June 13-16 2004, Winnipeg
(note: two days of education talks are described below – the first was a CAP/CASCA/COMP joint session, and the second was the CAP Physics Teachers’ Workshop. Please scroll down below the first day of talks for more information on the second.)
It was a pleasure to be able to step outside the traditional bounds of astronomy education talks at CASCA general assemblies and be able to exchange knowledge and practice with other educators in other disciplines at this year’s CASCA/CAP/COMP congress in Winnipeg, Manitoba. This year’s theme, “Enriching our Teaching through Integration” drew upon the experiences of astronomers, physicists and medical physicists who spoke on ways to bring hands-on experience into the classroom and lecture room. The session was jointly chaired by John Percy and Bob Hawkes. Below is a summary of the various talks presented.
Charles Kerton (Iowa State University) spoke on the first year astronomy lab at Iowa State, which combines both indoor and outdoor labs. The students are self-paced and have their choice of labs, although they must complete a certain number of each type. Outdoor labs include naked-eye observations as well as telescope observation, and range from field of view calculations to sketching celestial objects.
Corinne Manogue (Oregon State University) described how her physics department recently re-vamped the entire four-year physics program into junior years paradigms and senior years cornerstones. Re-designing the program forced the department to re-examine their teaching methods and layout of the topics. A larger focus on enhancing connections allows the students to gain a better understanding of the basics, so that when they reach the senior years, the students excel with the material. After lunch, Heather Scott (Ridley College) spoke on the importance of integrating astronomical practice into learning by appealing to different learning styles and introducing some ideas for hands-on work in the lab or lecture room.
Several speakers described new courses being taught at the undergraduate level in both physics and education. Vesna Milosevic-Zdjelar (University of Winnipeg) depicted a course being offered there to pre-service elementary teachers who found that they lacked the background to teach a wide range of science topics. The “Science: World Views” course, covers astronomy, biology, chemistry, geology and physics, and provides the teachers with teaching resources to be used in the classroom. Aimed to bring scientific literacy through integrating major fields and to demonstrate the multi-disciplinary nature of modern science, the course offers a hands-on approach to learning which benefits all students involved. William Harris (McMaster University) reported on a university-level course entitled “The Big Questions.” Small tutorial groups encourage discussion amongst the students on topics such as the nature of space and time and the origin of the universe. The course focuses on the students asking large-scale questions rather than detailed ones, and by implementing inter-student discussion groups and a weekly journal.
The morning session finished with Arthur Stiller and P. Loly (University of Manitoba) discussing their History of Science course, offered to physics majors as well as science education students. By integrating historical perspective into their course, they aim to attract non-science students to science and to give an overview of physics and major developments in the field.
A medical imaging software package called ImageJ was discussed in Jennifer West’s (University of Manitoba) talk. ImageJ is a versatile, platform-independent (and free!) software package used in medical imaging fields, but can also be used to introduce students to the concepts of image reduction and manipulation, particularly in astronomy. Daniel Rickey (CancerCare Manitoba) introduced the audience to the different facets of medical physics, particularly radiation physics. The aim of their programs is to increase awareness of medical physics and make it more of an earlier-chosen career goal rather than an option most students select at the end of their undergraduate degree. Programs implemented included an internship program for high school students, new courses at the undergraduate level and a professionally developed website.
Jaymie Matthews (University of British Columbia) gave the first introduction to the capabilities of the MOST space telescope, and included the possibilities of opening MOST up to research proposals from undergraduates and high school groups. He emphasized the importance of making connections between the really large and the really small (harder to visualize numbers) and more understandable numbers, and also connections between different areas of science for a more global perspective. Carol Christian (Space Telescope Science Institute) spoke on the challenges of disseminating research results to the public through the various STSI websites and education packages. Teams are created to raise the awareness of the public, to find a medium between scientific language and a language to which the public can relate, and improve the public perception of space. Outreach activities included radio shows, tailored press releases and multi-media websites.
John Percy (University of Toronto at Mississauga) presented connections between the study of variable stars and education. He emphasized the importance of giving students the opportunity to be involved in actual research projects and outlined the work some of his students (high school, undergraduate and summer students) have done under his supervision and the potential of publishing papers, thereby getting students more interested in science and research as a career. The session ended with Margaret Milne (Centre of the Universe) reporting on the operations of the Centre of the Universe in Victoria, BC. The facility was described as well as some of the new programs being implemented. The audience was also invited to share stories, anecdotes and time when out in Victoria.
(hosted by the Manitoba Association of Physics Teachers)
It was with pleasure that a couple of CASCA members were invited to speak at the fourth annual Physics Teacher Workshop, hosted by the Canadian Association of Physicists. Organized by Patricia Mitchler, the session featured members of the provincial physics teachers’ associations, medical physicists and education equipment representatives.
Jaymie Matthews (University of British Columbia) and Heather Scott (Ridley College) spoke to the group of about 40 teachers on the place of astronomy in the high school and undergraduate curriculum. Jaymie relayed the background of the MOST space telescope and offered links with MOST’s potential and the academic curriculum. With “Space Exploration” being one of the hot topics in current high school curriculum, this gave the teachers first-hand knowledge about Canada’s contributions to astronomy. He also emphasized how connections can be made in order to make unfamiliar material more tangible to students. Heather spoke on the challenges and merits of teaching astronomy in the new high school curriculum, and presented several hands-on activities and resources for teachers new to the field.
Jim Pinfold (University of Alberta) introduced the audience to the Alberta Large Time Coincidence Array (ALTA) which high schools, universities and colleges can set up to monitor and record cosmic ray phenomena. A Merlan Scientific representative also demonstrated new apparatus to the teachers, including DataStudio – an interactive data collection software with capabilities to manipulate and extrapolate data taken in the lab.
Perhaps the highlight of the day-long session was Pedro Goldman’s (University of Western Ontario) presentation. Pedro gave an inspiring talk on his switch from a career in atomic physics to medical physics after a year’s sabbatical. He spoke with the teachers about encouraging students to keep an open mind about careers and to always challenge the material presented to them, remain curious and always look for a better way to do things. He exemplified this by presenting his latest work where in only 2 years in the field, he has developed a new method for irradiating tumours with little to no risk to other organs within proximity of the tumour.
Over lunch, Dr. Harold Haugen (McMaster University) spoke about the Canadian Institute for Photonic Innovations (CIPI) and highlighted the role of photonics in today’s academic world and in future industry. Short presentations were also given by Jason Braun and Donald Mathewson, both representatives of provincial physics teachers’ associations.