On a warm, sunny day, even teachers want class outside.

In front of Jack Science Center Thursday, teachers pushed each other on scooters. Some teachers watched. Others chatted, and one teacher played on a skateboard.

It's hardly lost on the teachers that they're acting like their students. But instead of gossiping about other students, complaining about homework or catching up on weekend plans, the teachers are problem solving.

All the teachers teach physics, and the class is part of a multiday summer institute that gives them practical, inexpensive ideas for teaching the laws of motion.

"For me, that's why Iremember things," said Larry Cook, Bismarck High School physics teacher.

The 47 teachers broke into two groups for the week. The scooters are used as part of a human rocket, which demonstrates continuous momentum. Several of the teachers used the demonstration and offered suggestions on how best to propel each other across the concrete.

The human rocket is one of many demonstrations the teachers learned. Before doing a demonstration, they would talk about what they would teach their students leading up to a hands-on activity.

Physics class has become more experimental over the years.

"It is a good activity class," Cook said. "It shows them how things work in the real world."

Beach's new science teacher, Monica Stover, anticipates she'll have more labs in her physics classes because of what she's learned at the summer institute.

"I like the practical stuff because you can use it," she said.

Stover can relate to students who might not take physics because it is hard. She remembers thinking physics and chemistry were "inconquerable" classes. That changed as she started taking classes, she said.

The summer institute is funded by a National Science Foundation grant and sponsored by the American Association of Physics Teachers' Physics Teaching Resource Agents to assist rural teachers in meeting the highly qualified teacher requirement of the federal No Child Left Behind Act. The teachers can take the institute for college credit.

Summer institutes like this one are taking place across the country.

(Reach reporter Sara Kincaid at 250-8251 or sara.kincaid@;bismarcktribune.com.)