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Teacher Education at Illinois State University

PHYSICS 413 -- TEACHING HIGH SCHOOL PHYSICS II

DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS

Summer Semester 2007

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(Under revision; last updated 7/10/2007)

Catalog Description:

413   TEACHING HIGH SCHOOL PHYSICS II   3 sem. hrs. Summer

Employs goal setting, self-assessment, and instructional design as a way of improving the physics teachers' inquiry practice.


Prerequisite:

 

Open only to certificated, in-service high school teachers of physics and physical science with a minimum of two years of teaching experience. Approval of course instructor also required.

Instructor:

Name: Carl J. Wenning, Coordinator
Physics Teacher Education Program
Office Location: Moulton Hall, Room 322
Office Hours: drop in or by appointment
Telephones: (309) 438-2957 (office); 454-4164 (home); 830-4085 (cell)
e-mail address: wenning@phy.ilstu.edu

Class Meetings:

This summer course will be taught on an independent study basis with meetings as necessary.

 

Course Overview:

 

The aim of this course is to provide in-service teachers of physics and/or physical science with a mechanism for improving their professional practice. The end in view is to enhance the scientific literacy of secondary school students. The goal is to help teachers self-assess, set goals, and design ways to improve teaching practice. This course will help in-service teachers of physics and/or physical science develop and follow a professional development plan.

This course will bring five important professional development elements together to achieve that goal: (1) an increased knowledge of inquiry practice, (2) a better understanding of the rationale for scientific literacy and the processes of inquiry needed to achieve it, (4) an analysis of one's own teaching practice including the curricular, instructional, and institutional problems associated with teaching for scientific literacy, and (5) plans for improvements in both practice and conditions under which inquiry-oriented teaching is practiced. The latter will be achieved using self-assessments and the process of generic instructional design.

In this course emphasis will be placed on a Assessment-for-Learning policy. That is, assessments of student performance will be used not only to generate scores and assign a course grade, but also to improve student performance. Unsatisfactory written work will be returned to the student for improvement, but only if submitted by the deadline. A student's score can be improved by appropriate revision and resubmission of unsatisfactory course projects, so long as all deadlines are met.

Each class will consist of discussions of assigned readings, modeling and practicing of secondary-level inquiry lessons that demonstrate appropriate infusion of instructional technology, teacher presentations, and activities related to increasing the understanding the nature of scientific inquiry.

 

Course Objectives:

By the conclusion of this course, the in-service teacher will have demonstrated the ability to:

  1. provide a definition of and rationale for achieving scientific literacy among school students;
  2. define what is meant by inquiry-oriented teaching, including an explanation of various stages along a continuum of such practices (e.g., interactive demonstration, inquiry lesson, bounded inquiry, free inquiry, etc.);
  3. explain why inquiry teaching is considered "best practice" in relationship to the goal of achieving scientific literacy;
  4. identify techniques of inquiry practice most strongly associated with improvements in scientific literacy among high school students;
  5. perform a realistic self-assessment of typical (three previously videotaped) science lessons;
  6. identify educational, instructional, curricular, and institutional problems associated with teaching via inquiry and create and evaluate alternative resolutions; and
  7. prepare, teach, and reflect on one inquiry-based physics/physical science lessons using the complete Lesson Study process.

 

Required Texts and Readings (incomplete):

Readings in this course will come from a variety of sources. All four of the following publications are required:

National Research Council (1996). National Science Education Standards, Washington: National Academy Press.

National Research Council (2000). Inquiry and the National Science Education Standards, Washington: National Academy Press.

Rutherford, F. J. (1990). Science for All Americans: Project 2061, Washington, DC: American Association for the Advancement of Science.

All three books are available for loan from the course instructor.

 

Required In-Service Teacher Tasks:

 

Definition of and Rationale for Scientific Literacy (20% of course grade)

Each in-service teacher will write a research paper that provides an extensive rationale for achieving scientific literacy among school children using the required readings and class discussion as a guide. The development of this paper will be used identify reasons for considering instructional change. (Objective: 1)

Definition of and Rationale for Inquiry-Oriented Teaching (20% of course grade)

Each in-service teacher will write a research paper that operationally explains what inquiry-based teaching is, and why inquiry-oriented teaching is considered "best practice" in relationship to the goal of achieving scientific literacy. The paper will enumerate and characterize the key elements associated effective inquiry practice using required readings as a guide. The development of this paper will be used to identify significant tasks associated with effective inquiry practice, and will include what effective inquiry practice might look like in hypothetical terms in the in-service teacher's own classroom. (Objectives: 2, 3 & 4)

