadmap for stepping into their own role in national advocacy.

Speaker: Elissa Levy (Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology)

Room 3: Parallel 1

Conveners: Mr Jason Sterlace (James Madison University), Kent Yagi (University of Virginia)

6 Real Hands-On Active Learning Activities in a Physics of Sports Class

Real hands-on active learning projects as part of a Physics of Sports class will be presented. Advanced high school, college athlete, and liberal arts students take this class to satisfy elective requirements. Results from Magnus force lift coefficient measurements by the students will be presented including a demonstration of a homemade device, based on skateboard wheels, to spin up beach balls, soccer balls, basketballs, etc. in the range of 5 to 20 revolutions per second (rps). This device allows us to vary the spin frequency and eliminate any accidental initial linear motion. Results of the Magnus Force measurements from different student groups with constant force approximation will be presented and compared to a full model calculation. Other activities conducted by the students included the measurement of their hangtime by jumping vertically off a force plate, measurement of the acceleration of falling projectiles used in sports (effective g), and determination of coefficient of restitution (COR) of bouncing balls. PASCO Capstone with sensors and student iPhones were used in various aspects of these measurements.

Speakers: Prof. Richard Lindgren (University of Virginia), Dr William A. Tobias (University of Virginia)

7 Obstacles as Opportunities: Designing Labs That Cultivate Discovery

This talk presents a non‑worksheet lab manual for the mechanics course designed to cultivate genuine experimental skills rather than verify textbook results. The approach replaces prescriptive procedures with open‑ended investigation, prompting students to make measurement choices, confront uncertainty, and interpret obstacles as opportunities for discovery. By shifting motivation away from copying AI‑generated work, the manual helps students understand how experiments are constructed and why unexpected outcomes matter. Early use shows stronger reasoning, more resilient problem‑solving, and deeper engagement with empirical physics. The talk will also outline how this framework extends into the second‑semester laboratory sequence, creating a coherent, inquiry‑driven experience across the introductory physics curriculum.

Speaker: Prof. Elena Kuchina (Virginia Peninsula Community College)

8 Building a Local College–High School Physics Teaching Partnership – A PhysTEC Project

PhysTEC (Physics Teacher Education Coalition), a joint effort of the American Physical Society (APS) and the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT), aims to address the severe national shortage of qualified high school physics teachers. Supported by a PhysTEC capacity-building grant, a faculty member at Delaware State University—an HBCU—has developed a collaborative partnership with an early-career physics teacher at Dover High School within the local school district. This partnership aims at strengthening local K-12 physics education and expanding student pathways into STEM careers. Key efforts of the current project period include launching an Advanced Placement (AP) Physics course at Dover High School, collaborative curriculum design, classroom visits, and monthly mentoring meeting. Additionally, this partnership creates a direct pipeline to higher education by bringing Dover High School students to DSU for lab tours, engineering activities, summer research opportunities, and a dedicated "DSU Day in Physics and Engineering." By boosting student interest and readiness, this initiative aims to increase college applications to physics and engineering programs while cultivating the next generation of secondary physics educators. We will present the project planning and implementation strategies at the CSAAPT meeting.

Speakers: Michael Price (Dover High School), Qi Lu (Delaware State University)

auditorium: Parallel 1

Conveners: James Freericks (Georgetown University), Larry Engelhardt (Francis Marion University (Florence, SC))

9 When the Irreversible Becomes Reversible

Suppose you have a beaker of water at 100°C and a second beaker containing an equal amount of water at 0°C. If you bring them into thermal contact and wait, both will reach 50°C. That heat exchange is irreversible. There is another way to bring these samples of water into thermal contact so that they exchange temperatures. The 100°C mass ends up at 0°C, and the 0°C sample at 100°C. Clearly this heat exchange is reversible. How do you do it? No heat exchanges with any other object (such as a heat engine) occur. It's not magic; it's just physics. (Although some people might say those are synonyms.) Think carefully about what a reversible heat exchange between two objects requires. Are you sure it's necessary that the two objects be infinitesimally different in temperature?

