Knowledge Base for Prospective Physics Teachers
Integration of Knowledge Base and Physics Program Practices
Faculty Members in Physics Teacher Education
The Physics Teacher Education program at Illinois State University prepares students to teach physics and at least one other subject at the high school level. This program provides a thorough study of representative fields of physics, plus training in astronomy, chemistry, biology, and mathematics. This program of study integrates a strong physics content major of 34 semester hours (s. h.) with a professional education sequence of 22 s. h., and the state's and University's overlapping general education requirements of 47 and 48 s. h. respectively.
Requirements for students preparing to teach physics at the secondary level:
Physics 101, 110, 111, 112, 217, 220, 240, 270, 2xx, 301, 302; Chemistry 140, 141
All physics teacher education majors are required by state law to complete requirements for a second area of endorsement. Most obtain the second endorsement in the area of chemistry by completing a course in organic chemistry. See Appendix 1 for a detailed course of study in the physics education sequence.
The professional education sequence consists of the following courses:
Curriculum & Instruction 214, 215, 216; Psychology 215; plus ONE of the following three courses: Educational Administration and Foundations 228, 231, OR 235.
See Appendix 2 for a detailed course of study in professional education sequence, including information about clinical experiences and student teaching.
In addition, all physics teacher education majors must complete overlapping general education requirements mandated by the state of Illinois (47 semester hours) and Illinois State University (48 semester hours). The more restrictive state requirements follow:
Communication Skills (9 semester hours)
Mathematics and Science* (12 semester hours)
Humanities** (15 semester hours)
Social Sciences** (9 semester hours)
Health and Physical Development (2 semester hours)
See Appendices 3 and 4 for details about the general education course requirements.
* Must include at least one course in Biology.
** At least one 3-semester-hour course must be taken in Non-Western or Third World Cultures from either the Humanities or Social Sciences. Courses in American History or History may be applied toward meeting either the Humanities or Social Sciences requirements.
A total of one hundred clock hours of pre-student-teaching clinical experiences are associated with required professional studies and science methods courses. Physics teacher education majors must complete 8 s. h. of student teaching in their content area. See Appendix 5 for details.
The goal of the physics teacher education program is to prepare teachers who are capable of using innovative teaching techniques that will move students toward scientific literacy as outlined by Project 2061, the National Science Teaching Standards, the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium principles, and the Illinois State Board of Education's State Goals for Learning. To this end the prospective teachers must attain a certain level of content and procedural knowledge, and exhibit scientific dispositions. The end in view is to prepare prospective teachers who are motivated to enhance the achievement of the learner, produce better and more productive citizens, and improve society. This goal is aligned with the University's conceptual framework for teacher education -- Realizing the Democratic Ideal (See Appendix 8).
The following objectives are closely aligned with university, program, state, interstate, and national goals and standards, and are reflected in the prospective physics teacher's knowledge base:
Objective 1: The prospective physics teacher understands the major concepts and assumptions of science, and relates the physical and life sciences to technology and society.
Objective 2: The prospective physics teacher understands the principles of physics, procedures of inquiry, and scientific dispositions, and creates learning experiences that make these aspects of the subject matter meaningful to students.
Objective 3: The prospective physics teacher understands the relationship between teaching and learning, and creates experiences that maximize learning among students.
Objective 4: The prospective physics teacher understands how children learn and develop, and provides learning opportunities that support their intellectual, social, and personal development.
Objective 5: The prospective physics teacher understands how students differ in their approaches to learning, and creates instructional opportunities that are adapted to learners regardless of intellectual ability, gender, race, or disability.
Objective 6: The prospective physics teacher understands the meaning of scientific literacy, and uses a variety of instructional strategies to encourage students' development of critical thinking, problem solving, and performance skills.
Objective 7: The prospective physics teacher understands individual and group motivation and behavior, and creates a learning environment that encourages positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self-motivation.
