Alan Wright, 2021 AAPT Teacher Professional Development Intern

Biography

SPS Chapter: Purdue University

Hi! My name is Alan, and I’m the AAPT intern this summer. I am majoring in phyiscs and minoring in both Astronomy and Math at Purdue University, and I just finished up my junior year. At Purdue I have had the opportunity to tutor, TA, and engage in various fields of research. Most recently I have joined a physics education research group, and I hope to be more involved next year. I am also involved with physics and astronomy outreach, which has included working on programs and materials for both students and teachers. I am currently co-president of my local SPS chapter, and our community has been a very important part of my time as an undergraduate.

I think K-12 education is something that needs more attention, and to this end I am interested in pursuing a career in education or outreach. I am looking forward to learning more about the ways I can be engaged in education through my internship.

Internship

Host: American Association of Physics Teachers

Project

Abstract

There is a lot more to being a teacher than many realize. Teachers are always improving their classroom skills, learning new content, and collaborating with other teachers to get new ideas. AAPT provides plenty of opportunities for teachers to engage in these ways, and this summer I had the opportunity to be a part of several activities AAPT is involved with, including a quantum computing workshop, undergraduate discussion panel, and initiative to promote diversity in physics. In this presentation I will give an overview of some of the important and impactful activities in which I participated and how these activities relate to my goals of becoming a physics teacher.

Final Presentation

Internship Blog

Week 1: Getting Started

This was the first week of the internship. It is unfortunately still virtual, but I will be enjoying my summer at Purdue University. Even though we’re online, I have already gotten to meet a lot of new people including AIP and SPS leadership and staff, the other interns, my mentor, and many in the AAPT community. We have even managed to have a few intern social events, including a game night and bad physics movie night, where we watched Ant Man go to the quantum realm. These activities have been great for getting to know the others in an online environment, and I hope we can meet up in person some day.

My internship with AAPT has so far involved orientation and getting familiar with all the projects going on. One of the big projects include helping AAPT become a registered professional development provider in individual states, which is not a trivial task since each state has its own requirements. Other projects involve helping with a quantum workshop and the AAPT summer meeting. This weekend I also had the opportunity to attend a STEP UP summit, where I learned about the national initiative to to help teachers inspire more women to pursue physics. Overall, I am excited to be a part of the AAPT team, and my mentors have been really helpful.

Week 2: Work and Play

This week I continued to work on finding professional development information for the states. I’ve researched approximately half of them at this point, which should cover a vary large percentage of AAPT members. Luckily most of them don’t have any formal application process, and for the others I hope that we can get some applications in this summer.

I also attended some more meetings this week, including for STEP UP (promoting women in physics) and for the initiative to get ideas behind quantum mechanics and quantum computing into K-12 classrooms. Quantum mechanics is a difficult and unituitive subject, so it is a tough and interesting problem to present it to younger students.

Recently, I have been trying to figure out what I need to do after my undergraduate studies to become a physics teacher. There are many possible paths and I have no idea which one I should take. With all of those meetings, I continue to meet new people in the AAPT and physics education community. Everyone has been really nice and welcoming, and I hope that some of these connections I make can give me some advice and help me figure out my future. I would like to thank Brad for communicating the importance of networking in his workshop this week.

This week also presented a few opportunities to socialize with the other interns. We have played a lot of scriblio and gotten to know each other a little better. I am looking forward to spending the rest of the summer with this group of interns.

Life in West Lafayette hasn’t changed much. It has been unbearably hot and humid during the day, but sometimes it’s nice to go out for a bike ride after work. This weekend some friends from home visited, and we went to a local board game cafe called Merlin’s Beard. Lastly, I am excited to announce that my SPS chapter has finally fixed our motor couch (pictured below), and I would like to thank everyone (pictured and unpictured) who put in time to work on it. The couch has already been through a McDonalds drive-through!

Until next week,

Week 3: The AAPT Community

Oops, this is a day late!

This week I have had plenty more opportunities to engage with the AAPT community, particularly because I finally gained access to AAPT Communities. Communities is like a closed social media for AAPT members. It’s a place where teachers can ask questions and communicate with their colleagues. I asked for advice on what steps to take to become a physics teacher, and I was glad to receive some good feedback.