Speaker: Carl Mungan (U.S. Naval Academy)

MunganCSAAPT.pdf

MunganCSAAPT.pptx

10 Relativity on Rotated Graph Paper: Diagrams for the Muon Experiment

We analyze the Muon Experiment problem in Special Relativity using the author's Relativity on Rotated Graph Paper. After briefly introducing our method to visualize tickmarks on a spacetime diagram, we show how to calculate graphically using the counting of ticks and simple algebra. Using a simpler numerical example, we construct the diagram for the muon problem. We interpret the situation in the lab frame and in the muon frame. Finally, we use the more realistic values to obtain the standard numerical results. With more motivation for students, we feel that this approach can be used in an introductory algebra-based physics course.

Speaker: ROBERTO SALGADO (Hampton U)

11 From Discrete Pattern to Continuous Motion: Galileo’s Law of Odd Numbers

Galileo’s odd-number sequence, $1, 3, 5, \ldots$, is not itself the physical motion of a uniformly accelerating object; rather, it is a dimensionless discrete representation of that motion. Continuous uniformly accelerated motion is recovered by assigning physical distance and time scales to this mathematical pattern and examining how those scales transform as the observation interval is progressively refined.

As the observation frequency increases by a factor of $n$, the elementary time interval scales as $1/n$, while the corresponding elementary distance scales as $1/n^2$. The dimensionless odd-number sequence remains unchanged under this refinement, while the physical scale associated with each term changes systematically. The resulting $n^2$ scaling follows from the quadratic dependence of displacement on time and provides a concrete example of a more general finite-difference principle: for a function whose relevant increment scales as a homogeneous quantity of degree $p$, the corresponding discrete sequence exhibits an $n^p$ scaling under refinement.

This framework also suggests accessible extensions for students. Uniform motion, for example, produces the sequence $1, 1, 1, \ldots$, with linear scaling by $n$, while a cubic position law produces the sequence $1, 7, 19, 37, \ldots$, with scaling by $n^3$. These examples allow students to investigate how different continuous functional relationships are encoded in discrete numerical patterns.

By distinguishing among the abstract numerical pattern, its geometric representation, physical dimensions, measurement units, and the numerical values assigned to those quantities, students can see more clearly how continuous physical behavior is represented through discrete mathematics. In this framework, the limit $\Delta t \rightarrow 0$ is not a change to the underlying mathematical pattern; rather, it is a refinement of the physical scale used to map that enduring discrete structure onto continuous motion.

[1] J. Fiala, “From Discrete Pattern to Continuous Motion: Galileo’s Law of Odd Numbers,” The Physics Teacher, under review.

Speaker: Jan Fiala

12 A variation of the cart, string, pulley, and weight problem

A cart on a horizontal track attached to a string which goes over a pulley with a weight hanging on the other end is a well known acceleration problem. But what happens if two carts facing each other are attached to the ends of a string with the weight in the middle? The string is supported by two pulleys on both sides of the weight an equal distance away, and the weight falls into a gap in the table. What are the accelerations of the weight and carts in this setup? Will they be the same and constant as in the usual setup, or will they change with time? If they are time dependent, how do they change? The solution will be discussed in this talk.

Speaker: Tatsu Takeuchi (Virginia Tech)

11:00 AM Break

Room 2: Parallel 2

Conveners: Mr Jason Sterlace (James Madison University), Jency Sundararajan (University of Virginia)

13 Teaching Computation as we enter the Foothills of AGI

This year, programming changed dramatically. I will share my experiences and outlook on teaching computational physics at this amazing moment in history. I am currently teaching both a sophomore-level course "Computational Methods for Physics and Engineering" and a senior-level "Advanced Computational Physics"; and I will talk about how AI use relates to both of these courses.

