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(PS.E-MO-05) Preparing New Physics Teachers: New Strategies for a New Era
8/2/2021 | 10:00 AM to 11:15 AM
Moderator: David May / Co-Organizer:
Session Code: PS.E-MO-05 | Submitting Committee: Committee on Teacher Preparation / Co-Sponsoring Committee:
PS.E-MO-5.01 | Contributed | Shoebox PCK: Remote physics teacher education with/on a shoestring.
Presenting Author: James de Winter, Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge
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This session will explore the contents of, the thinking behind and the success or otherwise of box(es) of equipment and resources sent to pre-service physics teachers. These were designed to facilitate remote teaching and self-study sessions that formed part of the teacher education course here in Cambridge, England. Limited by cost and postal box size restrictions, I will share the things we played with, the experiments we carried out and the other activities we did together and apart. I will draw out the wider lessons that I hope were learned from these activities on how to be an outstanding physics teacher. It was fun and I think they learned something. I certainly did and plan to integrate some of this into the course in future years, regardless of circumstantial restrictions.
PS.E-MO-5.02 | Contributed | Recruiting Undergraduate Pre-Service Teachers with a Physics Teaching Methods Course
Presenting Author: Allison Daubert, Bridgewater State University
Additional Author | Jeffrey Williams, Bridgewater State University
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Bridgewater State University is continuing to grow an undergraduate physics teacher preparation program during the pandemic using various strategies. In the Spring of 2020, we began teaching a one credit seminar course called Physics Teaching Methods which runs on a four-semester rotation of topics. The course is designed to attract students early in their undergraduate career, retain their interest in teaching, build physics teacher identity and community, and teach the foundations of physics pedagogical content knowledge. Our course has seen steady enrollment throughout the pandemic even as we switched to an online, synchronous format as well as increasing numbers of enrolled students working as peer tutors and learning assistants in our introductory physics courses. I’ll share our experience developing and teaching this course as well as our successes and challenges.
PS.E-MO-5.03 | Contributed | Changes in Preservice Elementary Teachers' Attitudes Toward Computational Thinking
Presenting Author: Spencer Perry, Indiana University
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A variety of pressures are felt by teachers to integrate programming and computational thinking into science classrooms. These pressures primarily arise from the adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards and recent increases in emphasis on computer programming and computational thinking as methods of conducting investigations. Yet many preservice teachers are ill equipped to engage in investigatory computational practices and they often lack strong orientations or beliefs that doing so is valuable. This presentation will outline the preliminary results of an interpretation-based workshop where preservice elementary teachers interpret block coding rather than writing it in order to collect data about a simple ball-on-ramp experiment.
PS.E-MO-5.05 | Contributed | Video Killed the Radio Star: Flipgrid for online physics pedagogy.
Presenting Author: Richard Hechter, University of Manitoba
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What started as an impersonal podcast to generate discussions for student journal responses, quickly became replaced with a series of short videos created on DaVinci Resolve and posted on Youtube. Students accessed the videos, and posted their responses, through our class page on the Flipgrid App. The purpose of these videos were three-fold: 1) as inspiration for discussions to elicit critical thinking, reflection, and higher level thinking in small and large-scale aspects of teaching physics, 2) as visual context to pique interest in the content to be covered in the upcoming week, and 3) as an inviting way to engage in flexible and asynchronous conversations, where students were both heard and seen. Videos ended with a prompt that each student responded to using Flipgrid. Join me as I share examples, questions posed, and conversation highlights from this strategy to engage preservice teachers in our physics pedagogy course.
PS.E-MO-5.05 | Contributed | An alternative to alternative physics teacher certification in Texas
Presenting Author: Robynne Lock, Texas A&M University-Commerce
Additional Author | William G Newton, Texas A&M University-Commerce
Additional Author | Bahar Modir, Texas A&M University-Commerce
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The majority of new high school physics teachers in Texas are certified through alternative certification programs that are not affiliated with institutions of higher education. Teachers certified in this method may not have received adequate preparation for the classroom and are less likely to remain in teaching careers. To make high quality physics teacher preparation more widely available, Texas A&M University-Commerce has created a new fully online M.S. in Physics with Teacher Certification program. At A&M-Commerce, master’s degrees incorporating teacher certification include the Post-Baccalaureate Teacher Certification six-course sequence and student teaching. The other half of the classes in this course-based master’s degree program are physics content courses developed specifically for educators that include traditional physics content alongside pedagogy, education research, history, and modern applications. All courses are taught online asynchronously, and the student teaching experience can be arranged in different regions across the state.
PS.E-MO-5.06 | Contributed | PhysTEC at Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Presenting Author: Douglas Petkie, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Additional Author | Shari Weaver, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Additional Author | Rudra Kafle, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Additional Author | Thomas P Noviello, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Additional Author | Izabela R Stroe, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
The Physics Teacher Preparation Program at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) is a collaboration between the STEM Education Center and the Physics Department that leverages significant PhysTEC resources that have emerged over the past two decades since PhysTEC started. As a PhysTEC supported site, WPI has been able to implement several key components identified as effective practices at other PhysTEC sites, such as a Teacher-in-Residence to serve as a role model and mentor to students in the program. The PTEPA rubric has allowed our team to strategically plan the next steps in building a thriving physics teacher preparation program. Other elements we will discuss include the Peer Learning Assistant program that includes pedagogical training, a regional physics teacher network, and utilization of the Get the Facts Out resources. In addition to generating interest in high school physics teaching careers, an interest in Physics Education Research has also emerged.
PS.E-MO-5.07 | Contributed | Developing post-emergency field work practices from lessons learned during 2020
Presenting Author: Margery Gardner,
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The most dramatic teacher preparation program shifts during the SARS-CoV-2 global pandemic for our rural liberal arts institution, Colgate University, landed in the arena of field work. Five pandemic era interventions are expected to take hold as embedded future practices. The pandemic afforded greater opportunity to connect with urban educators via teleconferencing technology of both remote and hybrid classrooms. New technologies also engaged pre-service teachers in novel ways through the use of simulation software and video banks of quality teaching from both internal and national sources. Identification of campus wide allies with parallel outreach priorities allowed for the sharing of resources, community contacts, and ideas for transfer to the digital sphere. Close attention to community was accomplished through the use of watch parties and periodic Zoom meet ups with students and alumni from outside geographies. Measures of intervention success will take the form of interviews, surveys, and performance assessments.
Beth Parks agreed to sponsor this submission.
(PS.E-MO-05) Preparing New Physics Teachers: New Strategies for a New Era
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