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physics summer workshops in modeling



ANNOUNCEMENT:
LEADERSHIP MODELING WORKSHOPS IN HIGH SCHOOL PHYSICS

Exceptionally motivated high school physics teachers nationwide who wish to
contribute to science teaching reform are invited to apply for the final
series of NSF-funded Leadership Modeling Workshops.

Four weeks in each of the next 2 summers at the U of Maryland (June 29 -
July 24), U of Central Florida (June 29 - July 24), or U of California at
Davis (July 6 - 31).

$1200 stipend each summer, plus travel, housing and meal allowance.
Graduate credit available. Teams okay. Openings for a few college physics
teachers.

Seventy-five teachers will learn the modeling method of instruction, which
corrects weaknesses of the traditional lecture-demonstration method,
including the fragmentation of knowledge, student passivity, and the
persistence of naive beliefs. MBL and/or CBL techniques are used.

For information, contact Reba Wilson, Box 871504, Department of Physics,
Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-1504; (602) 727-6199.
reba@asu.edu; http://modeling.la.asu.edu/modeling.html.
PLEASE APPLY BY FEB. 20, IF POSSIBLE.
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More information:

We are looking for physics teachers who want to become experts in their
profession. It takes at least 10 years to become an expert, the research
suggests; and becoming an expert involves learning one's craft in workshops
where teachers engage in "deliberate practice". It isn't sufficient just
to teach, in other words.

With the modeling method, the high school classroom becomes much more like
the scientific workplace. The students ask a question of nature; then they
work in teams to design and carry out an experiment to answer that
question. They learn to analyze their data to construct a scientific model.
They defend their model in front of their peers, using a WHITEBOARD. They
apply it to other situations.

There's a storyline to the course; it becomes coherent, for it's organized
around a small set of models. A complete year's curriculum is available.
It's flexible; teachers can adapt any of their favorite curriculum to the
modeling method.

The curriculum involves math, and thus it is best for the regular, honors,
and AP courses. Block scheduling works great with the modeling method!!

The NSF wants us to disseminate the modeling method of instruction
nationwide. We are assisting our teachers to work with university physics
professors so that "methods of teaching physics" courses can be offered for
inservice teachers. The courses would be taught by our teachers; we do this
successfully at ASU. (One way to start is for professors to write grants
for Eisenhower-funded summer modeling workshops.)

-----------------------------------


Jane Jackson, Prof. of Physics, Scottsdale Comm.College (on leave)
Box 871504, Dept.of Physics, ASU, Tempe, AZ 85287.
602-965-8438/fax:965-7331. http://modeling.la.asu.edu/modeling.html
Genius must transform the world, that the world may produce more genius.