One of the things I worked on this week was finding resources for the quantum computing workshop. There are more accessible books on the subject than I was expecting, including a graphic novel about entanglement. There is a possibility that I may get to attend the quantum computing workshop in person, and that would be really neat after doing everything virtually for so long.

I got my purple bucket hat (pictured) from Brad this week! It’s great, and I’ve thought a lot about the advice that came with it: never take yourself too seriously. That’s definitely advice that I needed.

This weekend I said goodbye to some of my friends who graduated from Purdue. I’ll miss them, but I’m interested to see where they go in their physics careers. I also went home for Father’s Day to surprise my dad. It was nice to see my family...and the cat.

Week 4: Attempt 3

Due to various computer problems, this is the third time I’m writting this blog posting (and hopefully the last).

I spent the beginning of the week at home because I went back to suprise my dad for Father’s day. Overnight there was a tornado warning, but it never got clsoe so we were ok. It was alright working from home. I had a nice view and Emmett (pictured below) helped me out with spreadsheets and whatnot. I missed the intern hangout because I was driving back to Purdue, but if we do one today, I’ll be sure to attend.

For the internship I got some more work this week involving the quantum computing workshop at the end of July. I now have a detailed list of the topics, so I can better find helpful additional resources for the attendees. I also found out that I can go to Washington DC for the workshop. I’m excited to finally be able to do something in-person and meet some of the people I have been working with.

At the end of the week I went home again. it was nice to see friends, family, and of course Emmett. On Saturday there were a couple more tornados nearby, so I guess it’s bad luck for me to go home.

Week 5: On the Road to Teaching

Happy Fourth of July! (or 5th now I suppose). I hope everyone got to see some fireworks. The Lafayette show was pretty good.

This week my work was mostly what it has been, some meetings and working on things for the quantum computing workshop. I did also get to work on something new for the AAPT Summer Meeting. I’ll be putting together and moderating an undergraduate panel about preparing physics students for college, that that will be exciting to be a part of.

Outside of my internship, I made some other steps towards my goal of becoming a physics teacher. Firstly I’ve started to make some more progress on my Fulbright application. I would really like to go to Taiwan to be an Engligh TA, since I think it would be a great way to learn about education in a different culture and strenghten my cultural literacy, a valuable attribute in a teacher.

Secondly, I met with a local teacher who was also a physics major at Purdue. She gave me some insight into what course of action I should take after I graduate. As always the real challege with this path is overcoming the outside pressures which tend to steer you away from teaching. I think it has become a problem that teaching is not seen as a respectable career choice by many people in and out of the field.

I have a lot of things lined up for next week. Meetings, my demo project, and fun activities. Tune in next time to hear about it.

Week 6: Some Meetings

I had lots of meetings this week. First, I attended several of the AAPT committee meetings, including the high school, undergraduate, and diversity committees. It was interesting to see what some of them are working on for future AAPT meetings and what the other parts of AAPT are working on.

I also had a few meetings related to quantum computing, both for the upcoming workshop and a potential larger future project. I’m glad that I’ve been able to help out with preparing for the workshop and that I get to go.

Finally, we had the SPS intern picnic. It was unfortunately a virtual event, but it was neat to hear from Rep. Rush Holt. I was interested in his ideas on sciecne education and how the main goal of science outreach should be to encourage others to think scientifically. We hadn’t met in a few weeks, so it was also fun to have a chance to play some games with the other interns.

Not much happened in West Lafayette this week. I’ve seen some friends, baked some cookies, and that’s about it.

Week 7: Party Time

I had lots of fun this week. First, my old roomate, who I didn’t think I’d see again for a while, made a suprise visit at the end of the week. Then a few of us went to a ramen place to celebrate a friend’s brithday. Saturday was my birthday, and I saw several of my friends, some of whom came as a surprise. I went home today to celebrate with my family, and I’m really looking forward to my mom’s strawberry rhubarb pie, the best kind of pie.