Self-Assessment of Teaching Practice (totaling 40% of course grade)


Each in-service teacher will perform an evidence-based self-assessment of personal teaching practice in relation to a specific set of inquiry practice indicators. The purpose of this task is to allow in-service teachers to reflect on their own teaching practice, to identify problems associated with that teaching practice that originate from within the teacher and from within the institutional setting, and as a means of examining significant performance problems associated with the instruction (classroom, school, district, state). This self-assessment must be completed as a three-step process (Objective: 5):

  1. reviewing videotapes prepared by the in-service teacher of at least three full periods of school instruction using an RTOP-based "teaching self-assessment inventory."See the course instructor for a hard copy of this instrument. (20% of course grade)
  2. reviewing data, anecdotal experiences, and a personal reflection, determine to what extent resistance to inquiry exists within the in-service teacher's school setting. (10% of course grade)
  3. administering and reviewing data from the Nature of Science Literacy Test (NOSLiT) and the Scientific Inquiry Literacy Test (ScInqLiT). See the course instructor for hyperlinks and passwords to the password-protected PDFs, as well as for Opscan forms if needed. (10% of course grade)

 

Professional Development Plan (20% of course grade)


Each in-service teacher will examine ways to overcome teacher-specific problems associated with inquiry teaching practice following a method of generic instructional design in the context of each student's institution, including teaching assignment, setting, student resistance to inquiry, and building, district, and testing policies. Questions relating to teacher education, classroom instruction, and school curriculum will be examined. If any of these have a problem associated with them, alternative solutions will be identified for dealing effectively with each problem. Each solution will be assessed, and the most suitable solution for each problem selected for future execution. (Objective: 6)

 

AT DISCRESSION OF COURSE INSTRUCTOR: Preparation, Presentation, and Analysis of an Inquiry-Oriented Lesson (0% of course grade)


Based upon the outcome of the self-assessment, each in-service teacher must prepare, present, and reflect upon one 75 to 90-minute inquiry-based physics/physical science lesson using the Lesson Study process. The lesson will be prepared in consultation with the course instructor. It will be videotaped and the in-service teacher will perform an analysis of the effectiveness of the lesson using an appropriate assessment rubric. Formal pre- and post-lesson conferences will be conducted with the course instructor. (Objective: 7)

 

Student Performance Assessments: The relative worth in determining the final grade for the course will be as follows:

 

Definition of and Rationale for Scientific Literacy  50 normalized points (20%)
Definition of and Rationale for Inquiry-based Teaching 50 normalized points (20%)
Self-Assessment of Teaching Practice 50 normalized points (40%)
Professional Development Plan 50 normalized points (20%)
Preparation, Presentation, and Analysis of Inquiry Lesson 00 normalized points (00%)
TOTAL POINTS 250 normalized points

Course Grade:

The course grade for each student will be based upon the percentage of total points generated on the student performance assessments, and will be assigned according to the following system.

A > 94%            83% < B < 94%             72% < C < 83%             67% < D < 72%             F < 67%

The above grading scale might seem a bit high to the in-service teacher, but it assumes that students will take advantage of the instructor's Assessment-for-Learning policy. SAAMEE: A Model for Academic Success

References:

 

Aarons, A. B. (1997). Teaching Introductory Physics, New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

American Association for the Advancement of Science. (1993). Benchmarks for Scientific Literacy, F. James Rutherford (ed.). Washington: Oxford University Press.

Center for Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Education (2000). Educating Teachers of Science, Mathematics, and Technology: New Practices for the New Millennium. Available: http://www.nap.edu/books/0309070333/html/

Hatton, J. & Plouffe, P. B. (1997). Science and Its Ways of Knowing. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Kober, N. (1993). EdTalk: What We Know About Science Teaching and Learning. Washington: Council for Educational Development and Research.

Lawson, A. E. (1995). Science Teaching and the Development of Thinking. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Company.

National Science Teachers Association (1994). Scope, Sequence, and Coordination. Washington: Author

National Research Council (1996). National Science Education Standards. Washington, DC: Author.

National Research Council (2000). Inquiry and the National Science Education Standards. Washington, DC: Author

National Research Council (2000). How People Learn. Washington, DC: Author.

National Science Teachers Association. (1993). Handbook of Research on Science Teaching and Learning, Dorothy L. Gabel (ed.). New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute & National Science Foundation (197x). Conference on the Introductory Physics Course, Jack Wilson (ed.), New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Rutherford, F. J. (1990). Science for All Americans -- Project 2061, Washington, DC: American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Swartz, C. E., & Miner, T. (1998). Teaching Introductory Physics: A Sourcebook. New York: Springer-Verlag.