Recent PTEC Releases

A cultural perspective of the induction of five reform-minded beginning mathematics and science teachers

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:28:30 EST

The purpose of this empirical study was to present a detailed description and interpretation of what happens in schools to beginning teachers who are prepared to enact reform-based practices in mathematics and science. The focus was on a select sample of graduates from the Maryland Collaborative for Teacher Preparation [MCTP], a statewide reform-based undergraduate teacher preparation program funded by the National Science Foundation. Interpretative research methodology was used to conduct a cultural case study of the beginning teachers' first 2 years of practice (first year, N = 5; second year, N = 3). We documented differential experiences and perceptions of the beginning teachers from both inside (emic) and outside (etic) perspectives. Documented discussion centered on an analytical framework suggested elsewhere. Findings were framed in two components: the individual's intentions, needs, and capabilities; and the institutional demands, affordances, and constraints. The major insight was that the beginning teachers' perception of their school culture was a major factor in whether reform-aligned mathematics and science teaching was regularly implemented by the beginning teachers. In instances where the beginning teachers' perceived that their school cultures offered a lack of support for their intent to implement reform-based practices the beginning teachers exhibited differing social strategies (resistance, moving on, and exit). Therefore, to sustain reform (and, by extension, to retain beginning mathematics and science teachers), a key implication is to place additional attention on the use of the school culture perspective to improve teacher preparation and induction experiences.

Teacher Quality Education Policy White Paper

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:21:25 EST

Improving teacher quality entails policies concerning recruitment, early preparation, retention (including attention to working conditions), as well as professional development. The National Academy of Education provide recommendations that address each of these domains.

Teacher Quality Education Policy White Paper

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

Study of Challenges and Support Structures for Beginning Mathematics and Science Teachers

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:36:32 EST

U.S. schools face a growing and critical shortage of qualified teachers, especially in mathematics and science, where the workforce is plagued with an insufficient supply of qualified teachers and retention difficulties. After five years, between 40 and 50 percent of teachers leave teaching altogether. The most common reasons given for job dissatisfaction are low salaries, a lack of support from the administration, student discipline problems, lack of student motivation, and lack of influence over school decision-making; teachers who lack adequate initial preparation are even more likely to leave the profession. As a result of the striking statistics related to teacher attrition, states and districts have established policies such as teacher induction and mentoring programs to address the problem. New teachers, however, often feel uncomfortable imposing on their peers or mentors and asking for assistance. The authors feel it is the responsibility both of those responsible for teacher preparation programs to prepare teachers for what to expect within their first years of teaching, and of more experienced teachers to reach out to newcomers.

Taste of Technology: Blogs, Wikis, Forums, Digital Libraries…Cafes, Web Seminars, Social Networks, Twitter

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:00:50 EST

This presentation was a part of the "Taste of Technology" Workshop held July 26, 2009 as part of the AAPT Summer Meeting at the University of Michigan. Many students today are already comfortable using common web-based tools -- uploading and linking files, downloading music, images, video, etc.. Students communicate electronically not only through email but also in web-based social communities such as Facebook and Second Life. Physics instruction infused with second as well as first generation web tools -- blogs, wikis, forums, cafes, web seminars, digital libraries and many other web-based tools could provide conduits for students-to-student and student-to-instructor communication and course application. No knowledge of HTML (or of Web authoring in general) is needed for blogging. Students’ blogs, linked to a course wiki functions as an electronic portfolio, showcasing concept development over time, capturing questions, connections and supplying feedback from sources outside the traditional one-instructor assessment model. Wikis (wiki wiki is Hawaiian for "quick") can afford the opportunity for a class “learning community” where ideas could be shared, edited and the construction of a “living document” profiling and recording the proceedings of a particular class or course. Web seminars are commonly used within and external to educational contexts where participants can interactively learn through scheduled “net meetings” or presentations by experts in a field. A second generation tool, similar to web seminars but less formal are science cafes where experts can meet online at a predetermined time with participants. Digital libraries can provide a wealth of vetted resources and advice with many targeting and representing a specific topic or user group.

