St. Louis Area Physics Teachers

April 26, 2008: SIUE Physics Contest Results

For the Twenty-Third Annual SLAPT Physics Competition there were two tests this year.

The Mechanics test had 50 questions and 57 students took this test. The average score on the test was 25.9 and the high score was a 48. There were eleven honorable mention certificates (Isaac Newton Awards) given out for scores above 32. The individual winners were:
FIRST PRIZE - Ben Montgomery, Helias High School
SECOND PRIZE - John Galbraith, Helias High School
SECOND PRIZE - Michael Hillstrom, Helias High School
THIRD PRIZE - Garrett McCormack Helias High School
The school winners (based on top three scores per school) were:
FIRST PLACE - Helias High School
SECOND PLACE - Carbondale Community High School
THIRD PLACE - McCluer North High School

The Senior Physics test had 50 questions and 23 students took this test. The average score on the test was 25.4 and the high score was a 43. There were six honorable mention certificates given out for scores above 29. The individual winners were:
FIRST PRIZE - Paul Orland, Clayton High School
SECOND PRIZE - Paul Botros, Carbondale Community High School
THIRD PRIZE - Adrienne Stormo, Clayton High School
THIRD PRIZE - Michal Hyrc, Clayton High School
THIRD PRIZE - Ka Suen, Clayton High School
The school winners (based on top three scores per school) were:
FIRST PLACE - Clayton High School
SECOND PLACE - Helias High School
THIRD PLACE - Carbondale Community High School

We had students from 9 different schools and one home-school group, making 2008 our most diverse year ever. Congratulations to all participants.

For more information and previous exams, visit: http://www.siue.edu/~tfoster/PhysCont/

Yours Sincerely,
Tom Foster
Associate Professor of Physics, SIUE

April 26, 2008: SIUE Physics Contest and Fuel Cell Workshop

Dear High School Physics Teacher:

The Physics Department of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville will sponsor the Twenty-third Annual SLAPT High School Physics Competition to be held on our campus on Saturday, April 26, 2008. There will also be a SLAPT workshop occurring during the exam. Dr. Phil Weyman from UMSL will lead us through several exercises using hydrogen fuel cell cars from Thames and Kosmos. Given today's gas prices, it is hard to imagine a more topical workshop.

The contest itself, open to all high school students, will be having two different exams. Students can only take one of the tests. The first exam will be only mechanics and consist of 50 multiple-choice questions. The cash prizes for this exam will be: First Prize of $100, Second Prize of $50, and Third Prize of $25. We will present Certificates of Honorable Mention to the next highest scoring twenty percent of the contestants, and we will award certificates to the top three scoring schools.

The second exam will consist of 50 multiple choice questions with one or two tiebreaker problems, and will include both qualitative and quantitative questions. The numbers of questions covering the various topics will be: mechanics (18), waves (5), sound (3), fluids (1), thermodynamics (4), electricity and magnetism (11), optics (5), and modern physics (3). The cash prizes for this exam will be: First Prize of $150, Second Prize of $75, and Third Prize of $25. We will present Certificates of Honorable Mention to the next highest scoring twenty percent of the contestants, and we will award certificates to the top three scoring schools.

As an added incentive, you might want to consider allowing those students who place on their physics contest exam to become excused from their final exam in your course. The test is also an excellent practice opportunity for students who will be taking the AP exam.

For both exams we will again allow calculators of all types. It is the responsibility of the teacher to ensure that all calculator memories are cleared. We will supply the values of physical constants, but no equations. The students are not allowed to bring a formula sheet. Each contestant may keep a copy of the test, but we will not return the graded answer sheets. We will send a list of all winners to teachers with students participating in the competition along with statistics on the test results. Individual scores will be kept confidential, except that we will report the score of each contestant to his or her teacher.
The tests will run from 9:00 AM until 11:00 AM followed by a 1-1/2 hour lunch break and an award ceremony lasting from 12:30 until 1:00 PM. Students should arrive at 8:40 am. The test and awards ceremony will take place in the Science Building on SIUE's campus in the first floor auditorium (SL1105). Parking is free in Lot A, which is directly north of the science building. A map of nearby restaurants will be provided.

