Category: Gordon Conference

Meeting Description 

“Astronomy’s Discoveries and Physics Education” is the title of the 2012 Physics Research and Education Gordon Research Conference.  At this GRC a distinguished group of speakers will review major discoveries and technologies of astronomy and astrophysics. They and members of the astronomy and physics education research communities will also explore and suggest ways to use this material to enrich and enhance under­grad­uate physics education. As with all GRCs, advancing research frontiers is an important goal, but, in addition, this conference seeks to motivate par­tic­ipants to create astronomy-based teaching materials that will convey to students the excitement of these frontiers and also entice phys­icists to use them as contexts for teaching physics in their undergraduate courses. The con­ference’s format—invited plenary sessions, contributed poster presen­tations, and generous amounts of unscheduled time for informal discus­sions—promotes dialogue and cross-fertilization of ideas between edu­cators and researchers at the forefront of their fields.

Who should participate? You… if you’re interested in fostering the use of astronomy’s discoveries to better teach physics to undergraduates. If this challenge attracts you – whether you are an active researcher in astronomy, astrophysics, or space science, or a research associate (postdoc), or an author of books that present physics in a strong astronomy context, or a developer of curricula and educational materials, or a graduate or undergraduate student, or a two-year or four-year college or university faculty member with an interest in physics and astronomy – apply to attend this Gordon Conference on “Astronomy’s Discoveries and Physics Education.”