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Teacher Education at Illinois State University

PHYSICS 310 -- READINGS FOR TEACHING HIGH SCHOOL PHYSICS

DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS

Spring Semester 2012

(Last updated 4/24/2012, cjw)

note for 2013: integrate http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13165

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Catalog Description:

READINGS FOR TEACHING HIGH SCHOOL PHYSICS

3 s.h.

Spring

Essential background experiences for teaching high school physics that center around developing scientific literacy in students. Prerequisites: 10 hours in PHY.

Note well.

• PHYSICS 310 is a no-nonsense course designed for secondary-level science teacher education majors or mathematics education majors working on a designation in science (32 hours of science credit). There are only a limited number of seats in the classroom and a limited amount of materials for use in this course. Students not satisfying admission criteria will be asked to drop this course.
• We have been notified by the Illinois State Board of Education that individuals who will be applying for their initial teaching certification or additional endorsements as of 2/1/2012 must have a grade of "C" or above in all required coursework that is part of their program. This includes all endorsement areas, major courses and professional education.
• Anyone who wants to complete any clinical experiences in high schools (e.g., working with minors) must have passed a Criminal Background Check prior to starting. Read critical information on the Teacher Education Center web site. Clinical experiences completed without the required passage of the Criminal Background Check are disallowed in this course.
• If you anticipate student teaching during the spring semester of next year, you should already have your student teaching application completed (October deadline). If you have not yet done so (e.g., first semester transfer student), you might still be able to student teach as planned you if you contact your advisor or course instructor before the end of January. After that, you might well have to student teach a semester or year later than anticipated.
• If you can use up to $10,000 per year in financial support, NOW is the time to apply for the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship. The application process is short, and several hundred thousand dollars have been set aside specifically for ISU science and mathematics education majors. If you work for two years in specified school systems at the regular salary offered to new teachers, you need not pay the money back. This is in effect a $10,000 per year pay raise for anyone taking full advantage of the scholarship program.
• Physics teacher education majors (as well as Earth and Space Science majors) must take and pass the Illinois Certification Testing System examination for the physics/earth and space science designation. (For more information and to register, visit http://www.icts.nesinc.com/.) Most students complete this activity during the spring of their junior year. It is best (required?) that this assessment be completed by September 1 of the year prior to student teaching. The test consists of 18 content areas and about 125 questions. About 2/3 of the test consists of "general science knowledge" and 1/3 of the test deals with more advanced topics in the designation area. Begin now to prepare for this test by using the Physics Test Framework or Earth and Space Science Framework that was used to develop test questions.

WARNING: Associated with this course is one or more NSTA-mandated summative performance assessments linked with Professional Studies' Admission to Student Teaching gateway for students taking this as a required course. Failure to adequately demonstrate a required competency in a timely fashion by students required to take this course will result in the teacher candidate being barred from student teaching.

Instructor:

Name: Dr. Carl J. Wenning, Physics Education Specialist
Physics Teacher Education Program
Office Location: Moulton Hall, Room 301C

Telephones: 309-830-4085 (cell)
E-mail address: wenning@phy.ilstu.edu

Meeting Days/Times/Location:

The class will meet on Wednesdays from 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. without a formal 20-minute break. The class will decide which schedule we follow the first night we meet.Class meetings will be held in Moulton Hall room 307-B.

Methodology:

This course will have a learning environment that is student centered, knowledge centered, assessment centered, and community centered. This course will be student centered to the extent that the teacher builds on knowledge students bring to the learning situations. This course will be knowledge centered to the extent that the teacher helps students develop an organized understanding of important concepts in the physics teaching discipline. This course will be assessment centered to the extent that the teacher makes students' thinking visible so that ideas can be presented and verified. This course will be community centered to the extent that the teacher establishes classroom norms that learning with understanding is valued and students feel free to explore what they do not understand.

Emphasis will be placed on an Assessment-for-Learning Policy. That is, assessments of student performance will be used not only to assign grades, but to improve student performance. Unsatisfactory work will be returned to the student for improvement. A student's scores can be improved following appropriate revision and resubmission of "unsatisfactory" course projects, so long as deadlines are met. Note: The Assessment-as-Learning policy does not apply to examinations and reading quizzes. Consistent with the Assessment-as-Learning Policy, students are encouraged to write drafts of essays or other projects, submit them for review by the course instructor, and make revisions based upon the instructor's written comments prior to the submission deadline. Please keep in mind the that very best papers/projects in this course typically have been produced by students who submit their papers/projects for review 2 to 3 times before submitting the final copy. Electronic attachments are the preferred form of submission. Please allow at least two school days for turn around once submitted for review.

