Summer Institute in Physics Teaching
July 28 - August 8, 2008
at Seattle Pacific University
Dates: July 28
– August 8, 2008, MTWThF
Time: 8:30 AM
– 3:00 PM
Instructors:
- Dr. Stamatis
Vokos, Professor of Physics, Seattle Pacific University
- Dr. Hunter
Close, Visiting Assistant Professor of Physics, Seattle
Pacific University
- Kurt Spann,
High School Science Teacher, Cleveland High School
Location: Otto
Miller Hall, Seattle Pacific University (http://www.spu.edu/info/buildings/omh/)
Credits: 5
credits of 5000-level physics from
SPU
Pay:
Approximately $1500 for successful completion of the
course
Description:
By participating, teachers will build their:
- Physics
content knowledge: Teachers will develop a clear understanding of
fundamental ideas in motion, forces, and energy and their
interrelationships; the content teachers learn will be relevant to
their students’ learning by focusing on going “deeper
into” rather than “beyond” what their students
need to learn.
- Curricular
knowledge: Teachers will become more familiar with pieces of real
research-based curriculum such as the University of Washington
Tutorials in Introductory Physics, University of Maryland
tutorials (including “physics teacher” tutorials about
student learning!), Modeling Physics, The Physics Active
Learning Guide, and Physics and Everyday
Thinking. Some of this material, when adapted
thoughtfully, can be used with high school students in the 2007-08
school year.
- Pedagogical
content knowledge: Teachers will learn about effective
instructional strategies as identified by research on student
learning in physics.
- Knowledge of
national standards: Teachers will identify the big ideas and how
each detailed little idea connects to the big ideas.
- Knowledge of
research on student ideas in physics: Teachers will consult basic
research summaries and go deeper into original research papers on
student learning of motion, forces, and energy.
- Formative
assessment knowledge and skills: Teachers will use Diagnoser (www.diagnoser.com) to identify
students’ ideas in their own classrooms and respond to them
with instruction designed to develop each student’s
understanding, starting from his or her current thinking.
Also, teachers will design their own formative assessment probes
into specific student ideas using the standards and
research.
Application:
Participants will be selected through an application
process. The application is now available at: http://www.spu.edu/special/juniorscience/pages/summer.asp
Applications are due
April 25, 2008.
Teachers will be
notified by Wednesday April 30th.
All high school science
teachers in Seattle Public Schools are invited to apply.
Teachers of 9th grade physical science (or “integrated
science”) are especially encouraged to apply.
Academic year
“follow-up” sessions: Follow-up courses
throughout the academic year will focus on examining student
thinking in their responses to formative assessments and other
classroom work. Participating teachers should plan to attend
about 50 hours of follow-up sessions throughout the course of the
academic year.
Contact
us: Please direct any questions about this institute
to Hunter Close (hclose@spu.edu), Jen Fox (jbfox@seattleschools.org),
Susan Swan (smswan@seattleschools.org)
or Elaine Woo (ewoo@seattleschools.org).