Objective 8: The prospective physics teacher understands the role of communication in teaching, and uses knowledge of effective verbal and nonverbal techniques to foster active inquiry, collaboration, and supportive interaction in the classroom.
Objective 9: The prospective physics teacher understands the interaction of curriculum and instruction, and plans lessons based upon knowledge of subject matter, available technology and curricula, and curriculum goals.
Objective 10: The prospective physics teacher understands standard and alternative assessment strategies, and uses them to evaluate knowledge, skills, and dispositions to ensure the continuous intellectual and social development of the student.
Objective 11: The prospective physics teacher understands the meaning of reflective practice, and continually evaluates the effects of his/her choices and actions on others in order to grow professionally.
Objective 12: The prospective physics teacher understands the meaning of life-long learning, and fosters relationships with colleagues and agencies in the larger community to develop professionally.
The departmental faculty's philosophy of preparation for high school physics teachers is rooted in two fundamental beliefs. It is our belief that prospective teachers must be prepared with a certain minimum of declarative and procedural knowledge. It is also our belief that prospective teachers must possess dispositions that will allow them to think and operate scientifically and to deal effectively with the changes of an uncertain future.
We believe that basic physics knowledge is central to the education of future physics teachers. However, there is also an interest in teaching procedures, conceptual principles, and theories of physics along with its subject matter. Future physics teachers must demonstrate a mastery of essential content matter and skills, and embrace healthy scientific attitudes -- objectivity, intellectual honesty, skepticism, and curiosity. Education of prospective physics teachers is therefore seen as absolute. To the extent that our program requires prospective teachers to learn requisite content it is Essentialist in nature.
We believe that if teachers are to be prepared for the future, they must have an education that is both participatory and emergent. Future physics teachers are seen as active learners who should practice and promote the intellectual and technical skills necessary to live in an evolving democratic society. Emphasis is placed on how to think, not merely what to think. To this end future physics teachers are seen as guides to knowledge, and not merely purveyors. Education of prospective physics teachers is therefore seen as preparatory. To the extent that this program prepares physics teachers to deal effectively with the changes of the future it is Progressivist in nature.
It is our intention to prepare physics teachers with an attitude. Attitudes give rise to decisions and actions. What teachers do as they present their lessons is rooted deeply in their attitudes about issues that concern them, their students, 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 aim of imparting such 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. Illinois State University has a historic and enduring commitment to educate teachers who will be responsive to the moral and intellectual demands a democratic society places upon them.
What prospective physics teachers need to know and be able to do should be grounded in what their students need to know and be able to do in order to live in and contribute to life in a democratic society. National goals and standards reflect these needs, and have strongly converged in recent years on what it is that future teachers of science must know and be able to do. Therefore, a knowledge base has been established for the prospective physics teacher that is grounded in a wide range of science and teacher education standards.
A. Content Knowledge
The prospective teacher should have an broad and current understanding of the major content areas of physics. These areas include: mechanics, electricity and magnetism, heat and thermodynamics, optics, and modern physics. The prospective teacher's understanding will be at a level consistent with appropriate national and state standards, and includes a familiarity of the unifying principles of physics such as conservation of energy, momentum, mass, and charge. This presupposes that the prospective teacher will possess a general understanding of the closely allied fields of mathematics and chemistry, and will be aware of the major findings of the biological sciences.
B. Procedural Knowledge
The prospective teacher must have an accurate understanding of the nature of science, and its underlying assumptions. The prospective teacher should see scientific knowledge as emergent, and not absolute. Ideally, the prospective teacher will have learned content knowledge through methods of inquiry thereby acquiring closely associated procedural knowledge. The prospective teacher should have had an opportunity to experience the processes of scientific investigation: observing; defining a problem; hypothesizing from a theory base; creating an experiment; identifying and controlling variables; collecting, graphically representing, and interpreting data; conducting an error analysis; drawing conclusions; and communicating results. Knowledge so gained and communicated should help pupils understand that science is a way of knowing, and help them distinguish information that is not so derived.
