American Association of Physics Teachers

The American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) was established in 1930 with the fundamental goal of ensuring the "dissemination of knowledge of physics, particularly by way of teaching." We currently have more than 10,500 members in 30 countries around the world. AAPT's mission is to enhance the understanding and appreciation of physics through teaching.

Organization contact: Marilyn Gardner, ()
Organization website: http://www.aapt.org/

U.S. Physics Olympiad Team
This is an online resource.

Physics Team Selection

AAPT is responsible for recruiting, selecting and training teams each year to compete in the International Physics Olympiad Competition. This selection process begins in early January when high school teachers nominate their best students. Each year approximately 200 top scorers on this first test advance to the semi-final round of competition.

A second test, student transcripts, and letters of recommendation are used as the basis for selection of the 24 members of the U.S. Physics Team. These students, from schools all over the United States, travel to the University of Maryland-College Park at the end of May for the annual U.S. Physics Team Training Camp. There they engage in nine days of intense studying, testing and problem solving.

At the end of that training camp, five students will be selected for the "Traveling Team." The Traveling Team will return for three additional days of intense laboratory work before they are ready for the International Event.

Link: http://www.aapt.org/Contests/olympiad.cfm
Organization: American Association of Physics Teachers
Primary discipline: physics
Type of program: International Competition
Resources: Website

PhysTEC: Physics Teacher Education Coalition
This is an online resource.

About PhysTEC

The project has two main efforts: the PhysTEC Institutions and the national Physics Teacher Education Coalition (PTEC). PhysTEC Institutions are selected colleges and universities actively engaged in science preparation of future teachers with substantial project support. Six institutions have completed their main period of project activities, and are working on disseminating the successes of their projects through presentations, workshops, and journal publications. Six others are currently engaged in developing their teacher preparation programs into national models. The project hopes to support additional PhysTEC institutions in future years. PTEC is a national network of nearly one hundred institutions committed to developing and promoting excellence in physics and physical science teacher preparation. PTEC organizes an annual national conference, as well as smaller regional and topical workshops. In addition, PTEC has teamed up with ComPADRE, the NSF-funded digital library, to produce the PTEC website, which houses a collection of electronic resources in teacher preparation. Please see www.ptec.org for more information and to learn how your institution can join this growing movement.

Link: http://www.phystec.org/
Organization: American Association of Physics Teachers
Collaborating organizations: American Physical Society
Primary discipline: chemistry, earth science, environmental science, physics, space science
Type of program: Professional Development

Physics Teaching Resource Agents (PTRA) Program

The AAPT/PTRA program, established in 1985, seeks to provide sustained professional development to teachers of physics and physical science by maintaining a nationwide cadre of over 100 accomplished high school teacher-leaders trained and updated yearly to conduct extensive series of workshops in their local regions throughout the U.S. These teacher-leaders are certified as PTRAs by AAPT.

Location: United States
Link: http://www.aapt.org/PTRA/index.cfm
Organization: American Association of Physics Teachers
Primary discipline: physics
Type of program: Professional Development

ComPADRE: Digital Resources for Physics and Astronomy Education
This is an online resource.

The ComPADRE Pathway, a part of the National Science Digital Library, is a growing network of educational resource collections supporting teachers and students in Physics and Astronomy. As a user you may explore collections designed to meet your specific needs and help build the network by recommending resources, commenting on resources, and starting or joining discussions.

Link: http://www.compadre.org
Organization: American Association of Physics Teachers
Collaborating organizations: American Physical Society, Society of Physics Students
Primary discipline: physics, space science
Type of program: Digital Library

Adopt-a-Physicist
This is an online resource.
Adopt-a-Physicist connects high school physics students to people with bachelors degrees or higher in physics via online discussion forums. Through their interactions, students can find out about the careers, educational backgrounds, and lives of current physicists.

Adopt-a-Physicist Goals
* Expose high school physics students to the range of careers open to people with degrees in physics.
* Advance the dialogue between the physics and the high school education communities.
* Introduce physicists and teachers to the ComPADRE network and its resources.

Link: http://www.adoptaphysicist.org/
Organization: American Association of Physics Teachers
Contact: Kendra Rand, ()
Collaborating organizations: American Physical Society, Society of Physics Students
Primary discipline: physics
Type of program:
Resources: Internet forum or Electronic mailing list

AAPT High School Physics Photo Contest
This is an online resource.

The American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) sponsors an annual contest for high school students to submit natural or contrived photos that demonstrate a knowledge and understanding of the concepts of physics. The winning photos are displayed at the Annual Meeting of the AAPT as well as on the AAPT website.

Link: http://www.aapt.org/Contests/photocontest.cfm
Organization: American Association of Physics Teachers
Primary discipline: physics
Type of program: contest/competition