Marianna Ruggerio

Get $$$ To come to AAPT! Applications due Fri!

The Barbara Wolff-Reichert award is for a FIRST TIMER 100% funded!

The LIPTON FUND has been redesigned and is now for a RETURNING member & will cover expenses for 2 meetings in 2 consecutive years.

More info: www.aapt.org/Programs/gra...

I’ve never hoped so hard in my alumni life for Harvard’s institutional ego to dominate decision-making

www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

This year a cohort of HS teachers were selected via application to attend PTRA Bootcamp. The goal of PTRA is for teachers to train other teachers to teach physics. This group was fully funded to attend the workshop and also received financial support to stay for the full AAPT meeting! #AAPTSM25

The fact of the matter is that AAPT is a member society and good work is only going to happen through the efforts of the members. 5/5

This has happened in collaboration with our membership as well as with the hard work of the leadership which includes the high school community (formerly committee) chairs, myself, the current president-elect (a HS teacher) and with support of the entire board/office team 4/5

AAPTs current program manager has been working immensely hard to create opportunities for K12 educators within AAPT, both from a free PD side as well as funding opportunities and leadership tracks. 3/

Next, when OSTP continued to drag their heels at making an announcement about PAEMST, AAPT was one of a group of organizations who sent letters to the office advocating that the awardees be named. 2/

Hi, as the HS member at large to the board, let me clear up a few things for you. First of all, this lawsuit addresses canceled grants of which AAPT has stake. There are 3 that were canceled, the STEPUP program for high school, OPTYCS for 2 year colleges and SEAChange for Universities. 1/

new school!

confusion is the sweat of learning poster

5 myths about physics posters

Classroom with lab tables in U shape. Posters of women in STEM on back cabinets.

Getting my new space set up! #iTeachPhysics

🚨 #PAEMST, the nation's highest honor for STEM teachers, has been DEFUNDED in the new NSF budget. This award was est by Reagan in 1983.

This award fuels classroom innovation, strengthens the STEM pipeline, and uplifts excellence in every community.

Also in the workshop we did “thin slicing” which is where Ss are asked to do just a small piece at a time and we build…reduces the cognitive load. But the key component is the consolidation and note making at the end, and the consolidation is 100% teacher planned/executed even if the Ss are talking

Having been in a workshop with Liljidahl it’s not true that there’s no explicit instruction. It happens at the start of the lesson, you give them what they need (that’s a great place for your discretion) you leave it up on one of the boards for reference.

The big benefit to vertical is that Ss are more likely to discuss ideas between groups whereas when seated inertia takes over and discussions stay within the table group

Teachers, choose your one liners carefully. Students remember them forever. What does your one liner say about you?

Ones I remember from my teachers:
"The answer's always one, it just depends which units you use"
"The college board is the richest nonprofit in the US"
"The answer is always enzymes"

Intuition is a GREAT starting place, but physics is only intuitive to those who’ve studied physics or to students who have been properly guided.

(Cross reference the phrase “and it’s obvious the answer is…”)

EndRant

You know what’s intuitive?
That heavier things should fall faster…b/c often they do
That a bug that goes splat on your windshield had a bigger force than your car…cause it’s dead
That the sun is yellow…cause that’s what my eyes and every children’s book ever says

But all of those are FALSE!

If you’re a physics educator who uses the word “intuitive” to describe physics you are part of the problem in physics culture.
Because if we are honest it’s not intuitive at all.

PAEMST bio page. Boxed portion reads "Within the classrom Marianna has integrated high-quality, evidence based curricula alongside an emphasis on equity and learning about and actin on underrepresentation in STEM. Her master's thesis on the Recruitment and Retention of Female Latinx Students in Physics was awarded Rockford University's Outstanding Research Award"

NSF put our names back up on the PAEMST website, but not our bios which are now under review. I am certain that the boxed part of bio is going to be erased. The government is literally erasing our stories.

Note template. 2x2. Copy white board, example problem, things I need to remember, create your own

Student sample with intro to forces ISLE observational cycle

Student sample with acceleration cycle

Student sample with work intro cycle

Note making a la Building Thinking Classrooms + ISLE. This is the missing link that pulls together an active learning environment and collaborative white boarding with notes that actually mean something and a reason to dig into the textbook. Students receive these at the lesson’s end #iteachphysics

Since it’s that season and schools are under attack more than ever In just gonna throw out there that taxes are just following a bunch of monotonous rules and directions. I can guarantee 16 year old you wouldn’t have paid attention if it was an option in school.

wow. I had a bit of a temperature read on what's going on there, but it was way off compared to this. How disheartening, makes it a shell of what it once was.

Three Lesson Plans for Student Growth I returned from doing work at the district office to a disaster. My students were supposed to take their “check-in” (that’s what I call quizzes because their function is to litera…

I created three lesson plans on the fly for one class of students yesterday. It was a lot, but it was also really satisfying physicsteachermomma.com/2025/02/08/t...

What a great day. A math colleague who does Building Thinking Classrooms picked up my 8th hour today, so my lesson can actually run!

“I’m thinking of an animal that’s pink with four legs”
“AXOLOTL!”
“No”
“Well I have no idea then”
“PINK WITH FOUR LEGS!”
“…..”
“A pig. It’s a pig”

I use the graph to drive home the part about transfer always being equal, even if the observed outcomes are not! Students want faster to always mean more momentum, this helps show that those changes are equal.

Legacy in Education “Legacy. What is a legacy?It’s planting seeds in a garden you never get to see.”Hamilton the Musical I continue to reflect a great deal after the AAPT winter meeting this year. This year we are cel…

What is a legacy as a teacher? Where is the legacy? It's not in the school building or district. physicsteachermomma.com/2025/02/01/l...

Multiple Representations for Momentum Conservation I did it. I finally revised how I teach momentum conservation to my on-track physics students and I’m never looking back! It can be really hard to shift something that “works” esp…

Last year I made this shift for momentum. The time base come back around this year and I’m still excited and amazed how powerful this is for discussing conservation of momentum! #iTeachPhysics physicsteachermomma.com/2024/02/07/m...

Removing datasets because you disagree with the fundamental underpinnings of the research is unethical. Period.

Just for fun, I started putting my #python #physics material in book form. I'm not sure how far I will get, but here's chapter 1 if you want to take a look.

drive.google.com/file/d/19WTd...