PIRA The Physics Instructional Resource Association is an affiliate organization of the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT). Function and Membership PIRA exists to serve the needs of Physics Instructional Support Professionals by providing a means for sharing ideas about demonstrations, laboratory activities, learning centers, and instructional resources in general in order to advance the quality of physics education at all levels. All persons interested in the topics mentioned are welcome to become members. Newsletter PIRA publishes a newsletter about every 2 months year-round with information about PIRA activities, tips to make demonstrations and labs more effective, and ideas for managing teaching centers, demonstration and laboratory facilities. The newsletter is published at least 6 times a year. Presence at Meetings PIRA conducts what we call a 'resource room' at each summer meeting of the AAPT. The Resource Room makes available support resources such as catalogs, manuals, video tape and video disc players, and computers where meeting participants can review materials without the pressure of a salesperson. The Resource Room has been very popular as both a place to view resources and as a gathering place to meet people from around the world involved in physics education support. PIRA members are also very active in regional sections of the AAPT and other organizations such as the NSTA (National Science Teachers Association). Members often present papers or workshops at meetings where methods of demonstration and management of labs and lab activities are of interest to the meeting participants. We are finding that PIRA members have much to offer teachers at all levels, particularly pre-college, as teachers at that level often do not have time to research and prepare demonstrations or lab procedures. Current Activities The Demonstration Classification Scheme The PIRA Demonstration Classification Scheme (or PIRA DCS) is a major project which is of importance to anyone who uses or develops classroom demonstrations for teaching physics. The project, initiated by Philip Johnson at the University of Minnesota, has established a numbering system for physics demonstrations. Spinoffs associated with the DCS are lists of 200, 500 and 1000 demonstrations considered by a committee of professional demonstration managers as being the most desirable for teaching basic physical principles. A complete bibliography is in the works which includes an index of references to books, journals and video resources linked to the demonstrations. The Demonstration Design Project Marsha Hobbs of the Mississippi Science Partnership has initiated a project to collect some of the best demonstrations from around the country and create drawings of the apparatus to allow anyone with a suitable machine shop to construct similar apparatus. The grant proposal provides that the first sets of apparatus to be constructed will be deposited at minority institutions. The Professional Concerns Committee Karl Trappe of the University of Texas at Austin chairs the PIRA Professional Concerns Committee. The Pira PCC has been formed to examne the working conditions, salary ranges, national interaction and professionalism of physics support staff at colleges and universities around the country. The activities of the PCC will hopefully result in a 'national median' for salary and duties for these positions and will work to encourage administrations to send support staff to regional and national meetings to help them become more effective professionals. Workshops and Sessions at National Meetings The AAPT Area Committees support PIRA by sponsoring and co-sponsoring sessions and workshops with PIRA around topics of interest to physics support professionals. Some recent workshops include the Laboratory Manager's and Demonstration Manager's Workshops, the Lecture Demonstration Workshop (centering around the so-called 'PIRA-200'), an LED Bargraph Workshop, and Make and Take Workshops. Sessions have included topics as general as 'Implementing Physics Instructional Resources'. Networking for Information Many PIRA members can be found discussing demonstrations, sources of materials, etc. on TAP-L, a listserv list for people interested in instructional support. To subscribe, send a message to LISTSERV@APPSTATE (listserv@lester.appstate.edu from the internet) with the line "SUB TAP-L [YOUR NAME]" in the body (without quotes of course). If none of this works, send a message to the internet address with one word, HELP in the body. If all else fails, call the editor at the number below for assistance. Besides the Newsletter, we have also established an anonymous ftp site for software to help manage all the above topics. Ftp to ftp.phys.ksu.edu and look in /pub/pira for demonstration handbooks, lab references and more. (to perform anonymous ftp, log in as anonymous and give your full internet address as the password) For anyone browsing the World Wide Web (WWW or W^3), a set of pages about PIRA and our activities is available through the Home Page for the Kansas State University Home Page at the URL http://www.phys.ksu.edu. Select 'Department of Physics Instructional Materials Center' from the home page. Our ftp site currently contains information about PIRA activities, a cumulative index to the newsletter and software. Minutes from our meetings each summer should soon be available there as well. Becoming a Member Send your name, mailing address, phone and fax numbers, and e-mail address to the address below. Enclose a check for $10 US or purchase order number with a billing address to become a member for one year. All PIRA officers and committee members are working on a volunteer basis and receive no compensation or other benifits for thier services. Roger Key, Editor, PIRA Newsletter Kansas State University Physics 9 Cardwell Hall Manhattan KS 66506-2601 (the little apple) 913-532-1629 or fax 6806 ******************************************************************************