Parables

• Do You Know the Way to Pittsburgh? (a parable about the dangers associated with interpreting standards as topics and why we need to know the reason for teaching a particular piece of content)
• Do You Know the Parts of a Plant? (the same story as Pittsburgh but with a science slant)
• The Summer Theory (a parable about pseudo-scientific theories)
• The Gnome Baseball League (a parable about the dangers associated with blindly increasing standards for teacher certification)
• The Shepherd and the Sheep (a parable about the dangers associated with educational mandates)
• The Minute Amendment (a parable about guns)

Current Research (see notice)

Below I list a selection of papers and presentations I've made (if you want to see the others, let me know). Several are co-authored with Dr. David Schultz, Professor of Synoptic Meteorology at The University of Manchester. Information on the Cyclone Workshops can be found at here.

• Presentation: The evolution of airstream boundaries over the U.S. 2012-2013 (presented at the 16th Cyclone Workshop, Sainte Adele, Quebec, Canada, September 23, 2013)
• Presentation (with David Schultz as co-author): The Relationship Between Frontal Zones and Airstream Boundaries (presented at the 13th Cyclone Workshop, Monterey, California, October 25, 2006)
• Presentation (with David Schultz as co-author): Applications of the contraction-rate diagnostics for mesoscale processes (presented by David Schultz at the 11th Conference on Mesoscale Processes, Albuquerque, NM, October 24-29, 2005)
• Article (with David Schultz as co-author): Contraction Rate and its Relationship to Frontogenesis, the Lyapunov Exponent, Fluid Trapping and Airstream Boundaries, Monthly Weather Review, 133, 1353-1369 (copyright 2005, American Meteorological Society - see copyright notice); see also the Reply, Monthly Weather Review, 134, 2644-2644 (made in response to Comments on "Contraction Rate and its Relationship to Frontogenesis, the Lyapunov Exponent, Fluid Trapping and Airstream Boundaries", by Charles A. Doswell, III, Monthly Weather Review, 134, 2642-2643)

Science Education

• Presentation: Explaining energy transformations in chemical reactions (Pennsylvania Science Teachers Association, 7 October, Lancaster, PA)
• Presentation: Improving critical reading of science textbooks with Perusall: A collaborative electronic text interface (as part of College Committee session: High Impact/Low Effort Strategies for Student Success in AP and College Courses, National Science Teachers Association, 12 April, St. Louis, MO)
• Presentation: Math Competency and Success in an Algebra-Based Physics Course (as part of SCST Poster Session, National Science Teachers Association, 12 April, St. Louis, MO; with Jerry Ross)
• Chapter: Meteorology, chapter 26 in Passing the State Science Proficiency Tests: Essential Content for Elementary and Middle School Teachers, edited by C. A. Wilson, University Press of America, 2014, 356 pp.
• Chapter: States of Matter, chapter 13 in Passing the State Science Proficiency Tests: Essential Content for Elementary and Middle School Teachers, edited by C. A. Wilson, University Press of America, 2014, 356 pp.
• Book: Project Earth Science: Meteorology, revised second edition, with first author William R. Veal, NSTA Press, 2011, 312 pp.
• Presentation: Preservice and Inservice Teachers Working Together as Teacher Researchers (as part of Teacher Researcher Day at NSTA's 56th National Conference on Science Education, Boston, MA, March, 2008); presented with Mellinda Joseph, Daniel Wallace, Stefana Pascale, Anna Leigh Rowlands, Lauren Bernhardt and Maria Archer, all students at East Stroudsburg University

Textbooks and Lab Manuals

• An Introduction to the Physics of Weather Prediction, 11.1, 355 pp. (2023)
• The Fundamentals of Physics
  • Volume I (Using Laws and Definitions), 19.0, 486 pp. (2023)
  • Volume II (Using Models), 17.2, 520 pp. (2022)
• Guide to Sound, Waves and Light, 3.1, 173 pp. (2016)
• LAMPS90 User's Guide, 37 pp. (1993)

Other Web Sites

• local weather conditions (google map from weather underground)
• East Stroudsburg University sites
  • ESU home page
  • Physics
  • Geography
  • Professional and Secondary Education
• Stephen's Guide of Logical Fallacies (see, also, the master list of logical fallacies at UTEP, Kenneth Pope's Logical Fallacies in Psychology and Brian Dunning's movie Here Be Dragons, an introduction to critical thinking)
• Lessons from the Physics Education Reform Effort (by Richard Hake)

Last updated: March, 2025.