This is a "readings heavy" course; students must keep up with daily reading requirements. The amount of reading increases toward the end of the course. Therefore, reading ahead and taking notes is strongly encouraged. This course can be overwhelming due to the heavy work load; don't fall behind. During a recent semester, 3 students out of 15 earned grades of F due to a failure to keep up.

Prior to discussing most if not all readings there where be an unannounced "two-minute quiz" in which students will respond to a single descriptive question about the assigned reading. Students should be prepared to write a two-minute essay describing the key point(s) of the assigned reading.

Student will be required to complete 10 clock hours of case studies by working as tutors with students enrolled in PHY 102, 105, 108, and/or 109. High school based tutoring (e.g., at University High School) is also an option for those successfully passing a criminal background check.

Course Goals:

This course provides essential background for teaching high school physics that centers around developing scientific literacy in students. It will provide students with philosophical and pedagogical background in the teaching of physics. The course as such is built around both pedagogical knowledge - a knowledge of generic teaching practices - and pedagogical content knowledge - a knowledge of how to actually teach the content of physics. Physics content knowledge per se is assumed.

This course is based on the belief that teachers must act on grounded principles, and not arbitrarily. What teachers do as they present their lessons should be rooted deeply in their attitudes about issues that concern them, their students, the scientific profession, and society -- balancing declarative knowledge with procedural knowledge, balancing expository teaching with inquiry learning, balancing depth of coverage with breadth of content, emphasizing learning over teaching, and knowing what values and knowledge are worth learning in light of national and state standards, and the needs of the student and society. The goals of imparting such attitudes are to improve the educational process, enhance the achievement of the learner, produce better and more productive citizens, and improve society. The aim is to prepare all students for life in a democratic society. This course provides essential background for PHY 311 -- Teaching High School Physics.

Course Policies:

Late Submissions - Because of follow-up discussions, all due dates will be interpreted as absolute with no work accepted after the due date without mitigating circumstances.

Videotaping of Student-led Discussions - To assist teacher candidates improve their discussion leadership ability, discussions will be videotaped and posted as MP4 video streaming files to a Discussion Videos web page. Students will be asked to write a two-paragraph reflection on the quality of the discussion, and how it might be improved following specific guidelines.

Performance Objectives for All Undergraduates:

Course Alignment with Teacher Education Unit's Conceptual Framework:

Conceptual Framework	Course Objective No.
Moral Virtues:
Sensitivity toward the varieties of individual and cultural diversity.	1, 2, 10, 14
Disposition and ability to collaborate ethically and effectively with others.	1, 10, 11, 14-16
Reverence for learning and seriousness of personal, professional, and public purpose.	1, 2, 3, 8, 11, 14-16
Respect for learners of all ages, with special regard for children and adolescents.	1, 3, 10, 11, 14
Intellectual Virtues:
Wide general knowledge and deep knowledge of the content to be taught.	1-8, 12, 14-16
Knowledge and appreciation of the diversity among learners.	1, 10, 11, 15
Understanding what affects learning and appropriate teaching strategies.	1, 3, 8, 10-15
Interest in and an ability to seek out informational, technological, and collegial resources.	1, 10-16
Contagious intellectual enthusiasm and courage enough to be creative.	1, 4, 5, 9, 10, 11, 15, 16

Course ALignment with IPTS

Course Outline:

Student Performance Assessments: Points associated with any scoring process will be normalized so that percentages associated with course grades are strictly observed. Additionally, when it is available, the correct student-completed scoring rubric must be submitted along with every assignment. For certain assignments (310 A1, 310A2, 310A3, 1, 310B2, and 310F) an assessment using the rubric must first be completed by another student enrolled in this course; the goal is to get all students familiar with the use of scoring rubrics. All submissions must be made electronically - sent as e-mail attachments to the course instructor. Please send only MSWord formatted documents (e.g., .doc or .docx) or RTF files. Other formats (e.g., PDF, wpf) cannot be directly edited or even read by the instructor's computer.

