Prize Recipient

Activity Based Physics Group

Citation:

"For twenty-three years of national and international leadership in the design, testing, validation, and dissemination of research-based introductory physics curricula, computer tools and apparatus that engage students in active learning based on the observation and analysis of real phenomena"

Background:

Patricia Laws

David Sokoloff is Professor of Physics at the University of Oregon. He earned his BA in Physics at Queens College of the City University of New York in 1966, and his Ph.D. in AMO Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1972 under Ali Javan. For over two decades, he has studied students' conceptual understandings, and developed active learning approaches (with NSF and FIPSE support) including the four modules of RealTime Physics: Active Learning Laboratories (RTP) and Interactive Lecture Demonstrations (ILDs) (both developed with Ronald Thornton and Priscilla Laws, and published by Wiley). He has conducted numerous international, national and local institutes and workshops to disseminate these active learning approaches. Since 1999, he has been part of a UNESCO team presenting active learning workshops in developing countries, such as Active Learning in Optics and Photonics. He is the editor of the Training Manual for the ALOP workshop that has now been presented in Ghana, Tunisia, Morocco, India, Tanzania, Brazil, Mexico, Zambia, Cameroon and Colombia. The American Association of Physics Teachers awarded him the 2007 Robert A. Millikan Award for “notable and creative contributions to the teaching of physics.” He was elected AAPT Vice President, and will assume the role of President in 2011.

 

Ronald K. Thornton (Tufts University) holds a Ph.D. from Brown University in High Energy Physics. He is Director of the Tufts Center for Science and Mathematics Teaching and a professor in both Physics and Education. He has been a visiting professor at the Universities of Sydney, Rome, Naples, and Pavia. With P. Laws and D. Sokoloff he leads the Activity-based Physics Group. He does research on student learning and has co-authored the RealTime Physics and the Tools for Scientific Thinking laboratory curricula and Interactive Lecture Demonstrations (ILDs).  He has led the development of the Tools for Scientific Thinking Microcomputer-based Laboratory (MBL) software and hardware, and the LoggerPro, Visualizer, and WebILD software packages.  He has developed student and teacher conceptual understanding evaluations including the Force and Motion Conceptual Evaluation (FMCE). These materials, developed with support from the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Education, F.I.P.S.E., are used extensively, in many countries, in universities, colleges and schools.

He has led teaching workshops for physics professors, K-12 teachers, and teacher educators around the world and is an author of the Teacher Education Module.  Among his awards, Professor Thornton received the 1993 Dana award for Pioneering Achievement in Education with Priscilla Laws and the 1992 Smithsonian/ Computerworld Leadership in Education Award.  He has twice been chair of the National Committee on Research in Physics Education of the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT). His work in energy (solar, energy design & efficiency, energy monitoring, energy education) has won two state awards and the National Award for Energy Innovation from the US Department of Energy.

Acknowledgment of Other Members: 

Patrick J. Cooney, Millersville University, Ret.; David P. Jackson, Dickinson College; E.F. Redish, University of Maryland; Robert Teese, Rochester Institute of Technology; Martin Baumberger, Chestnut Hill Academy; John Garrett, Science Education Consultant; Maxine Willis, Dickinson College; Karen Cummings, Southern Connecticut State University

 

Selection Committee:

Richard Peterson, Chair, R. Chabay, C. Hieggelke, P.R.L. Heron, J. Radziloqicz