Information about previous Eisenhower summer institutes for high school physics teachers:

Eisenhower '95

Abstract

This week long institute is an introduction to incorporating interactive videodisc vignettes, demonstrations and laboratories into physics lessons. The institute provides instruction in physics concepts for thirty-six high school physics teacher participants, who were first trained in another discipline. Each morning a major topic in physics will be introduced by the staff using a Physics: Cinema Classics videodisc. The staff will perform some physics demonstrations and the participants will carry out a laboratory experiment on this topic. The topics will be selected from mechanics, heat, waves, electricity and magnetism, conservation laws and angular momentum. Then the participants will work in small groups adapting existing physics lessons to use in their own classes.

The participants will be teachers at Class C or D schools in Nebraska who were originally endorsed in a subject area other than physics and who now teach physics on a regular basis in their schools. First choice will be given to applicants from schools whose administration will offer classroom access to a videodisc player and contribute some funds toward the purchase of a set of the Physics: Cinema Classics videodiscs for the school.

The institute will carry three University of Nebraska graduate credits in Physics 870-T. Participants will complete the follow-up lesson development and classroom testing to receive a grade by December 31, 1995. Participants will receive a coupon for $401 toward the purchase of Physics: Cinema Classics, living expenses and travel allowance will be provided, as well as a follow up visit to each participant.

The institute will be run by a coordinating committee consisting of Professor Robert G. Fuller, UNL, Dr. Charles R. Lang, Omaha Westside High School, Ms. Roberta Himes Lang, Edgewater High School, Orlando, FL., and Ms. Julie Larsen, Kearney High School. The institute will be hosted by Kearney Public School staff. The institute participants will be housed in a motel in Kearney.

This project is funded by the Eisenhower Mathematics and Science Education as approved by the Nebraska Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education.