PHYSICS 311 -- TEACHING HIGH SCHOOL PHYSICS

DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS

Fall 2022

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Catalog Description:

TEACHING HIGH SCHOOL PHYSICS

3 s.h.

Fall

18 hrs in PHY, C or better in TCH 216, or conc reg req. PHY 310 req. Adm to Teacher Ed req. Clin Exp: 10 hrs, Type 1-6. Not for credit if had PHY 301.
Strategies, curricula, and resources for the teaching of high school physics. Application of the knowledge of physics, adolescent psychology, and pedagogical theory to secondary teaching.

Note Well:

Students must attempt the content test prior to December 15, 2022. Passage is not required to begin student teaching but must be passed for certification.

The edTPA will be not be required again until Fall 2023 

We have been notified that effective January 2010, anyone who wants to complete any clinical experiences in schools must have passed a Criminal Background Check prior to starting. Be certain to visit the ISU Teacher Education Center website for the latest CBC information.

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.

Instructor:

Name: Ken Wester, Coordinator Physics Teacher Education Program Office Location: Moulton Hall, Room 322 Office Hours: drop in or by appointment Telephones: (309) 438-2957 (office); (309) 662-9902 (cell) E-mail address: kwester@ilstu.edu

Meeting Days/Times/Location:

During fall semester 2022, the class will meet on Mondays and Wednesdays from 5:00 p.m. to 6:15 p.m. starting August 22, Moulton Hall room 307B. A minimum of ten clock hours of independent outside clinical experiences will be required. Approximately three hours will take place at the future student teaching site, and seven hours preparing for and presenting/re-presenting an inquiry-oriented science lesson at the McLean County Juvenile Detention Center.

Required Texts and Readings:

Readings will come primarily from TEACHING HIGH SCHOOL PHYSICS (Carl J. Wenning & Rebecca E. Vieyra, AIP Publishing, Melville, New York, 2020). ISU students, faculty, staff, & retirees as well as alumni and Friends of Milner Library have free online access to these references. The volumes are as follows:

Vol. 1: Teaching High School Physics - The Nature of Physics Teaching Vol. 2: Teaching High School Physics - Interacting with Physics Students Vol. 3: Teaching High School Phyiscs - Managing the Physics Classroom In order to access each of three volumes, do the following: Click on the appropriate volume link above. Click on the "BACON - American Institute of Physics AIP - ALLEBOOKS" link. Log in to your ILSTU account if prompted. Once you access the aip-scitation-org website, you’ll have full access to the book as a whole or by chapter. ORDER COPIES: Black & white copies (color covers) are available to ISU students, faculty, and staff via print-on-demand for $30 per volume. Follow the blue MyBook links found on the above page to order copies. Look for discounts. Print-on-demand delivery time is about one week. Color copies are available for $135 each. N.B. Here are some additional useful titles to which you have free online access through AIP Publishing: Honoring Teachers As Professions: Stories and Pathways for Growth in Your Classroom and Career Teaching About Geometric Optics: Student Edition Teaching About Geometric Optics: Teacher's Notes F = ma Contests: 2011-2019 Solutions Manual

Methodology:

This course is designed to bridge the gap between educational theory and practice. It will provide students a chance to integrate their content knowledge of physics, pedagogical knowledge of teaching, and pedagogical content knowledge as it applies to high school physics teaching.

The course is based on the assertion 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 professions, and society -- balancing declarative knowledge with procedural knowledge, balancing expository teaching with inquiry learning, balancing depth of content with breadth of coverage, emphasizing learning over teaching, and knowing what values and knowledge are worth learning in light of national and state standards as well as the needs of students and society. The goal of imparting attitudes is to improve the educational process, to enhance the achievement of the learner, to produce better and more productive citizens, and to improve society. The aim is to prepare students for life in a democratic society.

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.

Classes will consist of student participation in modeling of various teaching practices, class presentation of a model inquiry lesson using the Japanese Lesson Study process, class discussions, role playing, videos, teacher presentations, and exams to name but a few of the in-class activities. Outside of class there will be readings, homework projects, one-on-one conferences with the course instructor, the first part of the Teacher Performance Assessment Consortium (TPAC) will be assigned, and several smaller projects. There will be a written midterm exam, and a combined written/oral final exam.

In addition to completing the required in-course activities, students must successfully complete a minimum of ten (10) clock hours of clinical experience. Each student must complete three directed clinical experiences at the high school where (s)he has been scheduled for student teaching. Students also will work as a team to plan, deliver, evaluate, and revise an inquiry lesson taught at the McLean County Juvenile Detention Center (7 hours).

 

 Course Outline:

Please note that resource links are provided with a number of the topics below. Familiarize yourself with (e.g., read) the materials at each of these sites BEFORE the class. It will be expected that you will have done so. You need not actually read online books, but you should be familiar with their basic contents (e.g., review tables of contents for online books at the very least).

Student Performance Assessments:

311A: TEST-RELATED PROJECTS (10% of course grade)

To be an effective teacher, students must demonstrate knowledge of science, pedagogy, and educational psychology, and be able to use this knowledge effectively through active participation in group activities. There will be a number of projects that allow for demonstration of these skills: (1) conducting a Test Item Analysis (20 points), (2) writing a Physics Content Test (80 points) which must include student-generated student performance objectives, and (3) creating a corresponding Scoring Rubric (10 points).

