The Department of Physics and Astronomy recently held the first Union College Physical Constants Workshop for high school physics teachers and students.
Working in teams, seven teachers and 17 students from regional high schools performed experiments to measure fundamental physical constants and gain experience with such modern instrumentation and laboratory techniques as high-resolution video analysis, scattering experiments with a particle accelerator and scanning electron microscopy.
Five of the teachers and 15 of the students were from Capital District schools, including Guilderland, Mohonasen, Clayton A. Bouton in Voorheesville, Saratoga Springs and Christian Brothers Academy. The two other teachers, Justin King ’06 and Nicole Sabbatino ’06, were from schools on Long Island, as were the two other students.
During the workshop, seven Union faculty members from the Department of Physics and Astronomy guided the high school group in performing experiments. Faculty members were assisted by two current Union students, Brandon Bartell ’10 and Tom Perry ’09.
“We want to stimulate students to study physics and pursue careers in science and provide teachers with an exciting and enriching professional development experience,” said Physics Professor Michael Vineyard. “We also want to establish a network through which our department can support local high school physics education.”
Each high school participant received a T-shirt and a notebook containing the workshop materials. The teachers also received professional development certificates.
The workshop was supported in part by an Outreach Grant from the New York State Section of the American Physical Society. For more information, click here.