310A: Position Papers (15% of course grade)

Students must write three essays during the semester dealing with the following topics: (1) Personal Teaching Philosophy, (2) Physics/ESS Teaching Rationale, and (3) Scientific Literacy Essay. Written work will be evaluated using an official Essay Scoring Rubric.Each essay will be equally weighted.

310B: Nature of Science Cumulative Performance Assessment (20% of course grade)

Students must complete a Nature of Science cumulative performance assessment. The assessment consists of a five-part project: (1) Scientific Epistemology Essay, (2) Nature of Science Book Review, (3) the Nature of Science Literacy Test (NOSLiT), and (4) a Mallard-based Technical Terms and Concepts Quiz. An official Essay Scoring Rubric will be used to assess whether or not the student has demonstrated the required competencies summatively assessed in parts 1 and 2. All parts will be worth 5% of the course grade. Login and password information for Mallard: login = university e-mail name (e.g., crmello); password = university ID number (e.g., 812344375). Note: The Mallard-based quiz will not be available until just before the first grading period ends. See course outline for details.

310C: NOS Resource Cards Project (7.5% of course grade)

Teacher candidates will create and share of three (3) NOS Resource Cards, each with its own theme. Students will begin by writing twelve Student Performance Objectives (3 clusters of 4 SPOs, one cluster for each Resource Card) based on Bloom's Taxonomy that can be used as the basis for student assessment in three different areas of subject matter. Two objectives must be written for each of the six domains of Bloom's Taxonomy overall. Successfully prepared objectives often will follow these suggestions. A SPO Scoring Rubric will be used to assess each student performance objective. Following approval of the student performance objectives by the course instructor, the student must provide three corresponding descriptions of differentiated instruction to teach each four different objectives each that make use of a variety of instructional materials and practices, and varied formal assessments. A detailed example of differentiated instruction as it relates to student performance objectives is provided and includes a reference to best practices based on evidence.

310D: Professional Development Plan (2.5% of course grade)

Teacher candidates will complete a 95-minute standardized physics test with multiple-choice questions. Based upon the results of this test, the students will prepare a professional development plan to remediate deficiencies in identified areas. This assessment and project are designed to help students prepare for their science content examination that is part of the Illinois Teacher Certification System.

310E: Weekly Journal Reflections (7.5% of course grade)

Teacher candidates will become familiar with physics education research and pedagogical content knowledge. Students will use Five Easy Lessons: Strategies for Successful Physics Teaching (Knight, 2004) to write continuous weekly reading reflections. Each week, students must write a one-page, double-spaced report on the assigned reading(s) in which the following questions are addressed: (1) What are the important points that the author is trying to make in this chapter? and (2) In what ways have your understanding of the topic changed as a result of reading the chapter? New reflections should be added to reflections from previous weeks so that only one continuous file is created and updated. Please submit your Weekly Journal Reflection via e-mail as an attachment using MSWord or PDF.

310F: Learning Sequence Exercise (2.5% of course grade)

Students will, working in small groups, develop, present, and share printed copies of a learning sequence based on the instructor's "levels of inquiry" article that includes activities associated with discovery learning, interactive demonstration, inquiry lesson, and an inquiry lab. Ideally, the learning sequence will also include hypothetical inquiry in one of two forms, but this is not required. Students must follow the format provided in the Learning Sequence Exercise. A detailed example of what the student's learning sequence should look like is available. A detailed Learning Sequence Scoring Rubric will be used for scoring the written submission.

310G: Midterm and Final Exams (25% of course grade)

Teacher candidates will complete both a midterm and a final examination based upon designated course readings. The midterm will cover information from the beginning of the course up to the exam; the final will cover readings from the midterm examination to the end of the course. Exams will be scored with an Essay Exam Scoring Rubric. Each exam will be equally weighted.

310H: Discussion Leadership (5% of course grade)

Teacher candidates must demonstrate a knowledge of science, pedagogy, and educational psychology, and be able to use this knowledge effectively through active participation in class discussions. Students will be evaluated on the degree of their contributions to in-class discussions and other group activities. Students will lead discussions for a variety of topics using specific guidelines. Performance will be peer assessed separately from class participation using a standardized Discussion Leadership Scoring Rubric. (1or2?) The discussion leader will be selected and announced immediately before the start of the discussion; every student should come to every class prepared to lead a discussion of assigned readings. Each student will lead the same number of discussions. Discussions typically will be limited to 15 minutes maximum, and will be cut off when a reasonable time limit is exceeded.

