Rio Americano High School Physics
Papers Presented by Dean Baird

These are some of the papers and demonstrations I've presented. Click on linked titles to get more information.

PAPERS
You Teach Too Much: A List of Topics Considered Nonessential in California (pdf)
An examination of the adopted (yet "pre-publication") California Academic Standards in 9-12 Physics. (11/99)
A Different, Two-Year High School Physics Program
A Physics I-AP Physics II sequence developed for use at Rio Americano High School. (4/98)
Is the Physics Classroom Any Place For Girls?.
The Gender Imbalance in Physics Education: How It Came About and What Teachers Can Do About It. (4/97)
The Blowgun as a Teaching Tool.
Use a length of PVC pipe to teach dramatic lessons in kinematics and dynamics. (11/95)
See The Physics Teacher (February 1996, p. 99).
Understanding the Slide.
Teach the fundamentals of electric circuits using the familiar playground ride. (4/95)
The Magic Circle: A Mnemonic for Graphical Kinematics.
The toughest problems in graphical kinematics made easy! (11/94)
The Groovy CD Experiment. [LASE]
Use a laser to find the groove spacing on a compact disc. (7/91)

SHOW AND TELL DEMONSTRATIONS
The Laser Beam Viewing Tank.
Construction specifications and suggested demonstrations. (11/96)
Physics is a Mind-Expanding Subject.
When your students see your head inflating like a balloon, they'll believe! (4/96)
The Photoacoustic Effect.
Light can produce sound! You don't believe me. That's OK; neither did a physics-teaching colleague who paid up when he lost the bet on it. (11/95)
The Paper Magnet.
Breaking magnets to demonstrate the persistence of dipoles is fine if you've got money to throw around. Here's something for the rest of us. (4/94)
Aristotle's Statement of Newton's First Law.
As Dave Barry would say, "I swear this actually happened!" (11/93)
The Newtonian Shot.
Simultaneously fire a light "bullet" and a heavy "bullet" toward the ground. Guess which one hits first? (4/93)

SCATS PRESENTATIONS
The Rules of The Universe
If you think like a four-year old and keep asking why, you will eventually arrive at one of these rules. There are only about a dozen! (12/87)
Rotational Mystery Batons
Two batons with identical lengths and masses, yet one is "heavier" than the other. How can this be? (2/97)

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Comments? Suggestions? Rants? Raves? E-mail me at dbaird@mac.com
Revised November 1999 by Dean Baird