Re: [Phys-l] physics for teachers of 8th and 9th graders

["John Clement" <clement@hal-pc.org>]

> It has been a few years since I was a participant and active leader but
> I think the PRISMs project is still in operation. They have a great
> program. PRISMs is based out of the University of Northern Iowa. Another
> similar project from the University of Dallas is C3P.

While C3P looks like a good program, the evaluations using instruments such
as the FCI and FMCE did not show that teachers actually managed to get
scores in the active engagement range.  By contrast Modeling does achieve
such scores.  McDermott has not to my knowledge used the FCI/FMCE, but since
most other programs rely on her research, it is probable that her training
does result in better scores.  BTW C3P has now sponsored Modeling workshops.

The big difficulty with most programs is that if they are too short, the
teacher behavior is not changed.

John M. Clement
Houston, TX