Speaker: Larry Engelhardt (Francis Marion University (Florence, SC))

14 Rediscovering Placentinus and "De Percussione"

For several years I have used Descartes's and Huygens's pre-Newtonian collision rules as writing-and-reasoning exercises in introductory physics, asking students two questions: does the rule seem right, and can you show whether it agrees with momentum conservation? While searching for the full-text of Huygens's primary source "Concerning the motion of colliding bodies", I came across a 51-page handwritten Latin treatise with a similar title — De percussione et legibus motus corporum percussorum libellus. The work was attributed to Jacobus Placentinus and cataloged "ca. 1680." Unable to find any Latin translation or discussion of the work in any history of science literature, I let the work sit idle in my files for many years.

I recently rediscovered the treatise and realized it might be possible nowadays to make use of AI/LLM tools to help transcribe and translate the text. In my talk I will describe the context and content of the work itself, my original botched and hallucination-riddled AI translation, and the discovery that the pre-Principia 1680 date given by the Smithsonian library listings for the work was in fact completely wrong. (The work was written after 1706!) In addition to exploring the state of understanding of momentum-conservation in the early 1700s and this work's place among other writing on the topic, I will discuss the promises and pitfalls of using AI/LLM assistants for this sort of linguistic and historical work. I will end with a few introductory physics questions based on Placentinus's understanding of momentum and collisions.

Speaker: David Morgan (Richard Bland College)

15 Teaching Writing in Physics: an Interdisciplinary Approach

A common observation of physics faculty and professionals hiring physics graduates is that undergraduate students have deficient physics-specific writing skills. Underlying issues include the fact that students are not often exposed to authentic writing experiences as part of their curriculum, and physics faculty may not feel qualified to teach writing. Scholarship focused on writing transfer, defined as the ability to apply the writing skills and knowledge learned in one context in a new writing context, suggests that students need support with transfer-focused writing skills such as genre and audience awareness and that these are skills that students can be trained in. I will discuss an interdisciplinary effort, by faculty of physics and writing studies, to develop a writing in physics curriculum, using a scaffolded approach and threshold concepts from writing studies, such as genre, audience, and purpose. Students are given the methodological tools to approach writing, and the instruction includes structured peer feedback that is connected to the instructor's feedback and grading. This has led to improvements in the written and oral communication skills of students in a broad range of genres and for various audiences. Course materials developed for this effort are publicly available to the community.

Speaker: Alexander van der Horst

16 An experimental-driven introduction to developing the quantum formalism for spin in a Modern Physics class

Spin is typically the first encounter students have with intrinsically quantum degrees of freedom, yet its mathematical formalism is often postulated in an abstract manner that removes it from its experimental roots. We present a sophomore-level instructional approach in which the spin-1/2 formalism is developed directly from experimentally motivated phenomena. Beginning with Stern–Gerlach experiment, which motivates the z-component of spin operator as related to the experimental measurements, we also discuss magnetic resonance, which can transition the state from up to down (or vice versa), which motivates the spin raising and lowering operators. Commutation relations follow from these definitions because applying the product of two operators to a state depends on the order that they are applied. One also can quickly define the Cartesian spin operators and the total magnitude squared of spin by pushing the reasoning further. This allows you to fully develop the su(2) algebra from experimental considerations. With these results in hand, one can have students determine states of definite spin along arbitrary oriented axes. The approach emphasizes the connection between experimental procedures and mathematical structure, allowing students to see the algebra of spin as a logical consequence of empirical facts rather than as an abstract postulate. We describe how this approach fits into our teaching of quantum mechanics in a Modern Physics course. The work presented here is part of a project to re-envision the quantum mechanics component of a Modern Physics course to emphasize experiment and classical thinking as pillars upon which quantum mechanics is built.