310I: Learning Assistant Experience and/or Study Group Mentoring (12.5% of course grade)

Option 1 - Case Studies in Tutoring: Teacher candidates must possess and demonstrate an understanding of the physics curriculum and course content, student difficulties and effective instructional strategies associated with a particular concept, and informal assessment methods. To this end, class participates will provide not less than 10 clock hours of tutoring (either free or paid) to at least three different students (a maximum of 4 hours credit each) enrolled in UHS Physics, or ISU PHY 102, 105, 108, and/or 109 by participating in any of three available options. Teacher candidates must complete one reflection associated with each hour of tutoring following documentation and reflection guidelines. Performance will be assessed separately from class participation using a standardized case studies scoring rubric. Reflections and documentation will be scored with the use of a Case Study Assessment Form.

Option2 - Study Group Mentoring: Teacher candidates must possess an understanding of how students develop understanding as it relates to various units of instruction over a course of study. To this end, course participates will provide not less than 10 clock hours of group mentoring to students enrolled in ISU's PHY 108 or 109. These official mentoring sessions (developed in cooperation with course instructors) will be review sessions geared primarily toward preparation for tests. Group mentors will be encouraged to attend PHY 108 or 109 class sessions from time to time, and to meet with the course instructor to learn more about the needs of students in preparation for mentoring sessions. Teacher candidates must complete one reflection associated with each group session following documentation and reflection guidelines (under development). Performance will be assessed separately from class participation using a standardized study group mentoring session report scoring rubric (under development).

Option 3 - Combination Experience: Teacher candidates wishing to gain a variety of learning assistant experiences may arrange with the course instructor to do a combination of tutoring and mentoring activities so long as the 10-clock-hour minimum is met.

A final reflective essay DELETED - DO NOT DO

310J: Two-Minute Quizzes (2.5% of course grade)

Teacher candidates must complete a number of unannounced "two-minute quizzes" in which they will write two-minute essays responding to a key question regarding an assigned reading. These will be scored as follows: 2 points - In the opinion of the instructor, the student provides convincing evidence of detailed knowledge of assigned reading - clear summary statements were considered in advance of the quiz; 1 point - In the opinion of the instructor, the student has limited knowledge of the reading assignment but has not considered convincing summary statements prior to the quiz; 0 points - In the opinion of the instructor, the student has not read the assignment as evidence by basically restating the title and not providing convincing evidence that the article has been read. Convincing evidence consists of citation of one or more "unique" bits of information found in the reading.

310K: Class Participation (0% of course grade)

Teacher candidates must demonstrate a knowledge of science, pedagogy, and educational psychology, the effective use this knowledge during active participation in class discussion and projects, and critical thinking ability. Students also must demonstrate the moral and intellectual virtues contained within the ISU Teacher Education Conceptual Framework. Students will be evaluated on the degree of their contributions to in-class discussions and other group activities. Class participation will be assessed with the use of a Participation Rubric. While such participation will evaluated, it will not contribute in a positive sense to the final course grade. It will, however, be used to help the PTE program coordinator to make recommendation about admission to student teaching.

Assessment Scores:

You may view your latest assessment scores online by going to the Mallard web site for this course.

Grading:

The following table represents the relative weighting of the tasks and activities:

The final course grade will be determined on the basis of a composite score according to the following schedule:

The cut-off points above might seem a bit high, but students are expected to take full advantage of the assessment for learning policy in this course under which many assignments will score 100%.

Satisfactory completion of ALL student performance assessments is a prerequisite for a passing grade for physics teaching majors. In addition, the student is expect to attend class regularly and participate fully. Teacher candidates must do well enough on all course assignments to receive a positive recommendation from the teacher education program coordinator for admission to student teaching. Without a positive recommendation teacher candidates will not be admitted.

Required Texts and Readings:

Readings in this course will come from a variety of sources. All seven of the following publications are "required":

• American Association for the Advancement of Science (1990). Science for All Americans: Project 2061, Washington, DC: Author.
• Illinois State Board of Education (1997). Illinois Learning Standards for science, grades 6-12, Springfield, IL: Author.
• National Research Council (1996). National Science Education Standards, Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
• National Research Council (1999). How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience and School, Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
• National Research Council (2000). Inquiry and the National Science Education Standards, Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
• Knight, R.D. (2004). Five Easy Lessons: Strategies for Successful Physics Teaching, San Francisco: Addison Wesley.

