Monday, July 27, 2020
By:
The 2020 Summer AAPT Meeting is officially over, and I have some highlights. I loved all the plenary speakers, especially STEP UP’s Zahra whose talk is still on YouTube. I attended a few other sessions including one on using virtual reality in E&M classrooms that I though was very interesting. The biggest highlight was probably the connections I made. The chat feature made it easy for me to connect with people in the main area I stayed in, the K12 teacher lounge. I feel I have come out of the conference with a much better idea of how they run and made some valuable connections.
I hosted a panel discussion in the teacher lounge with three high school students answering questions about online learning. I was blown away with how well the high school students articulated their ideas on the online learning platform and I believe both students and teachers walked away with a better understanding of how to move forward. Some great questions were asked and some topics touched upon included: how teachers should communicate with students, how to best structure a schedule for the student, what actions to take to make the virtual classroom feel like a real one, and whether synchronous, asynchronous, or a mix of both styles of teaching is best for the student. I am so grateful that I had willing students as well as a great mentor who introduced me to them.
The podcast is officially live on Spotify! Instant Physics: Just Add Coffee!
Benjamin Petkie