The MIT-Harvard Teaching Opportunities in Physical Science (TOPS) Program
written by
Daniel Kleppner
TOPS--the acronym for Teaching Opportunities in Physical Sciences--is a six-week summer program for sophomore and junior physics majors who are considering careers in pre college physics teaching. The goal of TOPS is to give these students an opportunity to prepare and teach material at the middle school and high school levels under the supervision of experienced teachers. Middle school students are taught in a one-week program at the Boston Museum of Science. High school students are taught in a two-week program at MIT. In addition, TOPS provides contact with ongoing physics research in the Center for Ultracold Atoms, much of which illustrates basic concepts of energy, temperature and light that are central to the material being taught. TOPS, which is now in its seventh year, involves two groups of four students, each working with a skilled high school teacher. The goal is to help inspire teaching careers for some of tomorrow's outstanding teachers in the belief that over the years even a small number of outstanding teachers can have a big influence. The Center for Ultracold Atoms is supported by the National Science Foundation.
2009 PhysTEC Conference
Part of the PhysTEC Annual Conference series Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: March 13-14, 2009
ComPADRE is beta testing Citation Styles!
![]() <a href="https://www.compadre.org/portal/items/detail.cfm?ID=8726">Kleppner, Daniel. "The MIT-Harvard Teaching Opportunities in Physical Science (TOPS) Program." Paper presented at the 2009 PhysTEC Conference, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, March 13-14, 2009.</a>
![]() D. Kleppner, , presented at the 2009 PhysTEC Conference, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 2009, WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=8726&DocID=1112).
![]() D. Kleppner, The MIT-Harvard Teaching Opportunities in Physical Science (TOPS) Program, presented at the 2009 PhysTEC Conference, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 2009, <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=8726&DocID=1112>.
![]() Kleppner, D. (2009, March 13-14). The MIT-Harvard Teaching Opportunities in Physical Science (TOPS) Program. Paper presented at 2009 PhysTEC Conference, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Retrieved May 2, 2025, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=8726&DocID=1112
![]() Kleppner, Daniel. "The MIT-Harvard Teaching Opportunities in Physical Science (TOPS) Program." Paper presented at the 2009 PhysTEC Conference, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, March 13-14, 2009. https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=8726&DocID=1112 (accessed 2 May 2025).
![]() Kleppner, Daniel. "The MIT-Harvard Teaching Opportunities in Physical Science (TOPS) Program." 2009 PhysTEC Conference. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: 2009. of PhysTEC Annual Conference. 2 May 2025 <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=8726&DocID=1112>.
![]() @inproceedings{
Author = "Daniel Kleppner",
Title = {The MIT-Harvard Teaching Opportunities in Physical Science (TOPS) Program},
BookTitle = {2009 PhysTEC Conference},
Address = {Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania},
Series = {PhysTEC Annual Conference},
Month = {March 13-14},
Year = {2009}
}
![]() %A Daniel Kleppner %T The MIT-Harvard Teaching Opportunities in Physical Science (TOPS) Program %S PhysTEC Annual Conference %D March 13-14 2009 %C Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=8726&DocID=1112 %O 2009 PhysTEC Conference %O March 13-14 %O application/pdf ![]() %0 Conference Proceedings %A Kleppner, Daniel %D March 13-14 2009 %T The MIT-Harvard Teaching Opportunities in Physical Science (TOPS) Program %B 2009 PhysTEC Conference %C Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania %S PhysTEC Annual Conference %8 March 13-14 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=8726&DocID=1112 Disclaimer: ComPADRE offers citation styles as a guide only. We cannot offer interpretations about citations as this is an automated procedure. Please refer to the style manuals in the Citation Source Information area for clarifications.
Citation Source Information
The AIP Style presented is based on information from the AIP Style Manual. The APA Style presented is based on information from APA Style.org: Electronic References. The Chicago Style presented is based on information from Examples of Chicago-Style Documentation. The MLA Style presented is based on information from the MLA FAQ. |
ContributeSimilar Materials |