Most publications are available online or for loan from the course instructor. A hard copy of the Illinois Learning Standards can be obtained free of charge by requesting it from the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE).

Reading Assignments:

POLICIES:

Academic Integrity: Students are expected to be honest in all academic work. A student's name on any in academic exercise shall be regarded as assurance that the work is the result of the student's own thought and study. Offenses involving academic dishonesty include, but are not limited to the following: cheating, computer dishonesty, plagiarism, grade falsification, and collusion. For more information about this important topic, visit the Student Dispute Resolution Web site.

Penalty for Late Submissions: There WILL be a penalty for late submission of course work -- 20% of rubric-based score for each day (Saturdays and Sundays included) following the electronic submission deadline (by 11:59 p.m. on the due date). Submissions more than 5 days late will be of no value whatsoever. Submissions of DUE projects MUST be made using e-mail attachment. Hard copy submissions of DUE projects are NOT acceptable.

Discussions: A student discussion leader will be "randomly selected" and announced immediately before a scheduled class discussion; every student should come to class prepared to lead a discussion of assigned readings if their name is chosen. All students will be called upon to lead the same number of discussions during a given semester. If the first student identified as a discussion leader cannot or will not lead the discussion, that student will score a zero and another student will be selected to lead the discussion. All discussions will be time limited.

Accommodations: It is not uncommon for secondary-level math education and non-physics science education majors to take this course. Because this is a physics teaching methods course, minor accommodations only will be made for non-physics majors.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

Disposition Concerns: The College of Education, in an effort to ensure top quality graduates, provides faculty members and interested others with the opportunity to provide input into the teacher preparation process. One of these inputs is in the area of disposition concerns. Education faculty, in particular, are encouraged to bring to attention of CECP any significant problems associated with the following major areas. If three or more filed dispositions concerns have not been resolved, the teacher candidate will be blocked from advancing in Professional Studies.

• Collaboration Issues: The ability to work together, especially in a joint intellectual effort.
• Honesty/Integrity: The ability to demonstrate truthfulness to oneself and to others; demonstrate moral excellence and trustworthiness.
• Respect: The ability to honor, value, and demonstrate consideration and regard for oneself and others.
• Reverence for Learning: Respect and seriousness of intent to acquire knowledge.
• Emotional Maturity: The ability to adjust one’s emotional state to suitable level of intensity in order to remain engaged with one’s surroundings.
• Reflection: The ability to review, analyze, and evaluate the success of past decisions in an effort to make better decisions in the future.
• Flexibility: The willingness to accept and adapt to change.
• Responsibility: The ability to act independently, demonstrating accountability, reliability and sound judgment.

Caution: Keep in mind as you progress toward student teaching that as a student teacher your students will have an interest in finding out about you. This will lead them to Internet searches. Don't put anything on a web page, YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, etc., that you wouldn't want students, parents, teachers or administrators to see.

Please note that before any teacher candidate is admitted to Professional Studies/Teacher Education, he or she must complete the required "Successful Experience with Children or Youth" form, and submit it to the PTE coordinator for processing and forwarding to CECP.

At the April 2, 2002, meeting of the Council for Teacher Education meeting, the following motion was passed: Teacher candidates who will be student teaching beginning with Spring 2003 and beyond will be required to pass the State content area test prior to student teaching. In the case of Physics, this mean September 1 of the year prior to student teaching. PLEASE NOTE THAT NO EQUATION SHEET IS PROVIDED FOR THIS EXAMINATION.

Examinees may now register online for teacher, school service personnel and administrative certification tests; view and download study guides; and access their test results. The site address is: www.icts.nesinc.com/. This new service will provide certification candidates with easy access to teacher certification testing materials and registration activities. To give students a second chance to pass this test, an early test date is recommended. Test framework (objectives) for the science content exam for Field #116 (Physics) are available for download here.

Now strictly enforced are the following policies:

• Students must fulfill requirements for admission and retention in teacher education at least one semester prior to student teaching. September 1 is the deadline for student teaching during spring semester -- the only semester that the Physics Department permits student teaching. (The September 1 deadline does not apply to case studies, ten of which will be completed during autumn semester in PHY 311.)
• In order to register for PHY 311, students must be admitted to the teacher education program; no registration overrides will be given.
• Students must be given departmental approval for admission to student teaching by their major department.

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