C. Curricular Knowledge
The prospective teacher must possess a broad understanding of the practices of physics teaching as reflected in the aims, goals, and objectives of both national and state science teaching standards. This includes a working knowledge of long-term and short-term planing required for teaching an inquiry-based program; an ability to align teaching goals, objectives, and assessment with these standards; an ability to provide needs-based rationales for inclusion of material in the curriculum based upon student interests, community values, teacher strengths, and societal needs. The prospective teacher must be able to identify the various curricula that are available for physics teaching.
D. Pedagogical Knowledge
The prospective teacher must understand what constitutes effective teaching, and be able to distinguish true teaching practices from instructing, informing, and training. The prospective teacher should have a demonstrable understanding of:
1. planning and preparation -- Prospective teachers must demonstrate an ability to prepare lesson plans for a variety of lesson types, create a unit plan, and deal with the broad implications of year-long curriculum planning. The prospective teacher must know how to integrate lecture-demonstrations, laboratory work, homework, discussion, presentations, assessment, student research projects, and out-of-class activities in a way that maximizes student learning.
2. inquiry practices -- Prospective teachers must be able to use inquiry practices effectively to help students construct knowledge, be familiar with concept change and its relationship to constructivism, be able to assist students participate in the procedures whereby knowledge of nature and technology is constructed.
3. cooperative learning -- Prospective teachers must demonstrate an ability to utilize any of a number of cooperative learning strategies, and be able to distinguish these strategies from traditional group learning.
4. collaborative learning -- Prospective teachers must demonstrate an ability to utilize any of a number of collaborative learning strategies and distinguish these strategies from traditional group learning.
5. problem-based learning -- Prospective teachers must demonstrate an ability to utilize problem-based learning as a means to promote problem solving and enhance critical thinking skills, and as a way to integrate diverse elements of the physical and biological sciences.
6. constructivism and concept change -- Prospective teachers must demonstrate an understanding of a student's need for the construction of knowledge and its relationship to misconceptions derived though casual observations of the world.
7. learning cycles -- Prospective teachers must demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between learning cycles and classroom activities, and their effects on individual lessons and the broader curriculum. The complex interrelationship of lecture-demonstrations, laboratory work, homework, discussion, presentations, assessment, and student research projects, and out-of-class activities must be understood.
8. resources -- Prospective teachers must demonstrate an ability to select, use, and adapt instructional resources to the needs of students.
E. Understanding What it Means to be Scientifically Literate
The prospective teacher must have a working definition of what it means for a person to be scientifically literate, and must be so. That is, the prospective teacher will have a well-grounded "knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts and processes required for personal decision making, participating in civic and cultural affairs, and economic productivity" (National Science Education Standards, 1996, p. 22).
F. Understanding Students
The prospective teacher must be aware of the psychological basis for effective science teaching. The prospective teacher must also demonstrate an ability to come to know pupils as individuals, to assess their knowledge and background, and show a willingness to work with parents to serve the best interests of students. This includes dealing effectively with different pupil learning styles, sources of interest, motivation and inspiration, and cultural and emotional differences. This also includes identifying and correcting learning difficulties where possible using personal knowledge and experiences, or through the processes of conferral or referral.
G. Classroom Management Skills
The prospective teacher must demonstrate excellent student management skills by maintaining classroom discipline using a firm, fair, and friendly demeanor. The skilled student manager will effectively manage lessons so that students will perceive time in the classroom as of significant positive value. The atmosphere so maintained should not be rigid and regimented, but should be flexible and conducive to student inquiry.
