Workshops

Various Times & Rooms Listed Below
Workshop Presenters:  Please follow the instructions provided here.

Workshop: W-A

Important Issues in Preparing Graduate Teaching Assistants

Organizer:  Kathleen Harper (harper.217@osu.edu), The Ohio State University

Where:  Union Parlor A

When:  8:15 – 9:45 & 1:45 – 3:15, Thursday, August 11

Theme:  Graduate teaching assistants can have a profound effect on the students they teach, but often they are asked to do their job with little training or support. For those who will go on to be faculty in higher education, this also leaves them unprepared for the teaching component of their jobs. Traditionally, TAs go through a few days of intense initial training, then assuming they are doing a good job. Discussions among faculty development professionals have identified a baseline of issues that should be addressed with beginning TAs. Additionally, there are more efforts to go beyond the 'inoculation' model and develop programs of ongoing support throughout the TA's appointment. Several models will be shared with participants, who will have the opportunity to plan possible applications of these ideas to their own programs.

Goals:  Participants will realize that TA preparation encompasses many areas beyond competency with content and extends beyond an 'inoculation' at the beginning of the academic year. Participants will leave having seen several models of TA preparation programs, some University-wide and some housed within specific departments. Participants will have ideas for implementing new elements as part of their TA preparation and support programs.

Activities:  1) Participants will list common complaints that they have either heard TAs make about their preparation or that faculty have made about TAs. 2) Participants will brainstorm about critical elements of TA preparation and support. These elements will be grouped into larger categories and each will be discussed. 3) Participants will be asked to think of a particular TA preparation program; this can be one they have experienced themselves, helped create, or have heard about. They will compare this program's characteristics against the elements identified in activity 1. Perceived strengths and deficiencies will be shared with the whole group. Additionally, as a group, connections between these deficiencies and the complaints in activity 1 will be explored. 4) Widespread deficiencies will be selected and smaller groups of participants will develop a list of possible activities for incorporating into existing programs to address these issues. These will be shared with the larger group. 5) The facilitator will share several examples of TA preparation and support programs, both University-wide and based within specific disciplines. 6) Participants will spend some time outlining a revised version of their TA preparation and support program.

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Workshop: W-B

Model Analysis: Theoretical Basis and Methodology for Developing Effective Assessment

Organizers:  Lei Bao (lbao@pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu), Neville Reay, The Ohio State University

Where:  OSH 234

When:  8:15 – 9:45,  Thursday, August 11

Abstract:  In this workshop, we first review some recent development in research on assessment methods. Specifically, we will discuss the context-dependence of cognitive process and its effects on teaching and learning. We then present a quantitative method to represent conceptual states and learning dynamics. The emphasis of the discussion is on the applications of the theoretical and mathematical models towards developing effective assessment methods for research and instruction. In particular, we will address issues in score-based assessment tools, and applications of Model Analysis to develop model-based multiple-choice instruments that combine both qualitative and quantitative methods. Examples will be given in tutorial forms. We will also demonstrate implementations of the assessment methods with technologies such as in-class polling systems. Application materials such as questions sets will be distributed.

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Workshop: W-C

Reasoning, Piaget and Education

Organizer:  Dewey Dykstra (ddykstra@boisestate.edu), Boise State University

Where:  OSH 233

When:  1:15 – 3:15 & 3:45 – 5:15, Thursday, August 11

Abstract:  One of the pioneers in physics education research (PER) was Robert Karplus.  He learned about the Swiss Genetic Epistemologist, Jean Piaget, from specialists in early childhood education in the Science Curriculum Improvement Study (SCIS) in the 1960’s.  Karplus saw value in Piaget’s ideas in relation to learning science.  Together with Robert Fuller, John Layman and others one of the first AAPT workshops was developed:  Physics Teaching and the Development of Reasoning.  Piaget’s ideas are still relevant to understanding the learning process and we continue to use his research methods in PER.  This small workshop will offer a taste of the essence of the original one with additions that have also grown from Piaget’s work.

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Combined Workshop & Discussion Session: W&DS

Physics by Inquiry: Preparing K-12 teachers to teach physics and physical science

Organizers:  Donna Messina, Paula R. L. Heron, Peter S. Shaffer, and Lillian C. McDermott, Physics Education Group, Department of Physics, University of Washington

Where:  Union Panorama East

When:  8:15 – 9:45 & 1:45 – 3:45, Thursday, August 11

Abstract:  This combined workshop/discussion session will illustrate the type of instruction by guided inquiry that research has shown can help teachers develop a sound understanding of the physics and physical science that they are expected to teach.  The workshop will feature excerpts from a WGBH video that was filmed during one of the intensive NSF Summer Institutes that our group conducts for K-12 inservice teachers.  Workshop participants will be able to observe the types of interactions that take place among teachers as they work through the exercises and experiments in Physics by Inquiry.  In another excerpt, a dialogue between a teacher and an instructor illustrates the nature of questions that are used to probe and assess the development of concepts and reasoning skills.  The video will provide the basis for a discussion of the need for special physics courses for teachers, the benefits and challenges of instruction by guided inquiry, and some of the practical issues involved.

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