Working Towards a Coordinated Effort in Science

A TIME FOR PHYS I CS FI RS T AC A DEMY FOR TE A CHERS - INQU I RY A ND MODEL I NG EXPER I ENCES FOR PHYS I CS FI RS T For 9th grade science teachers NEWSLETTER: Vol 1, No. 2, August 2007 CON te N T S PHYS I CS FI RS T DUR I NG Physics First during the Academic Year��1 T H E C A D emi C ea R Spend June with Physics First ��2 A Y The Star Farm ��3 Sara Torres, Columbia Public Schools End-of-Course Assessments ��4 Notebooking ��5 Working Towards a Coordinated Effort in Science and Math he 2007 Physics First Summer Academy was a Education ��6 Twonderful learning opportunity by all who partici- Physics First - The Second Time Around��7 pated. During the academy, 50 teachers returned for A Special Visit by a Physics First Pioneer ��8 year 2, 22 protégés attended the academy for 4 weeks, From Math Teacher to Physics Protégé ��9 12 math teachers attended one week, and 14 adminis- Melissa Reed, Webb City R-7 ��9 trators attended two days. In addition, Dr. Leon Leder- Physics First Participation Yields Gains for Teachers and Stu- man, Physics Nobel Prize Winner, visited the academy dents ��9 and spoke to the participants on June 11th about the Brain Benders ��10 Physics First movement. Physics First is Electric ��10 What is A TIME for Physics First? �� 11 When the administrators attended the academy, we discussed a variety of things to help support your ninth grade physics teachers. Here is a recap of our discussion: • The teachers should teach a minimum of one section of a year-long physics course using the A TIME for PHYS I CS FI RS T curriculum. In addition, they need to complete the pre- and post-test for each unit and turn in the data to the evaluators. ͂ If teachers do not turn in the assessments as stat- ed on the commitment form, the Project Director of the grant will notify the teacher and the princi- Partnership can even make a vegetable battery work pal and consequences will be discussed. ͂ Each school will support their teacher(s) in lesson • Teachers will be involved in a Professional Learning study by covering substitute costs for teacher(s) Team (PLT) and complete a lesson study. to observe each other and discuss student learning (minimum 1 day per teacher). ͂ The PLT should meet 20 hours outside contracted time. Minutes of the meetings will be sent to the • Coach-Mentors will be visiting each participant ev- Coach-Mentor and the Project Director for verifi- ery month. The Coach-Mentor will also be available cation. to visit with you as desired. ͂ The grant does not reimburse teachers for mileage Besides attending the academy, administrators if they need to travel to the PLT meeting; however, are invited to attend the regional follow-up sessions participating schools can reimburse the teachers throughout the year. Mark your calendars for Decem- for their mileage. ber 1st (snow date Dec. 8th ) and April 12th. [ www.physicsfirstmo.org page 1 Spe ND JUN E W it H PHYS I CS FI RS T Sarah Hill, University of Missouri, Columbia he recent Physics First academy in June was a Volkmann (MU), as well as time specifically focused Tsuccess for the 50 returning science teachers, 22 on Modeling and Inquiry pedagogies, which were in- science teacher Protégés, 15 math teachers, 16 admin- tegrated within the curriculum. istrators and 9 Coach Mentors in attendance. At pres- Fifteen math teachers from participating districts ent, there are 29 Missouri districts and 2 non-public attended the academy for a week from June 11-15, sit- schools participating in the Physics First program. ting in on Physics First content time as well as meeting Fifty of the science teachers were returning for with each other, their science teacher colleagues and their second year. They met daily from June 11-29 for Prof. James Tarr (MU) to foster collaboration upon content instruction from two teaching teams. Con- returning to their respective classrooms. tent in the Year 2 classrooms consisted of Units 5-9 Participating district of the PF curriculum, administrators were invit- including Free Fall and ed to attend the academy 2-D Motion, Energy, for a 2-day period. Their Momentum, Planetary agenda included program Motion and Electrical updates and discussion, a Circuits. vendor exhibit and time to Twenty-two science get acquainted with each teachers from 14 dis- other as well as collabo- tricts signed on to at- rate with their teachers. tend the Academy for Coach Mentors at- the first time, making up tended the academy with the Protégé class. They their mentees. This year started a week earlier the group increased to than the Year 2 group nine with the addition of and studied