H. Communication Skills
The prospective teacher must be an excellent and effective communicator, both in imparting instruction, questioning, and receiving and responding to information. The prospective teacher will demonstrate excellence in communication by using proper vocalization (diction, grammar, enunciation, and projection). The prospective teacher will demonstrate effectiveness in communication by presenting information systematically and logically, by questioning students using appropriate means (variety of questions, effective use of wait time, etc.), and by listening effectively and responding appropriately to student answers and comments.
I. Knowledge of the Relationship between Teaching and Learning
The prospective teacher should be aware that teaching is what teachers do, that learning is what pupils do, and that there may be no direct relationship between teaching and learning. The prospective teacher sees the role of teacher as that of a science guide who facilitates learning, and is aware of the major principles of learning.G. Knowledge of the Relationship between Teaching and Learning. The prospective teacher should be aware that teaching is what teachers do, that learning is what pupils do, and that there may be no direct relationship between teaching and learning. The prospective teacher sees the role of teacher as that of a science guide who facilitates learning, and is aware of the major principles of learning.
J. Scientific and Philosophical Dispositions
The prospective teacher should demonstrate scientific dispositions (beliefs, behaviors, attitudes, values) and should be able to engage pupils in activities that help clarify the need for a consistent scientific ethic. The prospective teacher should demonstrate the habits of mind closely associated with the intellectual rigor of scientific inquiry and attitudes and values conducive to science learning. The prospective teacher should understand the assumptions and limitations of scientific knowledge.
K. Social and Technological Context
The prospective teacher must demonstrate an understanding of and an appreciation for the broad applicability of physics to real world situations. Prospective teachers must be able to provide a rationale for including physics in the school curriculum as it relates to any area of life in general, and technology in particular. The rationale must deal with the value of scientific knowledge to their pupils, to society, and to the scientific professions. The prospective teacher must demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between science and technology, and the relationship between scientific values and social values.
L. Learning Environment
The prospective teacher should have an understanding of how to create among pupils a disposition in favor of science, and scientific ways of knowing. The learning environment should be physically and emotionally safe, and one in which questioning is valued as much as knowing, and process is valued as much as product. The prospective teacher should know how to provide stimulating learning environments that develop a community of learners who share time, space, and materials to learn science. The prospective teacher should know the meaning, differences, benefits, and consequences of competitive, cooperative, and individualistic learning atmospheres. The prospective teacher should know the effect of expectations on pupil achievement, and how to exert appropriate classroom control measures.
M. Engaged Learning
The prospective teacher should have an understanding of how to teach in an engaging way that creates and sustains pupil interest in science generally, and in physics in particular. This engagement should sustained pupil participation in learning activities and incorporate inclusive practices. The prospective teacher must ensure equitable participate by all students independent of gender, disabilities, and cultural differences. The prospective teacher must teach in such a way as to provide for gender differences, physical and mental disabilities, and racial and cultural differences.
N. Student Assessment
The prospective teacher should have an understanding of the goals and procedures of both "regular" and alternative assessment. The prospective teacher should know how to use a variety of means to assess stated objectives that are fair, valid, and reliable, and consistent with the decisions they are intended to inform. The prospective teacher will see ongoing assessment of pupil learning as a valuable adjunct to teaching. The prospective teacher should be aware of sources, and uses for standardized tests, and be able to accurately interpret results.
O. Self-Assessment and Reflective Practice
The prospective teacher should demonstrate the habit of regular self assessment -- reflecting objectively upon personal teaching practice with an eye toward improving professional practice and increasing student learning. The prospective teacher will engage in ongoing assessment of personal teaching practice, in cooperation with formative feedback provided through clinical supervision. The prospective teacher should demonstrate the disposition of a life-long learner in all areas of professional life.
P. Technology of Teaching
The prospective teacher should have knowledge of and first-hand experience with the wide range of instructional and scientific technology to be used in the classroom. This includes demonstration and laboratory equipment, computers and their applications, microcomputer- and calculator-based laboratory equipment, and the software associated with accessing the Internet to be used by pupils.
