The document is an information session about becoming an Undergraduate Teaching Assistant (UTA) for physics courses at Cornell University. It summarizes the role of a UTA as helping facilitate physics learning sessions and meetings, describes the eligibility and pay, and outlines the teaching seminar course. It promotes the opportunity to gain teaching experience and discusses financial aid available for students interested in becoming physics teachers.

1. UTA Be a Physics Welcome to the UTA information session Undergraduate Teaching Assistant Help your peers learn physics Improve your own understanding Develop your teaching skills Learn about teaching careers And earn some money along the way Interested? Information Meeting Wed. Nov 11th 4:30 pm in 701Clark Hall Now hiring UTAs for Spring 2010 Visit: http://phystec.physics.cornell.edu/uta For information contact Sam Portnoff at sdp64@cornell.edu 4/20/2010 1 UTA Info Session

3. Teach seminar at Cornell entitled, “Teaching and Learning Physics”

4. President-elect for the Science Teachers Association of NYS (STANYS)

5. Classroom teacher 30 years

6. Presented over 200 teacher professional development workshops

7. Master teacher for the Cornell CNS Institute for Physics Teachers (CIPT)

8. Awards:

9. Excellence in Science Teaching Award, STANYS, 1997

10. Corporation for Public Broadcasting National Teacher Training Institute Teacher of the Year,Texaco, 1995

12. 4/20/2010 4 UTA Info Session UTA = physics teacher

13. 4/20/2010 5 UTA Info Session

14. 4/20/2010 UTA Info Session 6 National Initiative

15. 4/20/2010 UTA Info Session 7 Dramatic need for competent teachers! Currently only about a third of the nation's 23,000 physics teachers have a degree in physics. The demand for physics teachers is likely to increase as states boost their high school science requirements and colleges and universities demand that incoming freshmen have more science courses listed in their high school transcripts. “If ‘v’ is the number of qualified physics teachers, and ‘c’ is the number of unqualified science teachers, this factor is reduced to zero.”

16. 4/20/2010 UTA Info Session 8 Would you even be at Cornell if you had this physics teacher in high school? Teachers do make a difference! “The bar magnet has a north and a south pole. The horseshoe magnet has, I guess, an east and a west pole.”

17. Why are manhole covers round? 4/20/2010 9 Misconceptions Preconceived notions

18. 4/20/2010 Misconceptions 10 Why can’t you extract 100% of the energy from the wind with a turbine? It is NOT because of turbine efficiency! It has to do with dissipation of energy! 100% efficiency of converting the wind energy to turbine energy would mean that you extracted 100% of the energy and the wind would STOP! The turbine works on the laminar flow of the wind and has a theoretical limit of 59% dissipation to the blades to be effective. Factual misconceptions

19. Correct answer: B The guy would have to be running about 25 mph for C to be correct! 4/20/2010 11 Misconceptions Factual Misconception

20. What causes a space craft to heat up during its re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere? 4/20/2010 12 Misconceptions Factual misconceptions

21. CORRECTED: RE-ENTERING SPACE CAPSULES ARE NOTHEATED BY AIR FRICTION They are heated as they plow into the atmosphere and compress the air ahead of them. Ever pump up a bicycle tire and discover that the pump and the tire have become hot? The same effect causes spacecraft and supersonic aircraft to heat up as they compress the air at their leading edges. The heat doesn't come from “rubbing” upon the air, it comes from “squeezing” the air. This applies mostly to blunt objects such as Apollo reentry vehicles. It does not apply as much to the Space Shuttle: with wings oriented mostly edge-on to the moving air, the surfaces of the Shuttle ARE heated by friction. But when the Shuttle first reenters the atmosphere, the bottom of the craft faces forwards, and in that case the Shuttle is heated by air compression, NOT by friction. 4/20/2010 13 Misconceptions

