Information about previous Eisenhower summer institutes for high school physics teachers:
Kearney Public Schools
June 2-8, 1996
The Mechanical Universe - High School Adaptation is a new hands-on approach to teaching high school physics using videotapes and curriculum materials that have been shown to be 11% more effective in the retention of physics concepts. This project is supported by the National Diffusion Network of the United States Department of Education. To allow complete modeling of the Piagetian Learning Cycle (exploration, concept invention and application), permission has been received from the University of Northern Iowa that will allow the use of PRISMS laboratory experiments.
This Institute will be developed under the collaborative leadership of Professor Robert Fuller, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Roberta Himes Lang, Edgewater High School (Florida), Julie Larson, Kearney High School, and Charles Lang, Omaha Westside High School. This workshop incorporates physics demonstrations and laboratory activities into week-long physics lessons based on the Mechanical Universe - High School Adaptation materials. {see Appendix A}.
This project is a completely new institute. It will be constructed, once funding is obtained, by the collaboration of the project staff which includes faculty from UNL, Omaha Westside High School, Edgewater High School of Orlando, FL, and Kearney High School. At this point, the staff share the vision of interactive, thinking and doing physics for every pre-service teacher in Nebraska. In the detailed planning of the Institute, the true collaborative nature of the project will become real.
This project is a multi-institutional project. The staff are brought together from three high schools and a university. The Institute will be hosted by Kearney High School (see Appendix B). Videotape and physics demonstration/laboratory equipment, as needed for the Institute, will be borrowed from Omaha Westside High School and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. We see this as effective grassroots cooperation among individuals from different educational institutions who will work together to improve physics teaching in Nebraska.
The typical physics teacher in Nebraska is a person not originally endorsed for physics teaching. Frequently physics is only one of many class preparations that the teacher must make. In addition, many of the physics teachers also serve as coaches for some athletic team. The pre-service physics teacher, in general, has not been able to adequately prepare to teach physics nor to keep up with any of the changes occurring in physics teaching nationally. Hence, they then teach as they were taught, by standing in front of the class and writing equations on the blackboard.
Probably because they lack the "tricks of the trade", one-fifth of all physics teachers leave the classroom after one year. One half have left the classroom within five years. They need to have the tools to have "fun" learning with students. That is what this week is all about!
The national trend in physics teaching is toward interactive, collaborative group learning, usually aided by the use of modern interactive technology. The growing national interest in the interactive use of video for physics teaching has been spearheaded by the members of the physics department of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the University of Dallas. This Institute is a way to help pre-service physics teachers learn how to use interactive video and collaborative, hands-on activities in teaching physics.
The Institute will
i) provide instruction in physics concepts for pre-service high school physics teachers realizing, for most, their primary content area of specialization is not physics. We will call them crossover teachers. They are most prevalent in small schools where they are asked to teach many different courses and are not able to concentrate on physics.
ii) demonstrate effective high school physics teaching methods by using skilled, experienced high school physics teachers as primary members of the instructional staff.
iii) motivate the participants to use modern interactive video techniques with demonstrations and laboratories in their physics courses. The participants will not only work with the videotapes, demonstrations, and laboratories during the institute but they will be provided tapes and the instructional materials to take back to their schools.
iv) offer three University of Nebraska graduate credit in Physics 870-T for completing the Institute and teaching and evaluating six physics lessons with their students. The institute will enhance the participants teaching methodology, content knowledge and content pedagogy. The credits may be applied toward a physics endorsement, depending upon the graduate program of each participant.
v) be held in a school in Kearney.
This institute is based on the extremely successful High School Physics Demonstration/Laboratory Institutes that were held in 1984,1985, and 1986 at Omaha Westside High School and a videodisc workshop held 1995 in Kearney. This institute is a continuing expression of the interest of this department of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in improving the level of physics knowledge throughout the state. The close cooperation between this department and Omaha Westside High School that was demonstrated by the earlier institutes has encouraged us to try to develop such a link with Kearney High School. (See Appendix B). Furthermore, the commitment of this department to use experienced, effective high school physics teachers as the role models for pre-service teachers in a key feature of this institute. Many institutes bring school teachers onto college campuses for classroom instruction. We strongly believe that an institute held in a high school setting is much more likely to have a life and career changing impact. We believe the evidence provided by the participants in the earlier institutes confirms our belief.
The project staff is convinced that the effective use of interactive videotape lessons when combined with demonstrations and laboratories can greatly improve any physics course. The Mechanical Universe - High School Adaptation videotapes contain 12 physics concepts that lend themselves to interactive use in physics classrooms using a videotape player. Many of the Educational Service Units in Nebraska have videotape player that can be loaned to schools. Since each of the participants will receive videotapes, it is hoped that their schools will be willing to purchase a videotape player for them to use.
The institute will be held at a Kearney School in June, 1996. The participants will be housed in a nearby motel. The activities of the institute will be organized around important physics concepts. There will be a main physics content area of study for each half day. The participants will not only study the concept but see it demonstrated and carry out laboratory activities that are appropriate to a high school physics classroom.
