Realizing the Democratic Ideal:

Teacher Education at Illinois State University

PHYSICS 489.01 -- PHYSICAL SCIENCE FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL TEACHERS

DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS

Summer Semester 2009

(Last updated 7/06/2009)

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Catalog Description:

PHYSICAL SCIENCE FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL TEACHERS

MSP middle school science teacher cohort only. A laboratory-based physical science content course with real-life applications modeling exemplary science teaching practices. 3 semester hours; summer semester only; 37.5 hours of integrated class/laboratory work.

Instructors:

Meeting Dates/Times/Location:


The class will meet June 10-12 (W-F), June 15-18 (M-Th), June 22-25 (M-Th), and June 29-July 2 (M-Th). Each class will meet for a total of 2.5 hours - 9:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. - daily. This course will be taught at Calvin Coolidge Middle School, 2708 W. Rohmann Avenue (map), Peoria, IL 61604. Room location TBA. Class begins at 9:00 a.m. so please arrive on time.

Course Overview:

Teachers participate in contextualized and integrated science lessons that incorporate technology and model proven research-based teaching methods. The course serves to improve participants’ content knowledge, procedural skills, and scientific dispositions by providing access to the expertise of scientists, technologies, and resources. Teacher participants will develop the skills of inquiry and critical thinking, and become experienced in collecting, evaluating and interpreting data as part of the problem-solving process. In addition, class time will be used to develop an understanding of the nature of science. Interdisciplinary topics from chemistry and physics will serve as organizing themes for this course. The goal will be to increase in-service teacher understanding and application of scientifically-based educational research pertinent to science teaching and learning. This course does NOT include field trip experiences as the physical science content addressed in this course are suitable for classroom laboratory activities.

Course Goals:


While working through this course, in-service middle school science teachers will:

• utilize and integrate science knowledge obtained from previous content courses through activities requiring the use of inquiry and skepticism;
• come to know science as a process of inquiry rather than merely as a body of knowledge;
• encounter science at work in the context of common, real-life experiences;
• experience and learn about the use of exemplary science teaching practices such as inquiry learning, cooperative/collaborative learning, and problem-based learning;
• experience and learn about such curriculum emphases as unified science teaching, preconceptions/concept change/constructivism, and science/technology/society;
• come to understand student difficulties as they experience those same difficulties associated with hands-on, minds-on activities and though daily reflection upon their performance as both student and prospective teacher;
• experience through effective modeling the meaning of a positive learning environment which includes equitable participation of all students and the active engagement of students with different abilities and interests; and
• utilize a wide array of instructional and technological resources available in lab and in the wider community.

Course Outcomes:


By the end of this course, each in-service teacher will have demonstrated the ability to:

• bring together a number of different physical science disciplines in the preparation of a series of integrated science lessons that provide unique and useful insights about the world.
• use scientific knowledge to explain the workings of selected everyday physical phenomena;
• demonstrate how the knowledge and processes of science can be taught using hands-on / minds-on age-appropriate science activities;
• reflect upon learning experiences as they relate to best practice and ISU Teacher Education's conceptual framework with the aim of improving instruction from the perspective of both student and teacher;
• cite from experience a number of ways that science teaching can be done in an engaging fashion that takes into account differences among and between students;
• list and explain a number of educational service providers and academic resources available in their classrooms and in the wider community;
• create valid and reliable grading instruments that serve to raise expectations for students and provide a basis for meaningful assessment;
• synthesize knowledge and utilize intellectual skills to the extent required for the successful completion of a number of classroom activities that require a demonstration of the following traits that characterize the scientifically literate individual:
(a) scientific knowledge (physics and chemistry), (b) scientific method and critical analysis (induction, deduction, etc.), and
 (c) scientific disposition (critical, skeptical, open minded, empirical, etc.); and
• utilize the intellectual and procedural skills appropriate to scientific inquiry in the creation of scientific knowledge including an ability to: 
(a) demonstrate the use of technology to collect data, and the use of simple mathematics 
(graphing, statistics, probability) to interpret that data,
(b) distinguish scientific ways of knowing from other sources of knowledge, 
(c) distinguish belief from knowledge, and
(d) state underlying assumptions.

Methodology:

During this content course the instructors will will introduce and model a wide range of "reformed" teaching practices that are consistent with the recommendations of the science education reform movement. Teachers are encouraged to read information about each of the following practices as they are introduced in this course. These resources are taken mostly from the ISU Physics Teacher Education program.

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. Course activities are designed so that they promote development of the ILS's Applications of Learning: solving problems, communicating, using technology, working on teams, and making connections.

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 reflection and improvement. A student's scores can be improved following appropriate revision and resubmission of "unsatisfactory" projects, so long as all conditions and deadlines are met. 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. 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.

