final-program-12-23-14-3

Monday afternoon
ED04:
70
5-5:30 p.m. Tinker, Thinker, Maker and CEO: Reimagining
the Physics Student as Engineer, Inventor, and
Entrepreneur
Invited – Crystal Bailey, American Physical Society, One Physics Ellipse
College Park, MD 20740; bailey@aps.org
We live in an era of immense opportunity for physics graduates: their
scientific training helps to make them key members of industry teams
developing new technologies, or translating cutting-edge research into
viable products. Physics as a discipline stands to make tremendous
gains by implementing new educational approaches that provide
training for success in what is increasingly the largest employment
base for physicists: the private sector. In this talk, I will examine the
role of physicist as innovator and how this role intersects with other
similar STEM disciplines (such as engineering), and provide some
insight into how implementing physics innovation and entrepreneurship
(PIE) education will benefit both physics departments and the
students they serve, regardless of students’ eventual career choices. I
will also talk about some exciting new PIE related developments in
the physics community, and provide information about how educators
can get involved in this growing movement.
Session EE: Teaching Sustainability
in Non-major Courses
Location: Executive 3A/3B
Sponsor: Committee on Science Education for the Public
Co-Sponsor: Committee on Physics in Undergraduate Education
Date: Monday, January 5
Time: 3:30–5:30 p.m.
Presider: Juan Burciaga
EE01: 3:30-4 p.m. Building Physics as an Avenue for
Sustainability Studies
Invited – Robert H. Knapp,* Evergreen State College, 2700 Evergreen
Parkway, Olympia, WA 98505; knappr@evergreen.edu
Buildings, homes, and workplaces, are a key challenge for sustainability.
Almost half of U.S. energy use goes to the building sector,
along with other large environmental effects. Progress requires both
scientific understanding of constraints and opportunities, and human
understanding of building uses and meanings. Physics is at work in
buildings in multiple ways, from structures to heating/cooling to
lighting to machinery and appliances. So are values, memories and
experiences. Non-science students can readily understand the science
conceptually and semi-quantitatively, but rightly wish it merged
with non-science considerations, whether personal (the beauty of a
rainbow) or collective (productivity in a day-lit office). From 15 years
of teaching beginning environmental design students in a liberal
arts context, this talk brings forward key physics concepts related to
sustainable buildings, including heat transfer, solar electricity and
daylighting, as well as approaches for science/non-science convergence
in studying them.
*Sponsored by Juan Burciaga
EE02: 4-4:30 p.m. Environmental Physics as Part of a
Sustainability Certificate and Degree
Invited – Kyle Forinash, Natural Sciences, 4201 Grant Line Rd., New
Albany, IN 47150; kforinas@ius.edu
An environmental science course for non-science majors has been
taught annually by the physics department at Indiana University
Southeast for about 10 years. The course focuses on energy (fossil
fuels, conversion process, first and second law of thermodynamics,
renewable energy) and introduces students to many important conceptual
principles of introductory physics. Recently it has become the
core course for a certificate in sustainability available on our campus.
We are planning to eventually increase interdisciplinary course offerings
so that a BA degree in sustainability can be offered. My talk will
EE03:
first discuss the contents of our science course and then offer some
suggestions for getting other disciplines involved in creating a certificate
and/or BA degree in sustainability.
4:30-5 p.m. Earth Literacy Across the Curriculum: New
Materials from InTeGrate
Invited – Anne E. Egger, Central Washington University, 400 E. University
Way, Ellensburg, WA 98926-7418; annegger@geology.cwu.edu
Cathryn Manduca, Science Education Resource Center, Carleton
College
David Steer, University of Akron
Kim Kastens, Education Development Center
InTeGrate is NSF’s STEP Center in the geosciences that seeks to
increase the Earth literacy of all students such that they are better
positioned to make sustainable decisions in their lives and as part of
broader society. Our approach involves rigorous, rubric-based development
of curricular materials that use best practices from research
on learning, are focused by engagement with grand challenges faced
by society, and are suitable for use in diverse institutional, disciplinary,
and course settings. Assessment and evaluation data from the
first round of teaching with these new materials suggest that students
gain skills in interdisciplinary problem solving, show improvements
in Earth literacy, and show increased motivation towards sustainable
behaviors. All of our resources are (or will become) freely available on
the InTeGrate website: http://serc.carleton.edu/integrate/index.html.
EE04:
5-5:30 p.m. A Renewable Energy Course Emphasizing
Student Role as Change Agent
Invited – Alexi C. Arango, Mount Holyoke College, 50 College St., South
Hadley, MA 01075-1424; aarango@mtholyoke.edu
The strategy underlying our course on renewable energy, a course
that regularly attracts over 45 non-major students per semester, is
to regard students as change agents, engaging a largely math phobic
population to embrace mathematical problem solving. The material is
presented as training for activists, with facts and figures as instruments
of persuasion, underlying scientific knowledge as the genesis
of sound solutions, and cooperative group problem solving as an essential
team forming skill. Three central objectives are to (1) account
for energy usage of every personal daily activity, (2) determine the
size of renewable energy resources, and (3) develop a realistic pathway
toward widespread renewable energy production coupled with aggressive
gains in energy efficiency. Context-rich problems are designed
to reinforce the notion that simple mathematical calculations can
profoundly upend conventional wisdom and serve as springboards for
important discussions.
EE05:
3:30-5:30 p.m. Broadening Student Exposure to
Sustainability: New Course Development
Poster – Barbra K. Maher, 13300 W. Sixth Ave., Lakewood, CO 80228;
barbra.maher@rrcc.edu
Lynnette Hoerner, Red Rocks Community College
Incorporating sustainability into non-major science classes has been a
focus of curriculum development at Red Rocks Community College.
New labs have been written for physics classes of all levels that deal
with sustainability. In addition to infusing existing curriculum, we
developed several new course offerings to expand student exposure
to sustainability and energy issues. Energy Science and Technology
(PHY107) is an introductory level, lab-based course exploring many
aspects of energy. Introduction to Climatology (MET151) is a new
lecture course for non-science majors. Science and Society (SCI105)
is a lecture course that focuses heavily on energy and climate change.
Field Studies in Energy (PHY208) is a field course that will allow
students to study energy topics in locations such as Iceland, Colorado,
and Wyoming. These new offerings are generating student interest
and excitement about energy, climate, and the relevance of sustainability
in their lives.
WINTER MEETING
JANUARY 3-6
2015
SAN DIEGO, CA