22. 4/20/2010 Misconceptions 14 C Pre-conceived notion

23. Why do we design cars with streamline shapes? VS. 4/20/2010 15 Misconceptions Factual misconceptions

24. CORRECTED: CARS AND AIRPLANES ARE NOT SLOWED DOWN BY AIR FRICTION They are slowed because it takes energy to stir the air. While direct friction between the air and the car's surface does play a part, the work done in stirring the air far exceeds the work done in direct frictional heating. If vehicles did not send air swirls and vortices spinning off as they moved, they would barely be slowed by the air at all. Eventually the swirling air is slowed by friction and ends up warmer, but this occurs long after the vehicle has passed. 4/20/2010 16 Misconceptions

25. “No profession can exist without a teacher.” - Lutz 4/20/2010 17 UTA Info Session

26. 4/20/2010 18 UTA Info Session “(We) will recruit math and science degree graduates to the teaching profession and will support efforts to help these teachers learn from professionals in the field.” - President Obama

27. 4/20/2010 19 UTA Info Session

28. Cornell University Cornell University’s PhysTEC project aims to raise the awareness and change the attitudes of students and faculty regarding careers in high school science teaching, provide opportunities for students to experience the challenges and rewards of classroom teaching, and provide mentoring and support as they work through the education program and into their first years as teachers. Cornell’s Learning Assistant program launched with eight undergraduates in spring 2008. 4/20/2010 20 UTA Info Session

32. “Teaching and Learning Physics” Seminar PHYS 4484/7684 This course is required for all new UTAs, but is also open to any physics undergraduate or graduate student with an interest in learning more about the practices of teaching physics. Wednesdays 7:30-9:00 pm 1.0 non-academic credit hour. 4/20/2010 24 UTA Info Session

33. Seminar Topics * Introduction to the Concepts of Teaching and Learning * The Socratic Method * Classroom Discourse and Bloom’s Taxonomy * Learning Theory * Student Conceptions and Conceptual Change * More than Misconceptions – Resource Perspectives * Argumentation * Epistemology: Helping Students Learn How to Learn * Metacognition * Multiple Intelligences and Differentiated Instruction * Nature of Science * Cooperative Learning 4/20/2010 25 UTA Info Session

34. Impact of teacher training… 4/20/2010 26 UTA Info Session

35. 4/20/2010 UTA Info Session 27 Life after the 1st year… UTAs wishing to continue in the program for a second term must demonstrate their interest in a teaching career by taking a course offered by Cornell Teacher Education (e.g., Educ 2710, 3110, or 4040), and preferably by officially enrolling in the CTE program.

36. Noyce Scholars, top row, left to right: Marcus Tubbs, Amber Lundgren, Josh Elrod, Christine Nicholson. Bottom row, left to right: Tia Plautz, Zach Brenneman, Tiffany Redding, Andrew Flye. Not pictured: Barak Pauley. 4/20/2010 28 UTA Info Session This year’s recipients included Tia Plautz (2nd time) and Jonathan Schmidt!

37. Scholarship support of up to $15,000 per year is available to undergraduates and post-baccalaureate students pursuing teaching certification, for up to two years per student. 4/20/2010 29 UTA Info Session

38. Based on scholarship and SPS participation, this $2,000 award is presented annually to an SPS member who is participating in a teacher education program and who plans to pursue a career in physics education. 4/20/2010 30 UTA Info Session

39. Up to $10,000 of annual tuition and living expenses during pursuit of teaching credentials Knowles Science Teaching Foundation 4/20/2010 31 UTA Info Session http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6twR6d4rCFM

40. 4/20/2010 UTA Info Session 32 Physics teaching is Phun!

41. 4/20/2010 UTA Info Session 33 Real live UTAs…right here on our stage! Please welcome……

42. Applications are online! (Google: Cornell PhysTEC) 4/20/2010 34 UTA Info Session

43. 4/20/2010 UTA Info Session 35 Applications deadline: April 25, 2010

44. 4/20/2010 36 UTA Info Session Thanks for your interest in become a Cornell Physics UTA