The topics to be studied each half day of the institute will follow the contents of one module of the Mechanical Universe - High School Adaptation materials. Each module contains a video of approximately fifteen minute duration. Accompanying print materials includes objectives, background material, demonstrations, applications, a student worksheet to accompany the video and an assessment. Each module will be supplemented with an exploration and an application laboratory experiment from the PRISMS project. This project is also recognized by the National Diffusion Network as containing a research base showing improved student progress with the use of the materials.
Each physics concept will be developed fully into one week of high school teaching and learning in one half day of modeling in the workshop. The pre-service teacher will leave the workshop with six weeks of instruction for first semester of a standard physics course and six weeks of instruction for second semester. First semester topics from Mechanics will include modules on:
1. The Law of Falling Bodies
2. Newton's Laws
3. The Apple and the Moon (Gravity)
4. Conservation of Energy
5. Conservation of Momentum
6. Moving in Circles
Second semester topics from electricity and magnetism will include modules on:
1. Electric Fields and Forces
2. Equipotentials and Fields
3. Potential Difference and Capacitance
4. Simple DC Circuits
5. Magnetic Fields
6. Alternating Current
Each participant will be provided with videotapes and a large notebook of instructor's hints, demonstration suggestions, laboratory experiments, and lessons.
The project will offer three hours of graduate credit in Physics 870-T from the University of Nebraska. In order to receive these credits a participant must satisfactorily complete the institute and must teach six institute physics lessons in the fall of 1996 and send their lesson outlines and evaluations to the project instructional staff for assessment. The participants will not receive a grade for the graduate course until the end of the fall, 1996 semester.
The institute will be offered in a Kearney Public School. The institute facilities will include 12 videotape players. In addition to these interactive videotape systems, the institutions of instructional staff, i.e. Omaha Westside High School, Edgewater High School, Kearney High School, and UNL, will provide demonstration and laboratory apparatus for the participants to use during the institute. The proposed schedule for the institute is as follows:
Sunday: June 2, 1996
4:00-6:00 pm - Participants arrive in Kearney and check into the motel
6:00 pm - Reception and Registration for UN Graduate Credit - McDowell
6:30 pm - Overview of the Institute - Fuller
7:00 pm - "The Law of Falling Bodies"
9:30 pm - Refreshments
Typical Weekday:
Each half day of the workshop will be modeled as one week of instruction in a typical high school setting. The Piagetian Learning Cycle (exploration, concept invention and application) will be used.
8:00 - 8:45, 1:00 -1:45 An exploration laboratory activity (to be used during Monday of the week of instruction) and
8:45 - 9:30, 1:45 - 2:30 Concept invention using the videotape (to be used during Tuesday of the week of instruction)
9:30 -10:30, 2:30 - 3:30 Application laboratory (to be used during Wednesday of the week of instruction)
10:30 - 11:15 Discussion of laboratory from PRISMS
3:30 - 4:15 Everyday applications from Mechanical Universe - High School Adaptation module
(to be used during Thursday of the week of instruction)
11:15 - 12:00 A chance to look at video again in groups
4:15 -5:00 of 3 or review in other ways for the assessment. Take the quiz that is in The Mechanical Universe materials. (to be used during Friday of the week of instruction)
12:00 - 1:00 Lunch and free time - recreation
5:00 At the end of the day, participants will complete a short daily evaluation form.
Evenings - Social activities and additional opportunities to think and do physics will be provided.
Saturday, June 8, 1996
8:00 am - "Alternating Current"
10:30 am - Summary of Institute Activities. Explanation of Institute Evaluations, Lesson Planning and Evaluation for the course grade and credit. To receive credit for the course each participant must teach and evaluate six different lessons during the Fall, 1996. The six lesson outlines and evaluation forms must be sent to the project staff before December 15, 1996 to receive graduate credit.
11:30 am - "Sending Out" Graduation Ceremony and Lunch
12:30 pm - Participants leave with Institute evaluation forms to mail to the project office before September 15, 1996.
February 1, 1996 - The project staff will prepare brochures and inform pre-service science teachers about the institute.
March 18, 1996 - The project staff will meet in Kearney High School to carry out the detailed planning for the institute.
March 25, 1996 - Deadline for application for the Institute.
April 1, 1996 - Selection of participants by the project staff.
June 2-8, 199- Offer Institute in Kearney
September 30, 1996 - Complete preliminary evaluation of the Institute based on the participants and staff evaluations.
December 15, 1996 - Completed lesson outlines and evaluation form must be returned to the project office for assessment and the receiving of graduate credit.
March 31, 1997 - Based on graduate course work and staff evaluations a final evaluation of the project will be submitted to the Commission.
