Session #5

This session will examine the intersection of ideology and political system and its impact on specific technological choices in the twenty years leading up to the Second World War. The goal is to provide a nuanced look at the interplay of preference and availability, rather than a simple notion of technological determinism. The presentation will move across the spectrum of political systems from Nazism to Stalinism to French republicanism and more.

A novel approach to teaching an introductory physics course is to study the principles of classical mechanics in the order of increasing complexity. Participate in this session to explore an interesting series of progression: from concepts that describe an object at rest, to an object with constant velocity, followed by those that describe how an object’s velocity can change, and finally, gravity. This session will engage participants in the study of this progression and include discussion.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has many rich data resources that can inspire students to understand real world problems. This session will explore sites that provide curated and real-time data for middle and high school students. Sample offerings from NOAA’s Data in the Classroom, weather and climate data sites, Ocean Today, coastal data, and paleoclimate (proxy) data. Participants will receive a list of useful sites for reference.

Problem Centered Instruction is a great way to engage students, integrate content, and inspire learning. However, true problem centered instruction requires a major shift in both teaching and learning, requiring the one thing teachers don’t have: time. In today’s session, we will look at some simple strategies that teachers can put to immediate use within the classroom to help start the shift towards a student-led, problem centered learning environment. Bring a lesson, activity, or unit that you’d be interested in ‘spicing up’.