Q. Professional Responsibilities
The prospective teacher should abide by a code of professional ethical conduct. It is incumbent upon the teacher to improve educational practice personally, and at the level of the school and the wider academic community. The prospective teacher should perceive professional organizations and publications as instrumental in professional improvement.
The Illinois State University physics teacher education program practices align closely, but not yet completely, with the program objectives. Efforts currently are being made to align objectives and practice more closely. For the purposes of this overview, the relationship between the prospective physics teacher's knowledge base and program practices will be reviewed.
Content, Procedural, Curricular, and Pedagogical Knowledge: Though it would be ideal for our future physics teachers to learn fundamental content knowledge through inquiry practices, much of our introductory physics content course work is still of the lecture-note-test format with laboratory experiences designed to confirm the facts encountered in lecture. However, efforts are now beginning to change the introductory sequence of Physics for Science and Engineering I - III into more inquiry-based courses. These revisions are being driven by both university and departmental policy in relation to general scientific literacy. Inquiry teaching and problem-based learning practices are modeled in the physics methods course and prospective physics teachers therefore experience these activities. They are then required to prepare and present lessons using these strategies. For instance, the methods course instructor conducts two hour-long inquiry lessons dealing with buoyancy -- a subject our majors do not generally encounter as part of their regular course content -- in which the prospective physics teachers fully participate as students. Following this modeling experience, the students prepare and present two inquiry lessons dealing with a subject related to their unit plan. Students are videotaped during teaching, and interviewed in both pre- and post-conferences using the procedures of clinical supervision that place a heavy emphasis on the value of reflection. Teaching performance is assessed using a student-created grading rubric. As part of the methods course's clinical experiences, students are required to draw distinction between inquiry teaching modeled in an area high school and expository teaching modeled in a similar course taught at the university. Actual teaching skills are assessed against performance-based standards. Students address important educational issues in their physics methods course, including the issue of depth versus breadth of content coverage. Knowledge and skills are both pre-assessed and post-assessed using a 144-point checklist of objectives as part of the physics methods course providing feedback for program assessment and improvement.
Scientific Literacy: The University and the Physics Department are moving toward the teaching for general scientific literacy as a matter of policy. A new undergraduate general education program (see Appendix 4) has been adopted, and teaching by inquiry is being introduced into two physics service courses that deal with basic phenomenology. As part of the discussion on scientific literacy, students enrolled in the physics methods course encounter several standards. Using information from the standards and after discussing what is truly worth knowing relative to civic and cultural affairs, prospective physics teachers are required to cooperatively prepare and administer a test of general scientific literacy to non-science students enrolled in the physics department's general education courses. Findings are shared in a follow-up class meeting.
Understanding Students: As part of a problem-based learning experience in the physics methods course, students are required to find and relate information about student learning styles. This information is integrated into the unit plan that students must create as part of the physics methods course. As part of the unit plan the prospective physics teacher much demonstrate the ability to integrate this information into course content, teaching strategies, and assessment. In another part of the unit plan, students are required to take into consideration special student needs. This includes physical disabilities and limited English proficiency. In addition, a number of clinical experiences deal with coming to understand students. For instance, prospective physics teachers are required to observe a typical student during the course of one class period. In one student teaching experience the student teacher is required to shadow an "at risk" student for a full day, making salient observations. Pre-student teachers must work with students one-on-one during tutoring sessions. These activities calls for reflective journaling.
Learning Atmosphere: Due consideration is given to learning atmosphere in the physics methods course. Students learn about individualized, competitive, and cooperative atmospheres. Cooperative and collaborative learning practices are used whenever possible in teaching the course. This includes model lessons in inquiry and problem-based learning, preparation of microteaching lessons, and the creation of grading rubrics. However, due to the importance of individual summative and formative assessments, a significant amount of work and grading is on a non-competitive individualized basis. Students learn about individualized, competitive, and cooperative atmospheres in their physics methods course. During pre-student teaching clinical experiences prospective physics teachers attempt to ascertain the nature of the learning atmosphere in a give classroom.
