This interactive workbook and CD-ROM package is designed to help users visualize and work with specific physics problems through simulations created with Interactive Physics files. Forty problems of varying degrees of difficulty require learners to make predictions, change variables, run, and visualize motion on the computer. The accompanying workbook/study guide provides instructions, physics review, hints, and questions. The accompanying CD-ROM contains everything needed to run the simulations.
Dr. Cindy Schwarz is currently Associate Professor of Physics at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY. She majored in physics and mathematics at S.U.N.Y. Binghamton, graduating in 1980. She received her Ph.D. from Yale University in 1985 for her work to experimental particle physics. She has written two other books A Tour of the Subatomic Zoo: A Guide to Particle Physics (Springer-Verlag) and Tales from the Subatomic Zoo (self-published at www.smallworldbooks.net) and a multimedia CD-ROM Interactive Journey through Physics (Prentice Hall). She is a member of the American Physical Society (APS), the American Association of Physics Teachers (RAPT), and is a member of the Undergraduates Texts in Contemporary Physics (UTCP) Editorial Board for Springer-Verlag. Cindy and John first collaborated at AAPT national meetings, giving workshops on beginning through advanced level Interactive Physics™. Cindy has received two grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for work in curriculum development using technology to aid in the teaching of physics. Most recently, she was awarded a grant in the NSF Course Curriculum and Laboratory Improvement (CCLI) program for development of a course for non-majors using digital video and analysis software to teach and assist in the learning of physics. Cindy is married and lives in Staatsburg New York with her husband Norman Rachmilowitz, her sons Michael and Bryan, and their dog Kellie.
Dr. John Ertel is Associate Professor of Physics at the Unites States Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD. He received his BS in 1966 and his MS in 1968 from Emory University for his theoretical work describing the angular correlation of alpha particles emitted in the spontaneous fission of Californium-252. In the summer of 1968, John went on active duty with the Marine Corps where he served as a pilot. While still in the Marines, he started part-time work on his Ph.D. After exiting active duty service, John was invited to return to the Academy as an Assistant Professor while continuing work towards the doctorate. In 1983, Professor Ertel received his Ph.D. from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. for his work in theoretical electron scattering. He then returned as a faculty member of the Physics Department of the U.S. Naval Academy where he has remained since that time. Since the debut of Interactive Physics in the late 1980's, Professor Ertel has given workshops on the simulation software at over twenty meetings of the American Association of Physics Teachers as well as numerous colleges and universities. In the summer of 1997, Dr. Schwarz added her expertise to these long running workshop presentations. Dr. Ertel is an active member of APS, Acoustical Society of America (ASA), and RAPT and is a member of the UTCP Editorial Board for Springer-Verlag. In his local community, he is currently the Governor's Select Appointee to the Board of Trustees, Maryland School for the Deaf. John is also very active in the Boy Scouts of America. He lives in Annapolis with his wife, Patricia Burt, and their dogs Maggie and Cinders.