Speaker: James Freericks (Georgetown University)

17 Escaping Schrödinger’s Swamp: Putting the Right Spin on Quantum Mechanics

Quantum Mechanics is the upper-level undergraduate course that is often the most challenging in the core curriculum for physics majors. While most courses follow the more traditional track of starting with Schrödinger’s Equation and wave functions in position space, a recent trend favors an alternate approach that instead exposes students to simple spin-½ systems at the beginning. In the conventional curriculum, students often get mired in calculus and differential equations, which obscures the important and elegant fundamentals of QM. Many of the basic concepts (eigenvectors, operators, measurement) are firmly anchored not in calculus, but in linear algebra, including vector spaces, basis sets, etc. The spins-first approach gives students extensive experience with the mechanics of QM in the forms of Dirac and matrix notation, allowing them to focus on these new features and confront the physics that runs counter to classical mechanics.

After teaching QM for the first time in the Fall 2025 semester using the conventional method, we opted to “take the plunge” and embrace the spins-first approach in the current Fall 2026 semester. We have also added a low-stakes supplemental session that addresses the linear algebra alongside the quantum concepts discussed in class, enabling an open discussion forum and strengthening the students’ facility with the abstract math needed for QM. Thus far, we find that the students are motivated by the spins-first approach and readily engage in the supplemental sessions, appreciating the chance for discussions and clarifications of the linear algebra concepts with which they sometimes struggle. These sessions also leave time for the broader elements of QM, such as its interesting history, double-slit interference, entanglement, and proposed explanations of the measurement problem. In this talk, the background for this course focused on spins first will be presented, and some evidence for the validity of this approach will be provided.

Speaker: Gerald Feldman (George Washington University)

atrium: Demo Make-and-Take Workshop

Convener: Richard Terwilliger (Retired Physics/Earth Science Teacher - Suffern Central School District, Suffern, NY)

18 Make-n-Take Workshop

Participants in this Make and Take session will construct four different projects. The first is a simple device that converts a pen laser that produces a point laser into a line laser that can be used to demonstrate many physics principles. Next a corner box will be constructed alongside a total internal reflection demonstration model that can be related to many practical everyday applications. Lastly, a PVC sound horn will be built that will blow you and your students away and can be related to closed tube resonance and different musical instruments. This Make-and-Take workshop is limited to twenty participants.

Speaker: Richard Terwilliger (Retired Physics/Earth Science Teacher - Suffern Central School District, Suffern, NY)

CSAAPT Make-and-Take 09-2026.pptx

auditorium: Parallel 2

Conveners: Elena Kuchina (Virginia Peninsula Community College), Kent Yagi (University of Virginia)

19 Maintaining Rigor, Expanding Assessment: Applying UDL in Physics

Physics courses appropriately emphasize rigorous problem solving, mathematical reasoning, laboratory skills, and examinations. Universal Design for Learning (UDL), specifically Multiple Means of Action and Expression, encourages providing students with varied ways to demonstrate their learning. In physics, however, instructors may be hesitant to expand the ways students demonstrate mastery when rigor and quantitative problem solving are central to the discipline.
This presentation explores a different way of applying the UDL principle of Multiple Means of Action and Expression: rather than focusing primarily on providing multiple ways to complete the same assessment, broaden the assessment portfolio to capture different dimensions of physics learning.
Using examples from introductory physics courses, the presentation will discuss how instructors can examine existing assessments through a UDL lens, identify learning outcomes and potential barriers, and develop complementary assessment opportunities while maintaining the rigor and expectations of physics instruction.

Speaker: Sithy Maharoof

20 3 Read Exam Taking Strategy

The lack of proper test taking strategies is a source of much anxiety in teens and lower scores than what reflects true understanding. Especially in technical subjects like Physics. Over nearly a decade in the classroom and multiple sciences I have devised a universal testing strategy that helps unlock long term memory and reduce anxiety. I will walk attendees through how the strategy works and how to teach it to students.

