1. Introduction2. Motivation and Uses3. Methodology4. Initial Participation in Alternate Teacher Certification ProgramA. Personal BackgroundB. Preconceived Ideas of Good TeachingC. Similarity to Other Participants5. Alternate Teacher Certification Program6. Significant Changes in My Understanding of Good Physics TeachingA. Different Kinds of KnowledgeB. Student Discourse and VerbalizationC. Open-Ended and Unstructured Laboratory Activities7. Program Elements Fostering Conceptual ChangeA. Student-Mode ExperiencesB. Pedagogical Content KnowledgeC. ReflectionD. Reformed Teacher Observation ProtocolE. Student Discourse and WhiteboardingF. Physics Education Research SeminarG. Education CoursesH. Field Work / Substitute Teaching8. Conclusion9. Acknowledgements10. Biography1. Goal/subject of instructionA. Subject of ScienceB. Encouragement of Thinking2. Student ThinkingA. Progression of KnowledgeB. Construction of Knowledge3. Student Engagement and ActivitiesA. Engagement of Student AttentionB. Different Types of KnowledgeC. Student Verbalization & Explanations4. Elements of LearningA. Process of Science / LearningB. Important Elements to Learning5. Examples and LabsA. Realistic ExamplesB. Lab Activities6. Technology of TeachingA. Introduction of TechnologyB. Process of Science / Content7. Good Processes and Practices1PERSONAL REFLECTIONS ON GOOD PHYSICS TEACHING ALONG A ROAD LESS TRAVELED: A PH.D. PHYSICIST’S ALTERNATIVE ROUTE TO TEACHING HIGH SCHOOL PHYSICSCHRISTOPHER OLSZEWSKISUNY – Buffalo State College, 1300 Elmwood Ave., Buffalo, NY [email protected] this paper, I describe changes to my ideas of good teaching as a result of my participation in an alternate teacher certification program for high school physics teachers at the State University of New York (SUNY) - Buffalo State College. Myperspective is that of a career-changing professional after 20 years in the telecommunications industry, but is unusual in that I already have my doctorate inphysics. My initial ideas of good teaching were fairly traditional and based on my own experiences as a student, but my ideas of good teaching were changed radically by my participation in the alternative certification program. The heart of the program is a summer academy suite of modeling courses and has additional components of an introduction to physics education research, educational courses,and field work. Key elements of my current ideas of good physics teaching are to provide different kinds of knowledge about a topic to students (e.g., kinesthetic, visual, mathematical, etc.); to encourage students to verbalize their thinking; and to employ open-ended and unstructured laboratory activities. These and other changes to my conceptions can be traced to the themes of the program which include student-mode experiences, extensive exposure to pedagogical content knowledge, a marked student-centric emphasis, strong promotion of student2discourse and whiteboarding, and related guided reflections on learning and teaching during the program’s summer academy courses.1. IntroductionOne well-documented and researched representation of learning is that of the conceptual-change model (Hewson, P.W. & Hewson, M.G., 1988; Trigwell, K, 1996; Koballa, T. Jr, Graber, W., Coleman, D.C., & Kemp, A.C., 2000; Yip, D.Y., 2001). In this model, students can change the concepts that they use to make sense of the world: using this model, the goal of teaching is to effect these conceptual changes. Other models of learning exist, such as learning to memorize facts or to gain knowledge (Trigwell, 1996; Koballa, et al., 2000) or learning to solve problems (Trigwell, 1996; Yip, D.Y., 2001). When the conceptual change model is compared to other models of learning, it is usually considered more favorably because of the wider applicability of conceptual knowledge.Teachers’ conceptions of what constitutes good teaching will strongly influence what type of learning they encourage in their students (Trigwell, 1996; Yip, 2001; Lingbiao, G. & Watkins, D., 2001). If a teacher believes that learning science means learning many facts, then that teacher will likely teach facts to the students and will not likely teach in a way that will produce changes in the conceptions of students. To producechanges in what teachers try to teach, it is the teachers’ conceptions of good teaching that need to be changed (Hewson & Hewson, 1988; Trigwell, 1996, Lingbiao & Watson, 2001).As I participated in SUNY-Buffalo State College’s alternate teacher certification program for high school physics teachers (MacIsaac, D., Zawicki, J., Henry, D, Beery, D. & Falconer, K., 2004), my conceptions of good physics teaching underwent radical3changes. My perspective on physics teaching is unusual for a beginning high school physics teacher in that I already hold a doctorate in physics and have had a twenty-year career in telecommunications research and engineering. I held many views of what I thought was good physics teaching, but now most of those ideas have changed. This paper presents a personal journal of a teacher’s conceptual change of good physics teaching and learning. I identify what I believe are the most significant changes to my ideas, and highlight the elements of the alternative certification program that brought about these changes. Although this paper is not a case study, it does represent the development, thinking, and environment of a person with a rare point of view on teachingand learning physics at the high school level. My intention for this paper is provide a different perspective on one alternate teacher certification program.2. Motivation and UsesThe information in this paper could be useful to three groups of people:- Those who will be making use of alternate teacher certification programs. There is a large projected shortage of science and mathematics teachers, andthese teachers could be drawn from the ranks of industrial researchers and engineers working for shrinking companies (Wenning, C.J., 2005). This information could alert them to possible changes to their own ideas of good teaching.- Those who develop and coordinate alternate teacher certification programs. This paper presents a perspective describing which elements of such a program were effective in promoting conceptual change.4- Those who study alternate teacher preparation programs. This information could be used to help refine future investigations.3. MethodologyThis paper presents and
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