Units 1-5 Calene Cooper, formerly and 9 of the PF curricu- a science teacher in Co- lum; Uniform Motion, lumbia Public Schools. Accelerated Motion, Ms Cooper attended the Introduction of Forces, Protégé academy for the Newton’s Laws and Free 4-week period. She will be Fall & 2D Motion, and working with teachers in Electrical Circuits. north-central Missouri. Classes were held In this issue of the on the MU campus and Physics First newsletter, team taught by a faculty photo montage courtesy Glenn Owens you will hear more about instructor paired with a peer teacher. The Year 2 the 2007 Academy from Project Director Sara Torres, instructor teams were Profs. Meera Chandrasekhar Coach Mentor Glenn Owens, science teacher partici- (MU) and Dennis Nickelson ( William Woods Univ.) pants John Dedrick, Brian Foster and Laura Zinszer, and Prof. Dorina Kosztin (MU) with Mr. Gabe de la Paz Protégé Melissa Reed and MU Math Ed professor (Clayton Schools). Protégés were team-taught by Prof. James Tarr. A very special guest speaker, Prof. Leon Mani Manivannan (MSU) and Mr. Jim Roble (Fran- Lederman, visited the academy and we report on his cis Howell Schools). Daily schedules included Profes- speech and connection to this program elsewhere in sional Learning Team (PLT) time coordinated by Ms. this newsletter. [ Sara Torres (Columbia Public Schools) and Prof. Mark page 2 www.physicsfirstmo.org TH E Sta R FA R M Brian Foster, Mehlville Senior High School, St. Louis n June 25, the Physics First participants had an was an excellent opportunity to do so. The moon was Oopportunity to take a “field trip” to view the night in its waxing gibbous phase; our astronomy instruction sky at a local farm. Many of us were quite anxious for had taught us new terminology – this simply means this trip, as the always-reliable Missouri weather had that over half of the moon is lit, and the lit amount is caused significant disruption in our astronomy plans still increasing. The binoculars really came into their up until that point! Luckily, we arrived that evening to own for this observation; it was extremely easy to iden- find the weather was fine and the visibility was excel- tify various craters and features on the moon using a lent. “moon map” that the CMAA had distributed earlier. In addition to many brand-new amateur astrono- As the night grew darker, more and more fea- mers from the Physics First program, several mem- tures of the night sky became visible. Once it was dark bers of the Central Missouri Astronomical Association enough, we were given a “guided tour” of the visible (CMAA) were present to guide us. The CMAA crew not objects. I was able to see more constellations than on only brought their considerable expertise, but some a usual night – especially with the lack of city lights. amazing telescopes. We were quickly awed by close-up Ironically, the wonderfully visible moon made it more visions of various planets, including some impressive difficult to see some of the stars due to its reflected views of Saturn and Jupiter. light, but overall the stars were still very plentiful. In addition to the telescopes, the farm seemed to With the equipment and expertise at hand – not have yielded a crop of tripod-mounted binoculars, as to mention the viewing site – we were able to see the the Physics First participants were provided tripods celestial features we had discussed in class and more. and binoculars to enhance the astronomy unit. To our Our field trip gave us a solid, hands-on introduction to pleasure, we found that these binoculars gave excellent astronomy. [ views of the planets – the more eagle-eyed amongst us spotted Saturn’s “ears” (the bulge from its rings) and Editor’s Note: We thank Randall Durk, Val Germann, three of Jupiter’s moons! Ralph Dumas and Lanika Ruzhitskaya of the CMAA At least one of those present was determined to for arranging the trip to the farm and the visits to the catch up on his moon observations for class, and this Laws Observatory at MU’s Physics Department. Physics First participants set up their binoculars at a farm east of Columbia www.physicsfirstmo.org page 3 END -OF -COURS E ASS E SS me N T S John Dedrick, Winnetonka High School, North Kansas City cience education is evolving in the state of Mis- 08 MAP Test is March 31-April 25. Beginning no later Ssouri. Those students who graduate in 2010 are than spring 2009, students completing Biology I (or required to complete three units of science for gradua- its equivalent) will be administered the Biology I EOC tion, and the process of developing new “end-of-course assessment.

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