Speaker: Shannon Payne (Newport News Public Schools)

21 Beyond Plug & Chug: Learning Tasks for Understanding Physics

Every introductory physics teachers knows the frustration of a student saying "just tell me what to plug in!" If we want to move our students towards a deeper conceptual understanding of physics, we have to move beyond giving plug and chug type tasks. In this presentation, I will give you more than 30 types of learning tasks that can be used with any physics content, along with examples and tips for implementation.

Speaker: CeeCee Bishop (Chesapeake Bay Governor's School)

22 When AI Becomes the Grader: Comparing LLMs Versus Human Graders on Physics Essays

Grading open-ended physics work is tedious, time-consuming, and impractical for large courses. With the emergence of large language models (LLMs) and their ongoing improvements in problem-solving capabilities, a question arises: Can AI meaningfully evaluate students’ conceptual explanations in complex domains such as quantum mechanics? This research study examines AI-assisted grading by comparing trained human grading with AI-generated grading on conceptual essay responses from an online quantum mechanics course. Using a shared rubric, we analyze the level of agreement among graders and with Google Gemini, and investigate how each group interprets and applies evaluative criteria. The results highlight where AI evaluation aligns with human judgment, where it diverges, and what these differences reveal about grading validity, rubric interpretation, and student reasoning in conceptual quantum mechanics. Ultimately, the study raises a central question for physics education: should AI be trusted to grade students’ thinking, and if so, under what conditions?

Speaker: Jason Tran (Georgetown University)

23 Grading Multiple-Choice Questions via Partial Elimination

A method for multiple-choice questions is presented that—by focusing on the elimination of wrong choices—considers varying levels of student (mis)understanding, offers partial credit, and allows for simple, automated grading, just like a conventional method

Speaker: Atsushi Yoshida (University of Virginia)

Room 3: High School Teacher Meet and Greet

Convener: CeeCee Bishop (Chesapeake Bay Governor's School)

24 High School Teacher Meet and Greet

Meet up with other high school physics teachers to network, share ideas, and build community.

Speaker: CeeCee Bishop (Chesapeake Bay Governor's School)

12:30 PM lunch

auditorium: Plenary Talk 2

Conveners: Dr Muge Karagoz, Tatsu Takeuchi (Virginia Tech)

25 Investigations into Student Reasoning on Mathematics across the Domains of Physics and Physics

Physics Education Research aims to investigate the teaching and learning of University-level physics through qualitative and quantitative methods. Dr. Christensen’s work extends this work across the boundaries of Mathematics and Physics, investigating what mathematicians and physicists value about mathematics, as well as how math is taught in math classes compared with how physics classes expect students to use much of that mathematics. Knowing that mathematics often serves as a barrier for continued success in physics, he seeks to identify the ways in which math is presented in class, how it’s used in problem solving, and, most importantly, the nuanced ways in which students reason about it. He’s identified disconnects in the areas of coordinate systems, vectors, derivatives and integration. Using textbook analysis, classroom observations, free-response questions, and student and faculty interviews, Dr. Christensen will present on many of the challenges facing students and the content areas where students need support to find success as they consider the mathematics we as physicists expect them to embrace.

Speaker: Dr Warren Christensen (North Dakota State University)

2:45 PM Group Photo & Break

Room 2: Parallel 3

Conveners: James Freericks (Georgetown University), Dr Muge Karagoz

26 Misinformation Mondays: Navigating Scientific Information and Expertise in Physics Classrooms

How can we use our physics classrooms to address scientific misinformation? A renewed vision of scientific literacy emphasizes how citizens interact with scientific knowledge, institutions, and expertise. The breadth of this challenge for educators is daunting. This talk will address what students and instructors need to learn to navigate scientific information and expertise as competent outsiders, including the role of informed trust and the social structures through which scientific knowledge is created, vetted and maintained. Using an example lesson, I will introduce Misinformation Mondays, a low-overhead classroom activity designed to support instructor learning and provide an adaptable framework for incorporating these ideas into physics instruction.

