Chris Chiaverina retired from high school physics teaching after 34 years in the classroom. He spent the last decade of his teaching career at New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois where he served as director of The Connections Project, a grant-supported initiative that employs Exploratorium-style interactive exhibits to demonstrate linkages among the arts, mathematics, and science. Chiaverina has written over three dozen articles on physics education and has co-authored or contributed to seven science textbooks. Along with co-author Thomas Rossing, he is currently preparing the second edition of the optics textbook Light Science which was originally published in 1997. He has also written online courses for Pearson Education as well as modules on light at both the macro and nano scales for Northwestern University. Chiaverina recently completed the writing of the in-text lab activities, a laboratory manual, and lecture notes for Pearson’s Physics by James Walker.
In 1992, Chiaverina and James Hicks were featured in “Rock and Roll Physics,” an episode of the PBS series The New Explorers. In 2002 he was president of the American Association of Physic Teachers. He has served several terms on the editorial board of The Physics Teacher magazine and is currently editor of The Physics Teacher magazine’s “Little Gems” column. He frequently conducts professional development workshops for science teachers and presents interactive lectures to the public. In recent years he has addressed groups in China, Czech Republic, Estonia, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Norway, Slovenia, and the United States.
