Dick Hake's post of April 17, 2002 included suggestions for actions to
alleviate the current shortage of effective K-12 physics/science teachers.
It's a critical issue! (See his excerpt after my response).
At Arizona State University, under the direction of David Hestenes, we are
addressing this issue. Below is a statement by Dr. Hestenes.
Visit modeling.asu.edu, and contact me if you want assistance in building
on our work.
Cheers,
Jane Jackson, AzSTEP Facilitator
Quote by David Hestenes:
"The Arizona Science and Technology Education Partnership (AzSTEP)
began as a statewide partnership between the Arizona State University
physics department and high school physics teachers to support the teachers
as local leaders of K-12 science and technology education reform.
In the three years since it was started, AzSTEP has engaged more
than half of Arizona's high school physics teachers in Modeling Workshops.
At ASU the Modeling Workshops have been institutionalized as a two-semester
course in Methods of Physics Teaching, that serves as a required "methods
course" for preservice teachers as well as basic training in science
pedagogy for inservice teachers. This replaces a methods course in the
College of Education with two courses in the physics department that
integrate science content with pedagogy.
The great success and popularity of the Modeling Workshops has
generated a demand from the teachers for a graduate program that continues
their professional development with science courses relevant to their
teaching mission.
In response to this demand and with unanimous support from the
physics and astronomy faculty, ASU approved a new graduate program to
provide long-term professional development for high school physics
teachers. The program leads to a Master of Natural Science (MNS) degree,
though many teachers are interested in the courses to satisfy state
recertification requirements.
The physics teachers trained in this initial version of AzSTEP
provide a cadre of leaders for expansion of AzSTEP into a statewide network
of partnerships between universities and school districts."
Ref: D. Hestenes and J. Jackson, Partnerships for Physics Teaching Reform
-- a crucial role for universities. In E. Redish & J. Rigden (Eds.) The
changing role of the physics department in modern universities. American
Institute of Physics Part I (1997). p. 449-459. Downloadable in pdf at
<http://modeling.asu.edu>.
On April 17, 2002, Richard Hake posted:
"... Roadblock "3" is extremely challenging. IMHO, among steps for
alleviating the current shortage of effective K-12 physics/science
teachers are:
a. Support the research, development, and operation of programs to
enhance the pedagogical skills and content knowledge of IN-SERVICE
K-12 physics teachers. ...
b. Promote the research and development of effective curricula for
PRE-SERVICE K-12 teachers ...
c. Motivate research universities to discharge their obligation to
adequately educate prospective K-12 teachers (Hake 2002, Lesson 12h;
2000a,b) and to think of education in terms of student learning
rather than the delivery of instruction (Barr & Tagg 1995; Duderstadt
2000, 2001).
d. Form collaborations of physics departments with Schools of
Education to better educate prospective teachers and mentor new
teachers ...
Jane Jackson, Co-Director, Modeling Instruction Program
Box 871504, Dept.of Physics & Astronomy,ASU,Tempe,AZ 85287
480-965-8438/fax:965-7331 <http://modeling.asu.edu>
'Wisdom makes itself manifest in the
application of knowledge to human needs.'