PhysTEC receives over 50 new site proposals

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

The 2009 request for new PhysTEC sites has closed. The project received over 50 letters of interest, and will announce final selections in early 2010. PhysTEC anticipates offering additional rounds of funding in Fall 2010 and 2011.

PhysTEC begins offering Noyce scholarships

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

PhysTEC supports selected colleges and universities actively engaged in physics teacher preparation. Visit PhysTEC »

2010 PTEC Conference

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

The 2010 PTEC Conference will be held February 12-13, 2010 in Washington, D.C. The meeting will be held in conjunction with the American Physical Society "April" Meeting, the American Association of Physics Teachers Winter Meeting, the National Society of Black Physicists Meeting and the National Society of Hispanic Physicists Meeting.

Task Force on Teacher Education in Physics

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

The joint APS-AAPT-American Institute of Physics is leading the physics community in a response to national and international pressure for a drastic improvement in pre-college science education. Its report will be released in February 2010 at the PTEC Conference.

University of Arkansas, Success Story

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

Reforms to the undergraduate curriculum at the University of Arkansas led to a dramatic increase in the number of physics majors. This set the stage for the university's success in the PhysTEC project, during which the number of graduating physics teachers increased by over a factor of 10.

A New Model Alternative Certification Program For HS Physics Teachers

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

The Masters of Science Education (Physics with NYSED Transitional B Certification) program accommodates science and engineering professionals with appropriate bachelors degrees who wish to change career paths into physics teaching. Alternative certification refers to a teacher certification program that differs from standard college programs of teacher preparation, usually by avoiding the extended guided field experience of student teaching. This article describes the development and deployment of a model graduate level alternative certification program for physics teachers at SUNY- Buffalo State College.

Texas A&M University Commerce Faculty Openings

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST

Texas A&M University Commerce announces two faculty openings: 1. Tenure-Track Assistant/Associate/Full Professor in Science Education; and 2. Tenure-Track Assistant/Associate/Full Professor in Astrophysics/Astronomy.

Views about Teaching

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST

A nice companion to Shelia Tobias’s recent book is the new report, Teaching for a Living: How Teachers See the Profession Today from the Public Agenda. They report that teachers fall into three groups: the Disheartened, the Contented and the Idealists. (I was in all of those groups at some stage of my career!) Read the report.

Conceptual development about motion and force in elementary and middle school students

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:06:39 EST

Methods of physics education research were applied to find what kinds of changes in 4th, 6th, and 8th grade student understanding of motion can occur and at what age. Such findings are necessary for the physics community to effectively discharge its role in advising and assisting pre-college physics education. Prior to and after instruction the students were asked to carefully describe several demonstrated accelerated motions. Most pre-instruction descriptions were of the direction of motion only. After instruction, many more of the students gave descriptions of the motion as continuously changing. Student responses to the diagnostic and to the activity materials revealed the presence of a third “snapshot” view of motion not discussed in the literature. The 4th and 6th grade students gave similar pre-instructional descriptions of the motion, but the 4th grade students did not exhibit the same degree of change in descriptions after instruction. Our findings suggest that students as early as 6th grade can develop changes in ideas about motion needed to construct Newtonian-like ideas about force. Students' conceptions about motion change little under traditional physics instruction from these grade levels through college level.

Performance on multiple-choice diagnostics and complementary exam problems

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:07:31 EST

This paper compares the responses of university physics students on the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) and on open-ended examination questions. The Mechanics Baseline Test (MBT) is another multiple choice test. It contains a greater range of topics than the FCI and is intended for use after instruction.

Attitudes toward physics in the high school curriculum

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 17:03:58 EST

High school principals, guidance counselors, and physics teachers in the state of Wisconsin have been surveyed to determine their respective attitudes toward physics in the high school curriculum. The techniques for determining these attitudes are given. For comparison, attitudes toward biology and chemistry are also determined. The results indicate that the physics community should make a greater effort to inform principals and guidance counselors as to the value of physics in the high school curriculum.