Thirty-six pre-service physics teachers will be recruited from all colleges and universities in Nebraska. All of the pre-service teachers in these schools will receive a brochure about the institute as a direct mailing as soon as financial support for this project has been indicated. The interested teachers will be asked to mail their application directly to the project office. Women , minorities and graduating seniors will be given first preference for selection. Teachers scheduled to teach physics in the fall of 1996 will be given preference over teachers who will only be teaching physics in subsequent years. Second preference will be given to those pre-service teachers who are of junior standing. Third preference will be given to first year teachers if openings still exist. The Institute staff will select the participants from the eligible applicants.
We intend nothing less than the transformation of the professional lives of pre-service physics teachers. By coming into contact with enthusiastic high school physics teachers and catching a glimpse of the exciting new interactive materials for teaching physics, we believe these pre-service teachers will greatly improve their upcoming physics courses, dramatically increase the number of students in their schools taking physics, and become active in statewide science and physics teaching organizations. We base these intentions on the outcomes that were observed from the previous institutes held at Omaha Westside , and Kearney High School for in-service teachers.
This type of statewide institute for pre-service teachers is impossible without external funding. Without funds from the Dwight D. Eisenhower Mathematics and Science Improvement Act this Institute is not feasible. If the Institute is highly rated by the participants, and if the staff give the Institute a positive evaluation, then perhaps another proposal to offer such an Institute in 1997 will be made.
Of course, the knowledge and enthusiasm engendered in the participants will continue to influence students in Nebraska long after the Institute is forgotten.
This project brings together outstanding educators from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Omaha Westside High School, Edgewater High School, Orlando, FL., and Kearney High School. The facilities of the Kearney Public Schools will be the location of the institute. Equipment will be borrowed, as needed, from Omaha Westside High School and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
The Institute staff is composed of Dr. Robert G. Fuller, a 1993 recipient of the Outstanding Teaching and Instructional Creativity award of the University of Nebraska system, and a 1992 recipient of the American Association of Physics Teachers Robert A Millikan medal of outstanding contributions to the teaching of physics; Dr. Charles R. Lang, a Presidential award winner for his teaching of high school physics; Roberta Himes Lang, a member of a national physics software evaluation team and long time teacher of physics at Edgewater High School in Orlando, FL; and Julie Larson, innovative and exceptional teacher at Kearney High School. The resumes of the staff are attached in Appendix C.
(rural schools) The participants in this Institute will be pre-service teachers, many of them starting their careers in small school settings.
(Spanish language) The Mechanical Universe - High School Adaptation video and print are available in the Spanish language. At least one set of these materials will be at the institute.
(Minorities) Females, minorities, teachers who will work in primarily minority schools and persons with disabilities will be given first preference.
The project will have a three-prong evaluation scheme.
First: The Institute will be evaluated by both the participants and the staff. A detailed evaluation form will be developed by the staff and given to the participants at the end of the Institute. They will complete these evaluations and mail them to the project office by September 30, 1996. Between October 15th and 30th, the staff will summarize the participants' evaluations and complete their own. The project director will submit a copy of this first evaluation to the Commission.
Second: The impact of the interactive video, demonstration and laboratory lessons on the participants and their students will be evaluated during the fall of 1996. Each participant will submit six physics lesson outlines and evaluations of how each lesson was taught and received by the participant and the students. These materials must be submitted to the project office by December 15, 1996. The participant reports on their physics lessons and student performances will be used to assign grades in the graduate course Physics 870-T, in which each participant will have earned three credits. We have found, in the past, this delayed giving of credits is a very powerful motivator for teacher participants. Almost all of them will teach the new physics lessons and obtain some student evaluation of the lessons. As they carry out of the evaluation activities for obtaining graduate credit, the participants are doing classroom activities that will improve their physics teaching.
Third: one of the instruction staff will be employed part-time in the fall of 1996 to visit each of the participating teachers and conduct an on-site evaluation of the teacher's use of interactive physics activities.
The results of these three aspects of the evaluation will be brought together in a final report for the Commission.
This project can become a prototype for other interactive video projects in other states. Drs. Fuller and Lang have national visibility as primary authors of videotape, videodisc and CD-ROM products. They have a national audience at each American Association of Physics Teachers meeting. See their resumes in Appendix C. Roberta Himes Lang brings experience from a multimedia physics classroom using hands-on, microcomputer-based laboratory and interactive video. See her resume in Appendix C. These three members of the project staff will be able to write articles and give presentations at national and regional meetings of science teachers and physics teachers. If this Institute is successful, other people will hear about it.
The national interest in the use of video for physics teaching has been
spearheaded by the Physics Department of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln
since 1979. This Institute is another way that the department is trying
to help physics teachers learn about the effectiveness of interactive video
for teaching physics. However, the best testimony for the previous Institutes
was the changed lives of individual physics teachers. We hope to do the
same with pre-service teachers. The national recognition is nice, but if
high school physics classrooms are not improved for students and teachers,
it is a sham. If one physics classroom in one high school is transformed
into a pleasant place for teachers and students to think and do
physics, we will consider this project a success even if no one, anywhere
else, ever hears about it.
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