Course Outline:


Content Alignment with Illinois Learning Standards:

Theme #1: Mystery of the Bermuda Triangle – Density, and Buoyancy (Integrated Science Unit)

• Density Measurement: Mass, Length, Volume of regular and irregular objects 12.C.3b
• Lab: Determine the relationship between mass & volume of a material. 11.A.3b-g
• Lab: Determine the qualitative relationship between temperature and density of materials. 12.C.3b
• Describe the buoyant force, explain how it is different from other forces, and determine how to measure the buoyant force. 12.D.3a
• Lab: Determine the relationship between volume and buoyant force on an object. 11.A.3b-g
• Lab: Determine the relationship between fluid density and buoyant force on an object. 11.A.3b-g
• Conclusion 11.A.3a

Theme #2: Kitchen and Bathroom Science: Cooking and Cosmetics (Chemistry Unit)

• Fire cup demonstration, reactants and productions of combustion 12.C.3b
• Lab: Burning salts and atomic spectra/Bohr model 12.C.3b
• Lab: Specific heat and heat capacity
• Lab: Latent heat – water as an extinguisher (atoms, molecules, covalent bonding) 12.C.3a
• Lab: States of matter (aerosols, sols, colloids, foams, emulsions, gels) 12.C.3a
• Lab: Volatility and perfume-making 12.C.3a

Theme #3: Motion (Physics Unit)

• Lab: Oscillatory motion lab 12.D.2a
• Lab: Constant speed lab 12.D.2a
• Lab: Uniform acceleration lab 12.D.2a
• Lab: Force and motion lab 12.D.2b, 12.D.3a

Theme #4: Building Homes (Physics Unit)

• Lab: Determine the relationship between force needed and number of support strings in a pulley. 11.A.3b-g, 12.D.3a-b
• Lab: Determine the relationship between force needed and distance from fulcrum on a lever. 11.A.3b-g, 12.D.3a-b
• Lab: Determine the relationship between force need and distance traveled up an inclined plane. 11.A.3b-g, 12.D.3a-b
• Lab: Fruit battery, voltage and current 11.A.3b-g

Theme #5: Energy Issues and Global Climate Change (Integrated Science Unit)

• Lab: Introduction to Climate Change (greenhouse effect, albedo, insulation) 12.E.3a-b
• Lab: Carbon dioxide (combustion of fossil fuels, indicator solutions, solubility in liquids) 12.E.3a-b
• Graphical analysis packet from IPCC 12.E.3a-b, 13.A.3b-c
• NEED Curriculum 12.E.3a-b
• Exploratorium Webquest 12.E.3a-b
• Addressing the issues 11.B.3a-c, 12.E.3a-b, 13.B.3 a,d-f

Required Readings:


In-service teachers will be assigned readings from a number of sources. There will be no textbook per se given the fact that physical science content will be learned directly through investigative processes – with the teachers working like scientists. Teachers will be expected to regularly refer to textbooks from previous content courses in the sciences as needed. Readings will be taken from resources listed in the course outline - all of which are available online.

Student Tasks/Assignments: 


Multiple assessment strategies will be used to determine the course grade of students. The assessment procedures are elaborated below. Along with the title is an indication of the relative weight each has in the determination of the final course grade.

1. Daily Journals (10%)
 Participants will be required to critically evaluate and assess the experiences of each class and to record these reflections in a daily journal. Reflections will be from two perspectives -- that of student (e.g., What content knowledge did I acquire?) and that of teacher (e.g., how have I better learned to do my job as a teacher?). Teachers should prepare each component of daily reflections separately and title them accordingly.
2. Online Reading Quizzes (10%) Participants will complete online reading quizzes (using docs.google.com) associated with assigned homework readings.
3. Unit Tests (30%)
 Participants will complete four tests. One test will follow each organizing topic, and will be related to readings, in-course experiences, and expected outcomes.
4. Binder Check (10%) Participants will build and organize a binder with completed worksheets from all class and homework activities.
5. Presentation (10%)
 Participants will, following specific guidelines, develop a PowerPoint report dealing with climate change that integrates science, technology, and society.
6. Gizmo Worksheets (15%) Participants will complete five assigned worksheets for online simulations from PhET or Explorelearning.com
7. Hyperscience Lesson Plans (15%) Participants will create a set of three inquiry-oriented lesson plans following specific guidelines. Inquiry lesson plans will be assessed with a scoring rubric.

Student Performance Evaluation:

Tests of content knowledge will include standard objective tests. Tests of skills associated with complex tasks will be scored with the use of rubrics.

Grading Scale:

Course grades will be based on the total points...

Homework Reminders