1 Masters Paper Physics 690 March 12 2005 Chris Olszewski Conceptual Change of Good Teaching via Alternate Teacher Certification Program A Personal Case Study ABSTRACT The author describes changes to his concepts of good teaching as a result of his participation in an alternate teacher certification program for high school physics teachers at SUNY Buffalo State College The author s perspective is that of a career changing professional but is unusual in that he already has his doctorate in physics Many changes to his conceptions of good learning and good instruction are presented key elements are an appreciation for the value of different kinds of physical knowledge that can be made available to students e g kinesthetic the beneficial effects of student discourse and the uses of open ended and unstructured laboratory activities These and other changes arise from the student like experiences and related reflections on learning and teaching during the program s summer academy courses 2 I Introduction One view of teaching is that of changing the conceptions or thinking of the students Hewson P W Hewson M G A B 1988 Yip D Y 2001 Koballo T Jr Graber W et al 2000 Trigwell K 1996 Similarly the development of the thinking of beginning teachers may also be described as changing their conceptions of what constitutes good teaching Hewson Hewson 1988 Yip 2001 Trigwell 1996 Lingbiao G Watkins D 2001 Koballa T R Glynn S M et al 2005 As a participant in SUNY Buffalo State College s alternate teacher certification program for high school physics teachers MacIsaac D Zawicki J et al 2004 my conceptions of good physics teaching have undergone changes more revolutionary than evolutionary 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 This paper is presented as a personal case study on teacher conceptual change of good physics learning and teaching and the program elements that brought about these changes Case studies constitute a valid component of teaching research which illustrate the development thinking and environment of actual people Lingbiao Watkins 2001 Koballa Glynn et al 2005 Yip 2001 That an author presents himself as a case study is unusual but on the other hand so is my perspective This paper is intended as a contribution to education research on alternate teacher certification programs II Motivation and Uses The 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 and one place that 3 these teachers could be drawn from is from the ranks of industrial researchers and engineers working for shrinking companies Abd El Khalick F 2003 Wenning C J 2005 This information could help prepare them for possible changes to their conceptions of good teaching Those who develop and coordinate alternate teacher certification programs This paper presents a case study perspective describing which elements of such a program was effective in promoting conceptual change Those who study alternate teacher preparation programs This information could be used to help refine future investigations III Methodology This paper presents and analyzes conceptual changes and so reports both previous and present conceptions of good teaching Information regarding changes to my conceptions of good physics teaching was specifically recorded in class notes and class assignments during the summer academy courses of the alternate certification program Some information also comes from my descriptions of observations I made of actual physics teachers and students Although this case study is necessarily somewhat subjective I try to use my training as a scientist to record observations carefully Some descriptions of my prior conceptions arose in contrast to my current understanding of good science teaching IV Initial Participation in Alternate Teacher Certification Program To be able to evaluate changes in my conceptions of good teaching it is necessary to know my conceptions before I participated in the alternate teacher certification program These preconceptions are in part formed by my educational and professional backgrounds so these 4 backgrounds are described here In addition comparisons are drawn between me and other participants in the program so that the wider applicability of my comments may be judged A Personal Background My background is somewhat rare for teaching at the high school level although not unique I received my doctorate in physics about 20 years ago at the University of Illinois and thereafter took a systems engineering applied research position at Bell Labs in New Jersey I continued my career in this field for about twenty years until the small start up company where I worked failed At that point for a variety of personal and professional reasons I decided to go into teaching at the secondary level I had no intention of teaching when I first began my professional career however several formal and informal teaching opportunities I made use of convinced me that I would find teaching extremely satisfying From these teaching experiences I also determined that I would find teaching high school students the most personally rewarding I then decided to pursue a career as a teacher and enrolled in the alternate teacher certification program at SUNY Buffalo State College MacIsaac Zawicki et al 2004 With my extensive physics background I did not believe that I needed to complete a four year program to become a certified physics teacher or would find that a wise use of my time Comments from participants in such programs have largely reinforced my decision B Initial Preconceptions of Good Teaching When I decided to enroll in the alternate teacher certification program I admit to having several prejudices about the program and many preconceived notions regarding good teaching My incoming prejudices were 5 I believed that I had more than adequate subject matter mastery I had studied physics as an undergrad and as a graduate student with about 60 undergrad hours and about 20 graduate credits Additionally I had done research for my doctoral degree I believed I did not need to learn more physics merely better ways to teach physics I expected only a small amount of incremental learning in the alternate
View Full Document
Unlocking...