A lack of qualified high school physics teachers and potential solutions to the problem was just one of the topics at the fall meeting of the NC Section of the American Association of Physics Teachers, held Sept. 29-30 on campus. Details...
The meeting gathered physics teachers, from K-12 schools, community colleges, and universities and is the main physics pedagogy gathering for NC physicists.
A Saturday morning panel discussion addressed the general lack of qualified high school physics teachers in North Carolina. Martin Kamela, assistant professor of physics, says a significant number of high school physics teachers did not earn undergraduate degrees in physics. The panel explored ways colleges and universities can work together with high schools to stimulate greater interest in physics among students.
The NCS-AAPT Meeting was held in conjunction with the Society of Physics Students Zone 5 Meeting (gathering undergraduate physics students from North and South Carolina). In addition, the North Carolina Astronomers’ Meeting was also held Saturday on campus.
There were sessions for contributed papers and poster sessions. Student paper sessions (undergraduate research) were also scheduled.
For more details and abstracts please see the meeting websites:
NCS-AAPT & SPS: http://org.elon.edu/ncsaapt
NC Astronomers: http://technet.gtcc.cc.nc.us/comserv/cline/ncastronomers.htm