There were a few things I did for the internship this week. First, I put my demo video together for the intern demo competition. I was originally going to do a diffraction demo by shining a laser at a hair, but then I saw that it was already on the SPS website. I decided to change my demo to an ice-melting demo that one of my professors had done before. The other intern activity this week was the resume workshop by Dr. Crystal Bailey. I thought she was really helpful, and it made the process of putting together a resume and applying for jobs much less intimidating.

For my AAPT work, I’ve continued to help with preparations for the quantum computing workshop. I leave for DC in one week! On Satuday I also attended the STEP-UP summit, and like the other STEP-UP events I’ve been to, it was interesting to learn more about the things that women and minorities face in the field and what we can do as high school teachers to help alleviate the issues. I hope I can continue to be involved with these types of things when I am a teacher myself.

Week 8: Washington DC I

I made it to DC! It was the first itme that I’ve flown by myself, but everything went smoothly. When the plane came in I got a really nice view down the Mall of the Washington Monument, the Capitol, and the Lincoln Memorial. (pictured below)

It’s so nice to finally meet the people I’ve been working with in person. It is already much easier to communciate with them in this setting than virtually. Today we set up for the workshop and had a meeting with the attendees. I even got dinner with my mentor Mark, Dr. Dell, and a couple attendees. I think that being able to interact with these people in a non-work setting has been a valuable opportunity. All of the atendees I talked to were great! They are really motivated teachers, and I’m looking forward to learning about their experiences and working with them for the rest of the week.

This past week I mostly worked on preparing for the workshop and SPS intern deliverables. Outside of work, I started the process of moving out of my apartment, since my lease ends soon. I have to say that I don’t like moving very much.

Come back next week for Week 9: Washington DC II to hear about my time here.

Week 9: Washington DC II

I got to spend this past week in Washington D.C. for the quantum computing workshop. It was great being able to do something in person and meet my mentor. At the workshop I got to help with setup, help attendees with activities, and meet a bunch of interesting teachers.

The best part of the week was getting to meet all the teachers. This was the first time I interacted with physics teachers in a setting without the teacher-sudent relationship, and I appreciated getting to know them more like colleagues. I learned a lot about teaching and what it means to be a teacher from the attendees at this workshop, and I was impressed with the passion and love for teachering that all of them shared. These teachers all demonstrated what draws me to becoming a teacher myself, and by working with them, speaking to them, and recieving advice, I have become even more inspired to go down that path.

In my free time I socialized with the teachers, ate at some good restaurants, and visited some of the tourist attractions. One day, I walked to the National Mall, and I started with the Capitol (pictured). You can get a lot closer to it than I expected. Next, I walked over to the Supreme Court building and climbed the steps. On my way back past thee Capitol, I ran into a small group of people at the center of which was Senator Bernie Sanders (pictured)! I walked next to him to the street corner, but unfortunately I didn’t get to talk to him since he was having a conversation with someone. I spent the rest of the evening walking the Mall. Things of note that I saw were the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, and a white squirrel.

I also had an opportunity to visit the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History before I caught my flight home. I only had an hour but I spent about half my time in the dinosaur exhibit (pictured) and the other half in the mineral exhibit. I really like mineral exhibits.

The only disappointing part of the trip was when my flight home got delayed by 2 hours. I had a great time in D.C., and I want to thank my mentor for providing me with this opportunity.

Week 10: The End

Well I completely forgot about this last blog post. The internship is all over now, and the symposium went well. I really liked seeing all the other interns present, and I hope I have the chance to meet them in person sometime.

I also attended the AAPT summer meeting that last week. The K-12 lounge social hours were great, I watched some interesting sessions in the meeting, and I moderated a discussion panel myself. My panel was about how high school teachers can better prepare students for college physics, and my panelists were some of the other interns. They all did a great job answering questions, and I think we had some good discussion with the teachers.

I really enjoyed my internship with AAPT. It really inspired me even more to be a teacher. Now I’m looking forward to my next school year and transitioning into a graduate program, but I’ll enjoy the last bit of summer I have left. In the last couple days I’ve gone for a bike ride along the lakeshore in Chicago and gone to the Indiana state fair.

Thank you to everyone involved for making this experience possible this summer.