Two graduate distance-learning physics courses in MATTER &
INTERACTIONS are offered at North Carolina State University. They
were developed by physics education researchers, Bruce Sherwood &
Ruth Chabay. The goal is to give teachers a contemporary view of
introductory-level calculus-based college physics.
The courses are PY 581, Modern Mechanics (offered in fall semester),
and PY 582, Electric & Magnetic Interactions (offered in spring
semester). Although it is preferable to do 581 before 582, a number
of teachers have taken the courses in the opposite order.
Teachers should contact the current instructors for more information
and to determine if they want to be placed on the waitlist:
Keith_Weninger@ncsu.edu and Laura_Clarke@ncsu.edu . Fall registration
for non-NC State students opens in early August. Teachers who
contact the instructors now will get a reminder in late July.
WHAT EXPERIENCED TEACHERS WHO USE MODELING INSTRUCTION SAY:
* Michael Crofton: I would recommend it most highly to everyone. I
probably learned more from
this than any course I have ever taken. You will also learn how to
write VPython programs.
* Frank Noschese: ... I took both courses. It is FANTASTIC!
Everything is well designed: the text, homework, labs, and computer
programming assignments. This course was built with care from the
ground up and it shows.
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I add these observations on affordability. COMPARE GRADUATE TUITION
in 2015-2016 (fall & spring semester):
ASU 3 credits: $2557 (in-state); $3601 (out of state)
NCSU 3 credits: $1222 (in-state); $2677 (out of state)
Now that college tuition has drastically increased nationwide, while
teacher salaries have not increased much, my suggestion is to ask
your local service organizations (Rotary, Kiwanis, Soroptomists,
Elks, etc) to fund you. This could be a win-win. Even if they don't
fund you now, it raises their consciousness. A 2-page "how to"
document is at
http://modeling.asu.edu/MNS/ServiceOrgs-financialHelp.doc