TSAAPT
Texas Section of the American Association of Physics Teachers
January 2004
If you would like to contribute some information to this newsletter, then feel free to reply to this message. If you know anyone at a high school, college, or university that would like to be in contact with other physics teachers, please forward this newsletter to them. Anyone can subscribe to this newsletter by going to http://www.tsaapt.org/ and clicking on "Subscribe".

Fermi Question

How many physics teachers are there in Texas?

Polulation: 21,325,018
Counties: 507
Cities: >1975
Land Area: 261,797 square miles
Persons per Square Mile: 79.6

Texas K-12 Schools on the Web
Physics Departments at Texas Universities
Physics Departments at Texas Community Colleges
Colleges, Community Colleges, & Universities
Texas Regional Education Service Centers (ESCs)
What is a Fermi Question?

Fermi Question: How many physics teachers are there in Texas? Know one really knows the answer to this, so let's try to estimate the number for fun. Reply with your best estimate. I'll take the average of all the answers that I get and put the result in the next newsletter.

 

Spring Meeting at Tarleton State University

On April 1st-3rd, 2004, Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas, will host the Spring 2004 Joint Meeting of the Texas Sections of the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT), the American Physical Society (APS), and Zone 13 of the Society of Physics Students (SPS). This will be a general meeting. Contributed papers from any area of physics are welcomed and encouraged. However, areas of emphasis for the meeting include Innovations in Physics Teaching, Undergraduate and High School Student Research, and Astronomy. Most of the sessions and workshops will be held in the New Science Building.

Meeting Home Page: http://www.math.tarleton.edu/physics/Conference/main.htm

 

NASA Rover Success!

On January 3rd, the Mars Spirit lander successfully entered the Martian atmosphere protected by heat shields, descended with the aid of a parachute, and then bounced a kilometer along the surface of Mars on its airbags. "What a night," said Steve Squyres, Principal Investigator for Spirit. "Spirit has shown us her new home, Gusev Crater." This crater is thought to be a dried-up bed of a crater-lake. The images are starting to make it back to Earth.

Raw Images
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html

Cool Animations
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/video/animation.html

Watch NASA TV Online for updates
http://www.nasa.gov/ram/35037main_portal.ram
 

Contributors Links

What is a Fermi Question?
http://mathforum.org/workshops/sum96/interdisc/sheila1.html

Physics Demos: NCSU Physics Demoroom
http://demoroom.physics.ncsu.edu - descriptions and movies

Physics Question of the Week
http://www.physics.umd.edu/lecdem/outreach/QOTW/active/questions.htm

PBS has made available online all three hours of the NOVA program on unified theory. Watch it online!
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/elegant/program.html

Physical Science Resource Center (PSRC)
http://psrc.aapt.org

AAPT Teaching Resources
http://www.aapt.org/Resources/

What's new at APS?
http://www.aps.org/WN/

Cartoon Laws of Physics
http://www.ahajokes.com/sci81.html http://www.snopes.com/holidays/christmas/physics.asp

What is AAPT?

The American Association of Physics Teachers was established in 1930 with the fundamental goal of ensuring the "dissemination of knowledge of physics, particularly by way of teaching." In addition to helping you learn more about traditional teaching methods, we can help you learn new teaching methods and use modern technology to entice your students with the wonders of science. AAPT Home Page: http://www.aapt.org/

Established in 1954, the objectives of the Texas Section of AAPT "shall be the advancement of the teaching of physics and the furtherance of appreciation of the role of physics in our culture. These objectives shall be carried out exclusively for education and scientific purposes." TSAAPT Home Page: http://www.tsaapt.org/

Most of the members of TSAAPT are physics and physical science teachers at high schools, colleges, and universities. These newsletters will be used to share information and web links that can be helpful in the classroom for the challenging job of teaching physics.

Organization Links

   *  TSAAPT: http://www.tsaapt.org/
   *  AAPT: http://www.aapt.org/
   *  TSAPS: http://www.aps.org/units/tsaps/index.html
   *  APS: http://www.aps.org/
   *  SPS: http://www.aip.org/education/sps/index.html

Thanks to David Donnelly, Dan Marble and others for the links and information above. Feel free to send any interesting links that you find. This email message is sent to Texas physics teachers, students, alumni and friends of TSAAPT. If you would like to be removed from the emailing list or are getting multiple copies of these newsletter, then feel free to reply to this message with your request.

Clear skies,
Dan Bruton
astro@sfasu.edu