There will be no fee for entering the competition. To register, please send an email to Tom Foster, tfoster@siue.edu, with your full contact information and a list of student names (and which test they will be taking) by April 23, 2008. We will be able to accommodate 200 students.

April 21, 2007: SIUE Physics Contest Results

For the Twenty-Second Annual SLAPT Physics Competition there were two tests this year.

The Mechanics test had 50 questions and 40 students took this test. The average score on the test was 25.6 and the high score was a 48. There were nine honorable mention certificates (Isaac Newton Awards) given out for scores above 29. The individual winners were:
FIRST PRIZE – Kurt Krautmann, Helias High School
SECOND PRIZE – Paul Botros, Carbondale Community High School
THIRD PRIZE – Alex Kelley, Helias High School
The school winners (based on top three scores per school) were:
FIRST PLACE – Helias High School
SECOND PLACE – Parkway South High School
THIRD PLACE – McCluer North High School

The Senior Physics test had 50 questions and 24 students took this test. The average score on the test was 26.0 and the high score was a 43. There were six honorable mention certificates given out for scores above 32. The individual winners were:
FIRST PRIZE – Paul Orland, Clayton High School
SECOND PRIZE – Adam Farquhar, Westminster Christian Academy
SECOND PRIZE – Tim Wiser, Lincoln Community High School
THIRD PRIZE – Zoe Liberman Clayton High School
The school winners (based on top three scores per school) were:
FIRST PLACE – Clayton High School
SECOND PLACE – Westminster Christian Academy
THIRD PLACE – Carbondale Community High School
THIRD PLACE – Trinity High School

For more information and previous exams, visit: http://www.siue.edu/~tfoster/PhysCont/

Yours Sincerely,
Tom Foster
Associate Professor of Physics, SIUE

April 21, 2007: SIUE Physics Contest

Dear High School Physics Teacher:

The Physics Department of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville will sponsor the Twenty-Second Annual SLAPT High School Physics Competition to be held on our campus on Saturday, April 21, 2007. There will also be a SLAPT workshop occurring during the exam. Dr. Susan Wiediger of SIUE’s Chemistry Department will lead a workshop on Physics and Chemistry Design Problems.

The contest itself, open to all high school students, will be having two different exams. Students can only take one of the tests. The first exam will be only mechanics and consist of 50 multiple-choice questions. The cash prizes for this exam will be: First Prize of $100, Second Prize of $50, and Third Prize of $25. We will present Certificates of Honorable Mention to the next highest scoring twenty percent of the contestants, and we will award certificates to the top three scoring schools.

The second exam will consist of 50 multiple choice questions with one or two tiebreaker problems, and will include both qualitative and quantitative questions. The numbers of questions covering the various topics will be: mechanics (18), waves (5), sound (3), fluids (1), thermodynamics (4), electricity and magnetism (11), optics (5), and modern physics (3). The cash prizes for this exam will be: First Prize of $150, Second Prize of $75, and Third Prize of $25. We will present Certificates of Honorable Mention to the next highest scoring twenty percent of the contestants, and we will award certificates to the top three scoring schools. As an added incentive, you might want to consider allowing those students who place on their physics contest exam to become excused from their final exam in your course.

For both exams we will again allow calculators of all types. It is the responsibility of the teacher to ensure that all calculator memories are cleared. We will supply the values of physical constants, but no equations. The students are not allowed to bring a formula sheet. Each contestant may keep a copy of the test, but we will not return the graded answer sheets. We will send a list of all winners to teachers with students participating in the competition along with statistics on the test results. Individual scores will be kept confidential, except that we will report the score of each contestant to his or her teacher.

The tests will run from 9:00 AM until 11:00 AM followed by a 1-1/2 hour lunch break and an award ceremony lasting from 12:30 until 1:00 PM. Students should arrive at 8:40 am. The test and awards ceremony will take place in the Science Building on SIUE’s campus in the first floor auditorium (SL1105). Parking is free in Lot A, which is directly north of the science building. A map of nearby restaurants will be provided.

To register, please send an email to tfoster@siue.edu with your full contact information and a list of student names (and which test they will be taking) by April 16, 2007. There will be no fee for entering the competition. We will be able to accommodate 200 students.

Yours Sincerely,
Tom Foster
Associate Professor of Physics

Results from the 2006 SIUE Physics Contest