Pat Keefe teaches physics and physical science classes using an award winning, guided activity approach. Formal lectures have been eliminated from the courses and replaced with a direct inquiry approach with hands-on lab experiments, along with utilizing computers as flexible tools for data collection and analysis. Students work collaboratively in groups to answer questions posed to them to help them understand the world around them.
Daily, in the Physics Lab, students consider and discuss what data to collect and how to collect the data. Then they analyze the data by making calculations, which usually involves using a spreadsheet. By representing the data in a graph or other means, students can make sense of their world and explain to others what is happening. This helps the student gain the skills and confidence needed to further their career goals. After a year of study, students can answer the question: “Do we really know anything?”
Biography:
Pat Keefe has been enthusiastically teaching at CCC since 1991. Before moving to Astoria, Pat worked at OMSI and Clark College, while a graduate student in physics at Portland State University. Pat researched superconductors and the electrolysis of palladium in heavy water for his master’s degree in physics at PSU.
He received a National Science Foundation grant to transform the way physics had been traditionally taught. With computers becoming affordable and an effortless way to collect and analyze data, students no longer needed to rely on an authority figure to tell them how the world works.
Pat has been an active member of the American Association of Physic Teachers and the Pacific Northwest Association of College Physics. He works closely with Greg Mulder, Ph.D. from Linn-Benton Community College and the duo have presented over three dozen international workshops on the topics of “Developing an Energy Policy for the United States” and “Building Mini ROVs: Using Arduino and VPython. Pat also works closely with Priscilla Laws, Ph.D. from Dickinson College, who is a pioneer in developing research-based introductory physics curriculum, computer tools and apparatus.
Starting in 2004, Professor Keefe partnered with Maritime Science Instructor Dennis Degner and Professor Julie Brown, Ph.D., to compete in the (MATE) Marine Advanced Technology Education International ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) Competition.
Teams from around the world compete to build the best underwater ROVs to maneuver and perform several tasks underwater, write a technical paper, and give a presentation on their ROV. CCC teams have competed in 13 competitions finishing in the top 10 four times along with several other awards. Pat’s teams have competed throughout the USA and Canada and received a third-place victory at NASA’s Neutral Buoyant Laboratory in Houston, beating out such teams as MIT, Washington State University Vancouver, University California Davis, Arizona State University and Canada’s University of Waterloo.