Speaker: Rachele Dominguez (Randolph-Macon College)

27 Virtual Science Teachers: Helping Students Think Like Scientists Through Real-World Data

Virtual Science Teachers creates free, ready-to-use digital resources that help learners explore phenomena, analyze data, and support explanations with evidence. This fast-paced presentation will demonstrate a physics-focused gradual graph reveal and highlight VST Graph Skill Builders, simulations, graphing tools, interactives, and bell ringers. Attendees will learn about a free and curated collection of resources they can use or adapt for middle school, high school, introductory college, virtual, teacher-education, and informal learning settings.

Speaker: Suzanne Sprague (Virtual Science Teachers)

28 K-12 Quantum Education Programs: Access and Reach

In what has been called the second quantum revolution, quantum information science and technology (QIST) is moving out of the labs and into commercial space. Investments and efforts of government, industry, and higher education have accelerated. Economic development reports more than 2 job openings for every qualified individual. As quantum technology emerges, who has access to the educational opportunities and the well-paying jobs QIST will enable? This presentation aims to characterize K-12 quantum education student and teacher PD programs' current access and reach. It is presented through an ArcGIS map, telling a geographic story about the relationships between socioeconomic, educational, policy and industrial geographic information. However, as we develop efforts that ensure that all students have meaningful opportunities to engage with QIST, interviews with 10 K-12 quantum education program leaders reveal the goals of K-12 quantum education remain undecided.

Speaker: Laura Akesson (Department of Energy)

4:00 PM .

Room 3: Parallel 3

Conveners: Carl Mungan (U.S. Naval Academy), David Morgan (Richard Bland College)

29 The Vertical Force Table

This very low-cost vertical force table produces excellent results (less that 2% error) which relates the equilibrium of two forces to the weight applied and reinforces to students the application of vectors both in the classroom and in everyday life. Setup is easy and students can change the settings in seconds allowing them to examine different vector scenarios.

Speaker: Richard Terwilliger (Retired Physics/Earth Science Teacher - Suffern Central School District, Suffern, NY)

CSAAPT The Vertical Force Table 09-2026.pptx

30 Series of Mini Demos

1. Hurdy Gurdy (1 min) How the Hurdy Gurdy can demonstrate mechanical acoustic coupling
2. DMV Reaction Drop Card (1 min) The DMV reaction card is used to determine the reaction time of students. Students can use this to calculate the distance travelled before hitting the brakes.
3. The Inverse Relationship (1 min) A very effective demonstration that helps students visualize how distance affects magnitudes where the inverse relationship applies.
4. The Resonance Bar (2-3 mins) This demonstration is used to show nodes, antinodes, the fundamental frequency, overtones, standing waves and the relationship between frequency and wavelength.
5. Total Internal reflection Tank (2 mins) This device can demonstrate reflection, refraction and total internal reflection.
6. Standing Wave Generator (2 mins) Create standing waves that show Multiple nodes and antinodes.

Speaker: Richard Terwilliger (Retired Physics/Earth Science Teacher - Suffern Central School District, Suffern, NY)

CSAAPT Mini Demonstration Presentation 09-2026.pptx

31 From Random Rolls to Real Physics: Demonstrations of Decay and Discovery

This session features two classroom‑ready demonstrations drawn from particle‑physics–inspired QuarkNet activities. Participants will model radioactive decay using dice to explore half‑life, mean lifetime, and the probabilistic nature of particle processes. They will also reenact Rutherford’s indirect‑measurement technique by rolling marbles toward hidden targets and using collision statistics to infer size—mirroring how physicists probe structures they cannot directly observe. Both demonstrations require minimal materials, scale easily for outreach or workshops, and highlight how simple experiments can build authentic data‑analysis skills. Attendees will leave with adaptable activities that bring modern physics practices into introductory courses while strengthening students’ intuition for randomness, modeling, and discovery.

