Here in Texas, the legislature recently passed a requirement that all high
school graduates complete four years of math and science courses. This
placed a greater demand for physics classes and physics teachers to teach
them. Being that most teachers of science in the high school have composite
certifications, that does not necessarily mean that they are essentially
qualified to teach physics.
In my opinion, most of the physics inservice programs are lacking in
adequately preparing those teachers to adequately present the subject.
I have been working with a colleague at a nearby college to develop an
inservice program using the tutorials and ILDs from the University of
Maryland. These have been developed specifically for student use at the
university level, but we have found a moderate bit of success using them for
inservice. We are currently conducting this program using a pilot grant from
the NSF. With full funding, we could set up a 5 year physics outreach
program here in San Antonio, Texas. The goal would be to offer inservice
opportunities to high school and middle school teachers, conduct classroom
visits to assist teachers, and be a resource for teachers throughout South
Texas.
I would be very interested in hearing your opinions and ideas of
1. using the tutorials/ILDs in this manner
2. the concept as a whole.
What do you think?
--
Mark Stone, MA
Physics
Northwest Vista College
Dept of Natural and Physical Sciences