Remedial College Math

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST

The October 2009 issue of APS News has a wonderful article by Joseph Ganem about the mismatch between high school and college mathematics. Could some of Ganem’s ideas apply to physics too? Read the article.

Pre-service teacher understanding of propagation and resonance in sound phenomena

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 10:29:45 EST

This paper describes results of an ongoing investigation into the understanding of sound, mainly among preservice K-12 teachers. Recent work has focused on identifying difficulties in understanding sound propagation and resonance phenomena. We have found that within this population the concept of propagation, especially from one solid object to another, is not well understood.

Force concept inventory

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 10:27:12 EST

This article reports the rationale, design, validation, and uses of the "Force Concept Inventory," an instrument to assess students' beliefs on force. Results and implications of two studies that compared the inventory with the "Mechanics Baseline" are included. The article includes a copy of the instrument.

The Role, Education, Qualifications, and Professional Development of Secondary School Physics Teachers

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 10:24:12 EST

Candidates for secondary school physics teaching positions may be drawn from a variety of sources. Some may have completed an accredited physics or physics teaching program, others may have training in other educational, science, engineering, or business disciplines. Still others may be entering the profession as an alternative or second career. The purpose of this document is to provide some guidance for administrators to gauge a candidate’s qualifications to teach physics.

Role, Education, Qualifications, and Professional Development of Secondary School Physics Teachers

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST

The Role, Education, Qualifications, and Professional Development of Secondary School Physics Teache

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 00:00:00 EST

Quality learning of physics: conceptions held by high school and university teachers

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 09:52:14 EST

This paper reports an exploration of the conceptions of quality learning held by two samples of physics teachers – final year, high school physics teachers and academics teaching first year university physics. We begin by outlining our view of quality learning, that is a view of learning in which learners take control of their own learning and engage with active construction and reconstruction of their own meanings for concepts and phenomena. This view of quality learning recognises the crucial role of the affective dimension of learning on the extent to which students engage with and maintain such constructivist and metacognitive approaches to learning. The study explored the qualitatively different ways in which individuals conceptualise quality learning in physics, using semi structured interviews that explored aspects of learning that the respondents regarded as worth fostering in their classrooms. The interview approach was a modification of the Interview-About-Instances approach that allowed the possibility of interviewees suggesting instances of particular relevance to their view of quality learning. This process resulted in a considerable quantity of rich and complex data related to a large range of aspects of physics learning. These data are summarised here, and the qualitatively different conceptions of the respondents with respect to four significant aspects of physics learning are discussed. These aspects are: doing experimental work; linking physics to the real world; students taking responsibility for their own learning and being confident/feeling proud of what you can do.

The need for change in elementary school teacher training--A cross-college age study of future teachers' conceptions of basic astronomy concepts

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 18:53:44 EST

Do students in pre-service training programs for elementary school teachers hold the correct scientific views, which will eventually allow them to plan and implement instructional strategies, which, in turn, will lead their future pupils to achieve scientific conceptions of basic astronomy concepts? The results of a cross-college age study of this issue are presented and discussed in this paper. The students’ astronomy conceptions were analyzed by means of a written questionnaire presented to them during the first part of the year. The most important findings of this study will be of interest to many elementary-school teacher educators.

Students' confidence and teachers' styles: A binational comparison

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 18:52:14 EST

A teaching-style inventory based on the American Association of Physics Teachers workshop, Developing Student Confidence in Physics was administered to Danish and American teachers. There are some national differences in responses; however, they do not appear to account for the much higher levels of confidence measured in Danish students. Explanations are proposed for the cause of these differences, as well as for the gender bifurcation among both Danish and American students. In addition, the Danish teachers in this study undertook a critique of the AAPT inventory, and proposed additional and alternate scenarios for assessment of relationship and content in the physics classroom.