Speaker: Elena Kuchina (Virginia Peninsula Community College)

32 Demonstrating Sound Waves Using a Laser.

Sound is a part of everyone's daily life. It is an oscillation produced from pressure waves
that travels through gases, liquids, and solids. Although sound and light are both waves,
sound waves are not visible to the human eye. This demo will visualize the frequencies
and amplitudes of sound waves by reflecting light off of a vibrating surface. To do this a
balloon is stretched onto an open end of a hollow cylindrical object with the other end
left uncovered. A mirror is placed onto the center of the balloon and a laser is focused
so that it will reflect off of the mirror and onto another surface. Then noise or a specific
frequency sent into the open end of the cylindrical object, causing the balloon and mirror
to vibrate. When this happens the laser that is reflected will move in patterns in
accordance with the mirror’s vibrations. Because sound waves oscillate in a specific
way to each frequency, this demonstration shows how those waves can be visualized
providing another way to observe and understand how they behave

Speaker: Molly Murphy (Christopher Newport University)

auditorium: Parallel 3

Conveners: CeeCee Bishop (Chesapeake Bay Governor's School), Jency Sundararajan (University of Virginia)

33 Impact of Math Prerequisites on Student Performance in Calculus-Based Intro Physics

In recent years, the growing number of incoming freshmen who struggle with math placement has led to concerns about retention and on-time graduation rates for students in physics and engineering. To address these issues, VCU Physics recently changed the math requirements for our calculus-based “University Physics” sequence. In this talk, I will share early findings on student performance following this change and discuss how these outcomes compare with our expectations.

Speaker: Carissa Capuano (Virginia Commonwealth University)

34 Physics First: teaching physics to high school freshmen regardless of prerequisites

Physics is traditionally a junior or senior class, often treated as an elective in public schools, typically requiring algebra two as a corequisite. In Albemarle County, we have begun a new program where all incoming freshmen take physics regardless of mathematical progression. I will be going over the goals and benefits of a physics first program, and how we deal with the challenges that come with it.

Speaker: Tommy Bertram (ACPS)

35 When Learning Resources Are Everywhere, How Should We Reimagine Human Support? Perspectives from Introductory Physics

Drawing on over a decade of teaching, the question motivating this talk emerged most clearly from my experience with large-enrollment introductory physics courses. During six semesters as a member of an instructional team at Michigan Technological University, these courses collectively served nearly 1,000 students from diverse science and engineering disciplines. The question has become newly relevant in PHYS 2306 at Virginia Tech, a large-enrollment course serving nearly 1,000 students across multiple instructors; I currently teach 351 students across three lecture sections.
Students now learn through lectures, recitations, textbooks, videos, recordings, worked solutions, peers, and digital or AI-based tools. Why, despite these resources and instructors’ availability, is direct human support used relatively little?
An anonymous Learning Pulse survey in my current course offers an exploratory perspective. Among 132 voluntary respondents, students commonly reported beginning with asynchronous resources because they are immediate, flexible, and do not require a precisely formulated question. Yet many expressed interest in structured human interaction, particularly small-group problem-solving, topic-centered sessions, guided peer discussion, and online access.
Rather than offering a definitive solution, this talk asks what human support should provide when information and solutions are widely available. I will share observations from both instructional settings, preliminary student perspectives, and an emerging experiment that reframes office hours—which I call Student Hours to make them more inviting—as topic-focused in-person and online problem-solving sessions. Although grounded in introductory physics, the discussion will invite participants to consider whether these patterns arise primarily from the non-major service-course context or signal a broader shift in how students seek and use human support across disciplines.

Speaker: Dr Pritam Mandal (Virginia Tech)

36 Developing Metacognition and Building Community through Discussion Activities in a Physics Course

TBA

Speaker: Alfredo Sánchez (University of Delaware)

auditorium: Closing Remark

Convener: Kent Yagi (University of Virginia)

auditorium: Business Meeting

Convener: Kent Yagi (University of Virginia)