ANNOUNCEMENT: MODELING WORKSHOPS
Feb. 28, 2012
Modeling Workshops in high school physics, chemistry, and/or physical
science will be held in summer 2012 at ~28 sites in ~22 states.
These locations will offer workshops:
4 in Tempe AZ, San Francisco Bay area, 2 in Miami FL, 2 in Chicago
IL, multiple locations in Indiana; Iowa, Kansas, southern Maine, 2
near Detroit MI, Winona MN, Omaha NE, 3 in southern New Jersey;
Albuquerque NM, 2 in Buffalo NY, 3 in North Carolina, 3 in Columbus
OH; Bowling Green OH; 5 in central & northern Pennsylvania;
Philadelphia, South Dakota, 3 in MufreesboroTN; Houston TX, and 3 in
Oshkosh WI (and possibly others: VA and NYC).
A Modeling Workshop in 9th - 10th grade biology will be held in New Jersey.
Modeling Workshops are peer-led. Content is reorganized around basic
models to increase its structural coherence. Participants are
supplied with a complete set of course materials and work through
activities alternately in the roles of student or teacher, as they
practice techniques of guided inquiry and cooperative learning.
Modeling Instruction is one of two K-12 science programs designated
by the U.S. Department of Education as EXEMPLARY.
Some sites have stipends, usually for in-state teachers.
Graduate credit is available at most sites.
Comments by teachers:
* Douglas Vallette, a modeling workshop leader near Philadelphia, wrote:
"I discovered the modeling method of instruction to be a rigorous approach
to physics instruction on the high school level, and one that is
consistent with the way physicists understand the universe. As an
experimental condensed matter physics graduate student at the University
of Pennsylvania in the first half of the 1990's, I devoted my time to the
construction, analysis, testing, and refinement of models. I was not
alone in this pursuit. In fact, as I understand it, all of physics is the
exploration of models we have imposed on the universe. If physicists
use models to construct their understanding of the mysteries we
explore, why shouldn't students?"
* Most useful course I have taken since becoming a teacher.
* Thanks to taking physics modeling course work, I am highly
qualified in physics.
* I love the modeling physics program and want to cheer for the
difference I saw in the understanding of my students when I
implemented the Mechanics materials for the first time
--
cheers,
Jane
Jane Jackson, Co-Director, Modeling Instruction Program
Box 871504, Dept. of Physics, ASU, Tempe, AZ 85287
Jane.Jackson@asu.edu http://modeling.asu.edu
"Scientists explore the physical world for REPRODUCIBLE
PATTERNS, which they represent by MODELS and
organize into THEORIES according to LAWS." - David Hestenes