Assessment, Self-Assessment, and Reflective Practice: In the physics methods course students and instructor cooperate to create rubrics and use them in peer, self, and teacher assessments. Rubrics are used to assess practice and provide feedback on four microteaching experiences, a unit plan and, ultimately, a professional teaching portfolio. In addition, students are asked to prepare a written reflection on their microteaching experiences as part of a follow-up interview. Thirty-five clock hours of clinical experiences also call for repeated self-assessment and reflective journaling. Students take eight semester hours of student teaching. Grades are assigned in two 4-semester-hour units. The first unit relates to summative assessment of classroom practice, and the second unit relates to summative assessment of a professional teaching portfolio created during the student teaching practicum. Students assist the university supervisor in the preparation of a grading rubric for the assessment of the professional teaching portfolio. Performance-based standards are used to assess teaching practice. In addition, a written weekly reflection must be shared with the cooperating teacher and submitted to the university supervisor as part of the documentation of the student teaching experience. As mentioned above, students in the physics methods course are required to complete a 144-point pre- and post- self assessment of knowledge and skills aligned with the program objectives.
Educational Technology: Physics teacher education majors are immersed in the technology of both science and instruction during their course of study. Much of the physics course work is conducted in "high technology" classrooms outfitted with the latest in instructional media. Physics teaching technology is used extensively in the preservice curriculum, and students are provided numerous opportunities to both known and understand the use of these media. The physics teacher education curriculum is replete with computational projects, and students use "Mallard" to take quizzes in some of their course work. In physics classes prospective physics teachers see technology related to physics teaching demonstrated; in labs and in the methods courses the students are actively learning through the use of technology.
Ethical Standards for Secondary Teachers: Our prospective physics teachers are expected to abide by a code of professional ethical conduct. In the physics methods course the students are actively engaged in a discussion of ethical standards prepared for secondary teachers by Chico State College and by the Texas Education Agency. Efforts are now under way to include the National Academy of Science's ethical standards for scientists in the undergraduate curriculum for all physics students. In a more positive light, physics teacher education majors are introduced to standards for exemplary performance established by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, the Association for Teacher Educators, and NSTA.
Carl J. Wenning is an unranked administrative/professional staff member of the Department of Physics. His job title is Teacher Training Specialist and Planetarium Director. In his capacity as Teacher Training Specialist he serves as director of the Physics Teacher Education program at Illinois State University. This includes the teaching of two required Physics Teacher Education courses (PHY 301 and 302), advisement of all majors in the physics teacher education sequence, and supervision of both clinical and student teaching experiences. In addition, he oversees the day-to-day operations of the Illinois State University Planetarium where he maintains a working staff of three paid student workers.
Mr. Wenning is a validly certified high school teacher (physics and mathematics) with experience in both high school and university teaching. He has taught physics and astronomy at the university level for 20 years. Recently (1994-95) he taught a full academic year of physics at the high school level. Even more recently (1997) , Mr. Wenning has worked extensively with the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA) on creative science curriculum projects.
Currently, Wenning is enrolled as a doctoral student at Illinois State University in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. His concentration deals with the preparation of secondary science teachers -- the topic of his dissertation proposal. He anticipates graduating with an Ed.D. in 1999. Mr. Wenning's academic vita can be found in Appendix 6.
Ten students have graduated from the Illinois State University Physics Teacher Education Program during the past three academic years. This makes the Illinois State University program one of the most prolific physics teacher education programs in the state of Illinois.
1994 - 1995 -- Donald Morris, Philip Winter (2)
1995 - 1996 -- Brian Elmer, Christopher Erickson, Chad Hager, Hans Muehsler (4)
1996 - 1997 -- John Bergmann, Kevin Boyer, Stephan Crownson, Joseph Mika (4)