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Education Coalition (PhysTEC) to increase the number of highly
prepared physics teachers graduating from the university. Among
the techniques employed to realize this goal are providing early field
experiences for students, providing a course on physics-specific
pedagogy, and providing financial support during the master’s of
education (MAEd) program through a physics graduate assistantship.
In the past two years, six students have graduated from the program
with their MAEd. All currently teach high school physics. All entered
the classroom well prepared and excited to teach. What happened
after they met their students and closed their doors? This study traces
the evolution of these teachers’ beliefs and practices during their
first semester of teaching and the effect of both local and PhysTEC
mentoring efforts.
PST2B06: 9:15-10 p.m. SUNY Buffalo State Summer
Physics Teachers’ Academy: The First Decade
Poster – Alyssa Cederman, SUNY Buffalo State College, Buffalo, NY
14222;
Dan MacIsaac, David Abbott, Kathleen Falconer, David Henry, SUNY
Buffalo State College
The SUNY Buffalo State Summer Physics Teachers’ Academy, par-
tially modeled after the Arizona State University Summer Model-
ing workshops, has run since summer 2002, serving more than 400
individual teachers seeking NYSED physics certification, including
over 100 M.S.Ed. (Physics) degree graduates and candidates from the
Buffalo State Physics Department. Each summer between two and five
graduate credit teacher workshop courses have been offered, serving
as many as 30 students per class. We share demographic data, insights,
and experiences from the first decade of our summer academy, in-
cluding recommendations and pitfalls for others interested in creating
summer academies for physics teachers.
PST2B07: 8:30-9:15 p.m. Models and Perspectives of Inter-
national Student Exchanges in Teacher Education
Poster – Nina Glutsch, University of Cologne, Center for Teacher Educa-
tion, Cologne, NRW 50931 Germany;
Meike Kricke, André Bresges, University of Cologne
We want to design a U.S.-German exchange program for STEM
teacher preparation courses that implements a network of universities
and their cooperating schools. Goals are to make STEM education
a more attractive field of work, balance the supply and demand of
qualified STEM teachers, and foster international research in the PER
community. Students and teachers should be encouraged to study or
work in the field of STEM education in both countries, thus opening
paths to international careers in STEM teaching. The University of
Cologne is about to develop different exchange programs with schools
all over the world, e.g. the U.S., South Africa, Uganda, Europe, and
Finland. At the poster, we want to discuss how a global network of
schools and universities can transform teachers from “local activists”
to “global players.”
PST2B08: 9:15-10 p.m. Merging Engineering Design,
Technology and Physics for K-12 Teachers
Poster – Dan L. MacIsaac, SUNY Buffalo State College, Physics, Buf-
falo, NY 14222;
Sam Cirpili, Bradley Gearhart, Buffalo Public Schools and SUNY Buffalo
State College
Kathleen Stadler, Lancaster Central SD and SUNY Buffalo State
Clark Greene, SUNY Buffalo State College Engineering Technology
We describe efforts of the Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering
Partnership (ISEP), a $10M NSF Math Science Partnership supported
project involving SUNY at Buffalo (UB), Buffalo Public Schools,
Buffalo State College, the Buffalo Museum of Science, PraxAir Corp
and other partnering education institutions and corporate partners.
This poster focuses on the creation of specific courses combining En-
gineering Design, Technology and Physics content addressing NGSS
standards for K-12 teachers. These courses are offered as part of the
SUNY Buffalo State Summer Physics Teachers’ Academy.
PST2B09: 8:30-9:15 p.m. Helping Physics Teacher-
Candidates Develop Questioning Skills through
Innovative Technology Use
Poster – Marina Milner-Bolotin, The University of British Columbia,
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4 Canada;
Alexandra MacDonald, Heather Fisher, University of British Columbia
Active learning pedagogies, such as Peer Instruction (PI), have been
found to be effective in undergraduate physics teaching. How-
ever, they are still rare in secondary schools and in physics teacher
education programs. One of the reasons for that is physics teachers’
lack of experience in asking effective conceptual STEM questions
and underestimating their pedagogical value. Thus research-based
multiple-choice conceptual questions in STEM teacher education
are still underutilized. In this study Peer Instruction pedagogy was
supplemented by the use of a collaborative online system—PeerWise
(PW) (peerwise.cs.auckland.ac.nz)—to help teacher-candidates de-
velop these skills. In addition, a special STEM resource of conceptual
multiple-choice questions
.
ca/) was developed and used in STEM methods courses. We report on
the effects of a research-based technology-enhanced physics methods
course on teacher-candidates’ content and pedagogical knowledge, on
their attitudes about active learning, and on willingness and ability to
implement active learning pedagogy during their practicum.
PST2B10: 9:15-10 p.m. Mathematics and Science Teaching
and Learning Through Technology
Poster – Heather Fisher, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver,
BC, V6T 1Z4 Canada;
Alexandra MacDonald, Marina Milner-Bolotin, Univ. of British Columbia
Inquiry-based mathematics and science teaching depends on the
teacher’s ability to help students learn how to think independently
and how to ask meaningful mathematics and science questions. The
ability to ask questions that promote student learning is underpinned
by the teacher’s deep knowledge of the content, awareness of how
this content can be taught, and their decisions about how to bring
information into the classroom, which in today’s classroom includes
decisions about technology. Research conducted over the last decade
has shown the development of TPCK is a slow and often painful pro-
cess, making it especially important to address in teacher education
programs. One way of addressing this challenge is engaging teachers
in designing materials that integrate educational technologies during
their teacher education and their formative teaching years. The goals
of this study were to (a) implement the Mathematics and Science
Teaching and Learning Through Technology (MSTLTT) resource,
which uses conceptual questions that were developed using current
educational research, into a secondary physics methods course in a
teacher education program. Furthermore, we aimed to (b) model ac-
tive engagement with educational technologies in a physics methods
course; (c) explore clickers as a mechanism for active engagement;
and (d) examine if and how teacher-candidates’ epistemological views
were impacted through active engagement with technology-enhanced
pedagogy.
PST2B11: 8:30-9:15 p.m. Demographics of Physics
Teachers Using the Schools and Staffing Survey
Poster – David Rosengrant, Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, GA
30144;
Greg Rushton, Kennesaw State University
This project is part of a multidisciplinary team to study second-
ary physics teaching using the School and Staffing Survey (SASS)
between 1987 and 2012. We will answer the following questions
(and when applicable compare AIP survey results to): How many
physics teachers are there in the United States? What are trends in
the population growth compared to other teacher groups in the past
20 years? What proportion of those that teach physics do so as their
main assignment? What other subjects do physics teachers teach? To
what extent have physics teach-
ers earned a physics degree at any
level? What other backgrounds do
these teachers have? What has been
the certification status of physics