311B: LESSON STUDY PROJECT (25% of course grade)

The Lesson Study Project will be used to create, teach, refine and re-teach a model inquiry lesson that focuses on students' learning rather than upon a teachers' teaching. Students working in cooperative groups will create a detailed inquiry-oriented lesson plan following Inquiry Lesson Plan Guidelines. The lesson's Student Performance Objectives must comply with Student Performance Assessment Guidelines. The teaching of the lesson will be assessed using an Inquiry Lesson Scoring Rubric. This approach will culminate with a report in which teacher candidates document the lesson planning process, the teaching process, and the review process, and draw attention to what they have learned about lesson planning. Each student must prepare his or her own Lesson Study Project Report following specific guidelines. There will be peer assessment using a special JDC peer assessment scoring rubric associated with this cooperative learning project.

311C: Informal teacher lesson plan/5E lesson (10% of course grade)

Each student will create a lesson plan outline for the learning segment in which the student plans to use for EdTPA. This outline will be a "working document" for the teacher and should include all handouts etc. that will be used during the learning segment.

311D: THEORY-INTO-PRACTICE PROJECT (20% of course grade)

Each teacher candidate will complete a written Theory-into-Practice Project. In this project the teacher candidate will identify and characterize one or more learning theories that best explain his or her understanding of how high school students learn, and present in writing a description of teaching practices that are consistent with this understanding and that satisfy certain criteria. A TIP essay rubric and a TIP presentation and oral defense rubric will be used.

311E: Participation/Completion of Homework Assignments (20% of course grade)

311F: MId Term Examination (15% of course grade)

The midterm examination will be a written essay test. The midterm examination will deal with subject matter related to work projects, in-class presentations, required course readings, etc. to date.

311G: CLINICAL EXPERIENCE HOURS (0% of course grade)

Students must successfully complete a minimum of ten (10) clock hours of clinical experience as shown in the distribution table below. These field experiences will be completed on campus, at the McLean County Juvenile Detention Center, and in the high school in which a student will be placed for student teaching. Hours will be credited when clinical experiences are properly completed.

 

 

311I: CLASS PARTICIPATION (0% of course grade)

To be an effective teacher, students must demonstrate a knowledge of science, pedagogy, and educational psychology, and be able to use this knowledge effectively through active participation in class discussion and projects, and an ability to think critically. 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 Scoring Rubric. While such participation will evaluated, it will not part of the final course grade. It will, however, be used to help the PTE program coordinator to make recommendation about admission to student teaching.

Grading:

 

The above grading scale might seem a bit high to the student, but it assumes that students will take advantage of the instructor's Assessment-for-Learning Policy. Satisfactory completion of ALL components of the course (e.g., Challenger Learning Center Project, cooperative teaching including pre- and post-conferences, projects, exams and quizzes, surveys, and ten hours of clinical experience) is a prerequisite for a passing grade. In addition, the student is expect to attend class regularly and participate fully.

Caution:

Per a new ISU Teacher Education Policy (approved by the Council for Teacher Education during 2009 and implemented with spring semester 2010), ALL ISU teacher education candidates MUST have a completed FBI/Illinois State Police fingerprint criminal background check with results on file in the Lauby Teacher Education Center BEFORE they begin ANY pre-student teaching field/clinical experience. This includes the Social Context Project associated with Physics 353 completed during the first five weeks of the spring semester and before the start of student teacher. This background check must be done using Illinois State University’s ORI number.  The Lauby Teacher Education Center hosts criminal background check clinics regularly. See the spring 2010 CBC clinic schedule.  Follow the instructions at the schedule link to reserve a time and get your CBC completed.  It may take several weeks for the results to come to ISU, so please attend the earliest clinic possible.

Physics Toolkit:

The instructor strongly encourages teacher candidates to start assembling the "Physics Toolkit" that can be relied upon as a teacher. This would consist of a collection of books, resource guides, hyperlinks, demonstration and lab materials, etc. that deal with the teaching of all areas of physics at the introductory level. Organize your Toolkit by topic to make the information it contains more accessible. Please note that this recommended project will become an assignment in Physics 312 in preparation for student teaching.

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.

ADVISORY: Click here for an important note dealing with Student Academic Behaviors and Their Relationship to Course Grades. Also, see SAAMEE: A Model for Academic Success

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, uTube, facebook, MySpace, etc., that you wouldn't want students, parents, teachers or administrators to see.

Text and Other Resource Materials:

Readings in this course will come primarily from a variety of online sources linked through the course syllabus.

ADDITIONAL 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.

Teacher Recommendation: 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.

Click here for latest listing of Teacher Education Requirements.

Click here for the Assessment of Professional Teaching (APT) test objectives.

Continuing Education/Professional Development for Teacher Candidates:

As a science teacher candidate, you need to regularly update your knowledge about the worlds of science and education. Here are several weekly online journals to which you might consider reading, and some will allow you to subscribe to an e-mail newsletter format so you won't miss a thing:

Science News

Discover Magazine

Education Week

Teacher Magazine

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