Combined Workshop & Discussion Session: W&D

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 Research Group
Department of Physics
University of Washington

Where:  Union Panorama East

When:  8:15 – 9:45 & 1:45 – 3:15, 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.