Background

Gordon Research Conferences in Physics Research and Education were begun in 2002. The first conference focused on Statistical and Thermal Physics and was co-chaired by Harvey Gould and Jan Tobochnik. In 2004, a second conference, on Quantum Mechanics, was chaired by Beth Ann Thacker. The 2004 conference on Classical Mechanics and Nonlinear Dynamics, co-chaired by David Jackson and Harvey Leff, was the third in the series on Physics Research and Education. A 2006 GRC on Physics Research and Education in Electromagnetism is anticipated.

General Information

This unique conference brought together teachers of classical mechanics and nonlinear dynamics, forefront researchers in these areas, and physics education researchers. The goals were to identify ways to effectively teach relevant lecture, laboratory, and computational courses in classical mechanics and nonlinear dynamics (including fractals and classical chaos), primarily at the undergraduate level.

The American Association of Physics Teachers kindly provided funding for the registration fees of 4 physics teachers.

SCHEDULE

SUNDAY JUNE 13, 2004

7:30 pm - 9:30 pm HISTORY AND OVERVIEW
Discussion Leader: Robert Hilborn (Amherst College & U. Nebraska-Lincoln)

7:30 pm - 8:30 pm Benoit Mandelbrot (Yale University & IBM)
"Towards a science of roughness: History and overview of fractals"

8:30 pm - 9:30 pm Edward Lorenz (MIT)
"The Recognition of Chaotic Behavior"

MONDAY JUNE 14, 2004

9:00 am - 12:30 pm PHYSICS EDUCATION RESEARCH (PER)
Discussion Leader: Kerry Browne (Dickinson College)

9:00 am - 9:45 am Paula Heron (University of Washington)
"Research on student understanding of mechanics: Overview and latest results."

9:45 am - 10:30 am Stamatis Vokos (Seattle Pacific University)
"Understanding student reasoning: Relativity as a case study"

11:00 am - 11:45 am Brad Ambrose (Grand Valley State University)
"Investigating student understanding in intermediate mechanics: Identifying a need for a tutorial approach to instruction"

11:45 am - 12:30 pm Corinne Manogue (Oregon State University)
"Improving visual and geometrical understanding of upper-division mechanics"

7:30 pm - 9:30 pm TEXTBOOKS AND CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT
Discussion Leader: Priscilla Laws (Dickinson College)

7:30 pm - 8:30 pm John R. Taylor (University of Colorado)
"What should be in an upper-division mechanics text?"

8:30 pm - 9:30 pm Ruth Chabay and Bruce Sherwood (North Carolina State University)
"Starting from fundamental principles"

TUESDAY JUNE 15, 2004

9:00 am - 12:30 pm RETHINKING THE MECHANICS CURRICULUM: ACTION AS A UNIFYING THEME
Discussion Leader: Robert Romer (Amherst College)

9:00 am - 10:00 am Edwin Taylor (MIT)
"Introducing physics with action"

10:30 am - 11:30 am Jozef Hanc (Technical University, Slovakia)
"Lagrange's victory and Euler's comeback"

11:30 am - 12:30 pm Tom Moore (Pomona College)
"Action: Training our majors for contemporary physics"

4:00 pm - 6:00 pm Poster Session 1

7:30 pm - 9:30 pm RESEARCH IN NONLINEAR DYNAMICS AND CHAOS I
Discussion Leader: Greg Voth (Wesleyan University)

7:30 pm - 8:30 pm Jerry Gollub (Haverford College & University of Pennsylvania)
"Mixing in Fluids: Nonlinear Hamiltonian Dynamics in Real Space"

8:30 pm - 9:30 pm Tom Solomon (Bucknell University)
"Table-top experiments in chaotic mixing and reacting flows"

WEDNESDAY JUNE 16, 2004

9:00 am - 12:30 pm NONLINEAR DYNAMICS AND CHAOS IN UNDERGRADUATE COURSES
Discussion Leader: Edwin Taylor (MIT)

9:00 am - 9:45 am Priscilla Laws (Dickinson College)
"A chaotic physical pendulum for the introductory lab"

9:45 am - 10:30 am Robert DeSerio (University of Florida)
"A chaotic physical pendulum for the upper division lab"

11:00 am - 11:45 am Matthew Moelter (California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo)
"Lab-based course in nonlinear dynamics"

11:45 am - 12:30 pm Julien C. Sprott (University of Wisconsin, Madison)
"Simple chaotic systems and circuits"

4:00 pm - 6:00 pm Poster Session 2

7:30 pm - 9:30 pm RESEARCH IN NONLINEAR DYNAMICS AND CHAOS II
Discussion Leader: Eric Weeks (Emory University)

7:30 pm - 8:30 pm Michael Dennin (University of California, Irvine)
"Nonlinear dynamics experiments with soft materials"

8:30 pm - 9:30 pm Wolfgang Losert (University of Maryland)
"Granular dynamics experiments: Visual demonstrations of non-equilibrium statistical mechanics"

THURSDAY JUNE 17, 2004

9:00 am - 12:30 pm BROADENING THE FOCUS OF CLASSICAL MECHANICS I
Discussion Leader: Gerald Jay Sussman (MIT)

9:00 am - 10:00 am Sarah Bolton (Williams College)
"NLD in mode-locked lasers"

10:30 am - 11:30 am Robert Hilborn (Amherst College & U. Nebraska-Lincoln)
"No noise is bad noise: Stochastic effects in nonlinear dynamics."

11:30 am - 12:30 pm Raymond Goldstein (University of Arizona)
"An interdisciplinary graduate laboratory for biological physics"

5:00 pm Business Meeting

7:30 pm - 9:30 pm BROADENING THE FOCUS OF CLASSICAL MECHANICS II
Discussion Leader: Scott Franklin (Rochester Institute of Technology)

7:30 pm - 8:30 pm Gerald Jay Sussman and Jack Wisdom (MIT)
"Procedural formulation of the foundations of mechanics"

8:30 pm - 9:30 pm Donald Turcotte (University of California, Davis)
"Fractals and chaos in geology and geophysics"