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| PHYSICS TEACHING FROM THE HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE (INQUIRY!) | 3 s.h. | Spring |
20 hrs in PHY. Adm to Teacher Ed req.
Overview of the development of classical scientific thought relating to
physical phenomena with implications for pedagogy. Note: This is a five-week course taken during the same semester as, but prior
to, student teaching.
WARNING: Associated with this course is one or more NSTA-mandated summative performance assessments linked with Professional Studies' Admission to Student Teaching gateway. Failure to adequately demonstrate the required competencies in a timely fashion will result in the teacher candidate being barred from student teaching.
Name: Ken Wester, Coordinator
Physics Teacher Education Program
Office Location: Moulton Hall, Room 322
Office Hours: drop in or by appointment
Telephones: (309) 438-2957 (office); (309)660-9902 (cell)
e-mail address: kwester@phy.ilstu.edu
By mutual agreement, the class will meet on Mondays from 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. and Tuesday from 8:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. assuming no formal breaks. Recall that PHY 353 meets immediately after this class on Monday evenings from approximately 9:00 - 10:00 p.m. We will meet for four weeks, from January 14, 2019 through February 4, 2020. Class meetings will be held in Moulton Hall room 307-B unless noted otherwise. Student teaching begins Monday, February 10, 2020 and continues through April 24, 2020.
This course will have a learning environment that is student centered, knowledge centered, assessment centered, and community centered. This course will be student centered to the extent that the teacher builds on knowledge students bring to the learning situations. This course will be knowledge centered to the extent that the teacher helps students develop an organized understanding of important concepts in the physics teaching discipline. This course will be assessment centered to the extent that the teacher makes students' thinking visible so that ideas can be presented and verified. This course will be community centered to the extent that the teacher establishes classroom norms that learning with understanding is valued and students feel free to explore what they do not understand.
Each 210-minute meeting period will include the following items within the following approximate time constraints - 1.5 classes, each whole class consisting of the following 140-minute block (due to compressing the course from 3 meetings per week to 2 meetings per week) within which there will be:
Attendance is mandatory with each missed class resulting in a one letter grade reduction, unless cleared with the instructor prior to the absence.
In this course, as in other Physics Teacher Education courses, emphasis will be placed on an Assessment-for-Learning policy where reasonably possible. That is, assessments of student performance will be used not only to assign grades, but also to improve student performance. Unsatisfactory written work will be returned to the student for improvement. A student's score can be improved following appropriate revision and resubmission of "unsatisfactory" course projects, so long as all deadlines are met.
IPTS Standard |
Assessment |
| 5L | 312 A |
| 3I | 312 B |
| 8C, 7Q, | 312 D |
The following knowledge is assumed: Levels of Inquiry, Writing Student Performance Objectives, and Resources for Teaching. The following content-area topics will serve as unifying themes for classes within this course:
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Day |
Topic(s) |
NOS |
Inquiry |
Assignment |
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1/14 Tue
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Motion |
N/A |
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1/14-15 |
Force Q&A about book readings No.1 & No.2 |
Instructor |
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Pressure Q&A about book readings No.3 |
(handout) |
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Energy
& Momentum(1) Q&A about book readings No.4 |
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Energy
& Momentum(2) Q&A about book readings No.5 |
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Waves(1) Q&A about book readings No.6 |
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Waves(2) Q&A about book readings No.7 |
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Light
& Optics(1) Q&A about book readings No.8 |
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Light
& Optics(2) Q&A about book readings No.9 |
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Electricity
& Magnetism(1) Q&A about book readings No.10 |
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Read associated historical vignettes; complete book readings 13-14 before next class; work on lesson plans as required; prepare inquiry lesson as necessary; complete work on unit plan; | |
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TBD |
Electricity
& Magnetism(2) Q&A about book readings No.11 |
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Electricity
& Magnetism(3) Q&A about book readings No.12 |
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Temperature
& Heat |
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Read associated historical vignettes
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Atomic & Nuclear Physics |
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TBD |
Summing Up | Ad Hoc Committee presentation |
One text will be used in this course for background reading: Cunningham, J. & Herr, N. (1994). Hands-On Physics Activities with Real-Life Applications. The Center for Applied Research in Education. Students should already own this book courtesy of the Illinois Section of the American Association of Physics Teachers and their Guidebook Program for teacher candidates.
Additionally, the following books are recommended and provide additional pedagogical content knowledge background; several copies are available for loan from the course instructor:
Students will want to investigate Eric Weisstein's World of Scientific Biography at Wolfram Research for many online biographies.An especially good historical reference with more detailed biographical sketches is Isaac Asimov's Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and Technology (1972, New York: Avon Books) available for loan from the course instructor or for purchase from Amazon.com.
Extensive use will be made of the instructional materials associated with the Modeling Method of Instruction, including mechanics and the so-called second semester topics. Students can gain access to Modeling materials through the Modeling Instruction Program web site at Arizona State University.
The following work assignments will be used to assess student performance in relation to each of the stated performance objectives:
312A: edTPA Task 1 "Identify a learning segment to plan, teach and analyze" ( defined as 3-5 days) and write a lesson plan for each lesson (25% of course grade)
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312B: TEACH ONE INQUIRY LESSON (20% of course grade)
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312C: edTPA Task 1 (35% of course grade)
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312D: Syllabus Project (0% of course grade)
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312E: CLASS PARTICIPATION (20% of course grade)
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All required Student Tasks/Assignments MUST be completed and/or turned in by the Friday prior to student teaching. There will be no exceptions to this rule without a substantial grade penalty. In the advent that work is not completed and submitted in final form by the due date, the course grade will be lowered by one full letter grade.
Criterion-base grading standards have been set as follows:
| A > 90% |
82% < B < 90% |
74% < C < 82% |
66% < D < 74% |
F < 66% |
Students are expected to be honest in all academic work. A student's name on any in academic exercise shall be regarded as assurance that the work is the result of the student's own thought and study. Offenses involving academic dishonesty include, but are not limited to the following: cheating, computer dishonesty, plagiarism, grade falsification, and collusion. For more information about this important topic, visit the Student Dispute Resolution Web site.
Caution: Keep in mind as you progress toward student teaching that as a student teacher your students will have an interest in finding out about you. This will lead them to Internet searches. Don't put anything on a web page, uTube, Facebook, MySpace, etc., that you wouldn't want students, parents, teachers or administrators to see.
Disposition Concerns: The College of Education, in an effort to ensure top quality graduates, provides faculty members and interested others with the opportunity to provide input into the teacher preparation process. One of these inputs is in the area of disposition concerns. Education faculty, in particular, are encouraged to bring to attention of CECP any significant problems associated with the following major areas. If three or more filed dispositions concerns have not been resolved, the teacher candidate will be blocked from advancing in Professional Studies.