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Re: 14 Modeling Workshops, 13 CPU Workshops/openings



On April 20, Dan MacIsaac posted emails that list openings in 14 workshops
at universities nationwide for high school teachers in learning to teach
physics and physical science using the modeling method. Workshop
information can be found in the PHYS-L archives at http://mailgate.nau.edu
for this month, or search this month under Dan MacIsaac's name. Detailed
information is at
modeling.la.asu.edu/modeling.html

But - WHAT IS THE MODELING WORKSHOP PROJECT ALL ABOUT?
Mostly in David Hestenes' words, here's a description:


The Modeling Workshop Project has been developed at Arizona State
University over more than a decade to integrate insights from physics
education research with classroom experience of exceptional inservice
teachers. In a series of intensive three- or four-week workshops over two
years, teachers improve their physics content knowledge and are equipped
with a robust teaching methodology for developing student abilities to:
-- make sense of physical experience,
-- understand scientific claims,
-- articulate coherent opinions of their own and defend them with cogent
arguments,
-- evaluate evidence in support of justified belief.

More specifically, teachers learn to:
-- ground their teaching in a well-defined pedagogical framework (Modeling
Theory), rather than following rules of thumb;
-- organize course content around scientific models as coherent units of
structured knowledge;
-- engage students collaboratively in making and using models to describe,
to explain, to predict, to design and control physical phenomena;
-- involve students in using computers as scientific tools for collecting,
organizing, analyzing, visualizing, and modeling real data;
-- assess student understanding in more meaningful ways and experiment with
more authentic means of assessment;
-- continuously improve and update instruction with new software,
curriculum materials and insights from educational research;
-- work collaboratively in action research teams to mutually improve their
teaching practice.

Since "teachers teach as they have been taught," the workshops include
extensive practice in implementing the curriculum as intended for high
school classes. Participants rotate through roles of student and instructor
as they practice techniques of guided inquiry and cooperative learning.
Plans and techniques for raising the level of discourse in classroom
discussions and student presentations are emphasized. Teachers are immersed
in studying the physics content of the entire year, providing indepth
remediation for underprepared teachers. Altogether, the Modeling Workshops
provide a detailed implementation of the National Science Education
Standards.

With National Science Foundation funding for a nationwide program, the
workshops have provided professional development for 200 experienced
in-service teachers with exceptional qualifications and motivation, from 44
states. In statewide programs, half the physics teachers in Arizona and
about 100 in Wisconsin have learned Modeling Instruction. Universities in
Kansas, Maine, and North Carolina have held regional modeling workshops,
and 15 universities nationwide are funded to hold modeling workshops this
summer.

Of the 200 teachers in the nationwide program, 15% teach at urban schools
and 15% at rural. 25% of the teachers are women, and 5% are disadvantaged
minorities. 20% serve low income populations and 50% serve middle class
populations. Of the 100 Arizona teachers who use Modeling Instruction, 20%
teach in urban schools and 25% are rural (chiefly low income). 30% are
women. Almost all physics teachers in the Phoenix Urban Systemic Initiative
(USI) use the Modeling Method.
******************************

Jane Jackson, Dir., Modeling Workshop Project
Box 871504, Dept.of Physics, ASU, Tempe, AZ 85287
480-965-8438/fax:965-7331. http://modeling.la.asu.edu

"In the matter of physics, the first lessons should
contain nothing but what is experimental and interesting
to see. A pretty experiment is in itself often more
valuable than twenty formulae extracted from our minds."
- Albert Einstein