PHY 312 -- Physics Teaching from the Historical Perspective (Inquiry!)
Physics Teacher Education Program
Illinois State University
Ken Wester, Program Coordinator
Spring Semester 2009
One of the major goals of Physics 312 is to provide you the opportunity to integrate your knowledge of physics, physics/science education research, educational psychology, and pedagogy. Creating a unit plan will give you the opportunity to think about and synthesize all you know about teaching, students, and a particular area of physics. The end in view is to create something that will be useful not only to you, but to your classmates, future physics education majors, and physics teachers globally. Your unit plan will be, in part, a compilation of broad educational goals, specific objectives, subject matter, instructional activities and resources, and appropriate evaluation instruments, all of which are associated with a central theme, topic, or issue.
A major advantage of writing a unit plan now is that planning will take place when you have the time and energy to construct realistic and balanced goals, to sort through a maze of resources to select and include the most appropriate activities, to plan for a wide range of educational activities, to create both alternative and authentic assessment instruments, and to see how this all fits into a pre-determined schedule. Chances are such that this opportunity will not present itself once you begin student teaching.
Work with your cooperating teacher to identify suitable topics for each of your unit plan. The unit plan should focus on a topic you will teach second and third during your student teacher practicum. Read background for your topic by referencing each of the following works as necessary:
All of these books can be borrowed as necessary from your course instructor.
GUIDELINES
Number and title all sections of you unit plan exactly as shown in the outline below. Use a 12-point Times/Times New Roman font, or similar. Set margins to one inch on all sides. Single-space your work.
Students should regularly submit their unit plan as a work in progress for formative evaluation and corrective feedback. Your unit plan should be prepared in compliance with the guidelines below. In addition, you should frequently refer to the unit plan scoring rubric used to assess this project.
A. Give a title to your unit (e.g., kinematics, dynamics, energy, momentum, electrostatics, magnetism, optics, etc.) and include a short summary of the content your unit plan will address.
B. Explain briefly improvements in intellectual process skills (scientific, critical, and reflective thinking) that you expect your students to exhibit at the conclusion of this unit.
C. Explain briefly the improvements in scientific dispositions that you expect your students to exhibit at the conclusion of this unit.
II. RESOURCES
A. List all demonstration equipment available to you in your school for teaching this unit.
B. List all laboratory equipment/activities you have available in your school for teaching this unit.
C. List all computer simulations as well as hardware and software available for teaching this unit.
III. ALIGNMENTS
It is imperative that objectives, activities, and assessments of your unit be properly aligned. Create a four column table in which you provide the following, being certain to include not less than five student performance objectives from your unit plan:
State all major student performance objectives (SPOs) associated with this unit (see SPOs hyperlinked to 312 syllabus) State corresponding in-class or homework activities designed to help students achieve SPO State type and number of formative and summative and assessments; be certain to include multiple and varied assessments State alignment of SPOs with Illinois Learning Standards, including both Applications of Learning and Goals 11, 12, and 13, that this unit will address. ex. Students will, using a wave table and appropriate barriers, establish the law of reflection. ex. Students will be given a wave table with wave generator and will be asked to measure angles of incidence and reflection of water waves. ex. As a post-lab activity, and later, as a summative assessment, students will be required to state that the two angles are equal of, if given one, will give the other. ex. Goal 11 – Understand the processes of scientific inquiry and technological design to investigate questions, conduct experiments, and solve problems.
IV. TIMELINE
Provide a day-by-day description of the subject matter and activities, including any summative assessments. (Remember, a unit plan will typically span only one or two weeks; that is, 5 to 10 class periods.)
V. PEDAGOGY
Provide a short but accurate description of how you plan to teach this unit. That is, state the pedagogical approaches you plan to use, including student groupings. Indicate how your classroom will be student centered, knowledge centered, community centered, and assessment centered. Be certain to include reference to your educational theory by referencing your "Theory-into-Practice Project" from PHY 311.
VI. METACOGNITIVE PRACTICES
State briefly the type and frequency of metacognitive practices that will be used with students to help them self-assess and regulate their behaviors in such a way as to improve learning associated with this unit plan.
VII. CONTEXT OF SCIENCE
Explain how the content of your unit can be related to the daily lives and interests of your students or to the larger framework of human endeavor and understanding. That is, explain how you will include EITHER include real-world applications OR public policy issues related to the subject matter of the unit (or both if you prefer). Be detailed and specific. See Cunningham & Herr for ideas.
VIII. SOCIAL CONTEXT
Identify and explain how you might use human and institutional resources in the community to advance the education of your students while studying the content of this unit plan.
List the alternative conceptions and other learning difficulties students have with the subject matter of your unit. Be certain to reference any sources used - you should not be the source of these alternative conceptions.
X. SAFETY CONSIDERATIONS
List all safety concerns associated with teaching this unit plan. Be certain to reference any sources used.