Parables about Science Education

• The Summer Theory (a parable about pseudo-scientific theories)
• The Gnome Baseball League (a parable about the dangers associated with blindly increasing standards for teacher certification)
• The Shepherd and the Sheep (a parable about the dangers associated with educational mandates)
• Do You Know the Way to Pittsburgh? (a parable about the dangers associated with interpreting standards as topics, and why we need to know the reason for teaching a particular piece of content)
• Do You Know the Parts of a Plant? (the same story as Pittsburgh but with a science slant)

Current Research (see notice)

Below I list the papers and presentations I've made since 2005 (if you want to see ones made prior to 2005, let me know). Several are co-authored with Dr. David Schultz, now at Finnish Meteorological Institute and the University of Helsinki.

• Article (with David Schultz as co-author): The Relationship Between Fronts, Frontal Zones and Airstream Boundaries (in progress; to be submitted to Monthly Weather Review)
• Presentation: The Myth of the Leading Edge, (presented at the 14th Cyclone Workshop, Sainte Adele, Quebec, Canada, September 22, 2008)
• Presentation (with Rachelle Domke as co-author): The Impact of Moisture on the Structure of an Intense Oceanic Cyclone (presented by Rachelle Domke at the NE Storm Conference, Springfield, MA, March 14-16, 2008)
• Presentation (with David Schultz as co-author): The Relationship Between Frontal Zones and Airstream Boundaries (presented at the 13th Cyclone Workshop, Monterey, California, October 25, 2006)
• Presentation (with David Schultz as co-author): Applications of the contraction-rate diagnostics for mesoscale processes (presented by David Schultz at the 11th Conference on Mesoscale Processes, Albuquerque, NM, October 24-29, 2005)
• Article (with David Schultz as co-author): Contraction Rate and its Relationship to Frontogenesis, the Lyapunov Exponent, Fluid Trapping and Airstream Boundaries, Monthly Weather Review, 133, 1353-1369 (copyright 2005, American Meteorological Society - see copyright notice); see also the Reply, Monthly Weather Review, 134, 2644-2644 (made in response to Comments on "Contraction Rate and its Relationship to Frontogenesis, the Lyapunov Exponent, Fluid Trapping and Airstream Boundaries", by Charles A. Doswell, III, Monthly Weather Review, 134, 2642-2643)

Science Education

• Book: Formative Assessment with Student Remotes and Email, chapter 14 in College Science Teachers Guide to Assessment, edited by T. J. Lord, D. P. French and L. W. Crow, NSTA Press, 2009, 160 pp.
• Presentation: Pre-service Teachers as Teacher Researchers Within an In-service Classroom (Association for Science Teacher Education [ASTE] International Meeting, Hartford, Connecticut, January 10, 2009);
• Presentation: Preservice and Inservice Teachers Working Together as Teacher Researchers (as part of Teacher Researcher Day at NSTA's 56th National Conference on Science Education, Boston, MA, March, 2008); presented with Mellinda Joseph, Daniel Wallace, Stefana Pascale, Anna Leigh Rowlands, Lauren Bernhardt and Maria Archer, all students at East Stroudsburg University
• Report: Measuring the Effect of Formative Assessment Techniques in Physics at East Stroudsburg University (2007 Report to the CETP-PA Project; update to the 2006 Monograph article below)
• Poster: Revising the Algebra-based Physics Sequence (2006 AAPT Summer Meeting, Syracuse, New York, July, 2006)
• Presentation: A Simple Evaluation of Technology-Enhanced Formative Assessment Techniques (2006 AAPT Summer Meeting, Syracuse, New York, July, 2006)
• Article: Measuring the Effect of Formative Assessment Techniques in Physics, Best Products for Teacher Preparation in Mathematics and Science, S. K. Courson, Ed., April, 2006 (A Monograph from the Collaborative for Excellence in Teacher Preparation in Pennsylvania)
• Presentation: Using Email, Student Remotes and an Innovative Textbook in Algebra-based Physics (2006 International Conference on Science Education (NSTA), Anaheim, CA, April, 2006)
• Presentation: Using Email, Student Remotes and an Innovative Textbook in Algebra-based Physics (2006 International Conference on Science Education (NSTA), Anaheim, CA, April, 2006)
• Presentation: Email + Student Remotes + Innovative Textbook = Formative Assessment that Works! (2005 PSTA Conference, Hershey, PA, December, 2005)
• Presentation: Using Technology to Support Formative Assessment (2005 RECAP Conference, West Chester, PA, May, 2005)
• Presentation: Facilitating Formative Assessment: Innovative and Effective Techniques Used in Physics (2005 ESU Provost's Colloquium, East Stroudsburg, PA, January, 2005)

Textbooks and Lab Manuals

• Fundamental Physics Laboratory Manual
  • PHYS 131, 9.0, 78 pp. (2009)
  • PHYS 132, 6.2, 89 pp. (2008)
• The Fundamentals of Physics
  • Volume I (Mechanics), 9.0, 781 pp. (2008)
  • Volume II (Using Models), 8.1, 553 pp. (2006)
• An Introduction to the Physics of the Atmosphere, 5.1, 368 pp. (2008)
• PHYS 110: Sound, Waves and Light Study Guide, 62 pp. (1999)
• LAMPS90 User's Guide, 37 pp. (1993)

Other Web Sites

• High-resolution RUC forecasts for the NE US.
• Weather conditions for Stroudsburg and Pennsylvania (you can access hourly obs for several days from the latter; the former only has data for two days)
• Data Archive for Pennsylvania sites (from the PA state climatologist). Tabular data of hourly weather observations since the beginning of the month are also available for Allentown and Scranton.
• local weather conditions (google map from weather underground)
• East Stroudsburg University sites
  • ESU home page
  • Physics
  • Geography
  • Professional and Secondary Education
• Stephen's Guide of Logical Fallacies (see, also, Tim Holt's page and the Here Be Dragons, an introduction to critical thinking, movie by Brian Dunning)
• Lessons from the Physics Education Reform Effort (by Richard Hake)
• Additional web sites