WebSights features
reviews of select sites presenting physics teaching strategies and resources,
as well as shorter announcements of sites of interest to physics teachers. All
sites are copyright by their authors. This column is available as a web page at
<http://PhysicsEd.BuffaloState.Edu/pubs/WebSights/>.
If you have successfully used a site to teach physics that
you feel is outstanding and appropriate for WebSights, please email me the URL and describe how you use it
to teach. The best site monthly will receive a T-shirt. <macisadl@buffalostate.edu>
Summer course
opportunities for Physics Teachers
I recently received a
commentary from Sal Tatto of Fox Lane HS Physics discussing the role that
attending summer physics courses for teachers has played in his early
professional development. He
suggested this list of a number of summer courses for physics teachers.
Most notably, the Modeling
Physics network will offer about eighteen modeling workshops for physics
teachers nationwide this summer 2007; most of these are intensive full time
daylong courses of two or three week duration and carry graduate credit. Some offer financial support for
attendees. A complete list of
modeling courses and sponsoring colleges and universities is found at <http://modeling.asu.edu/>
under the title Opportunities for Professional Growth. Tatto
writes of his personal growth after two summers at the Buffalo State modeling
courses at <http://tinyurl.com/3ab327>.
The physics departments of
many college and universities famous for teacher preparation or for physics
outreach offer summer workshops, courses and institutes for teachers, including
the following representative examples with up to date web pages available as of
late March:
Arizona State University: <http://modeling.asu.edu> -- the national
modeling physics headquarters, offering four modeling workshops and graduate
summer courses for their Masters of Natural Science (MNS) degree for teachers.
Ball State University: <http://www.bsu.edu/physics/summer/>
-- both one week and more traditional courses; see especially Teacher
Updating and Retraining Workshop Courses, including AP workshops.
Cornell University: <http://www.cns.cornell.edu/cipt/> -- the Cornell Institute for Physics
Teachers (CIPT)
Montana State University: <http://scienceteacher.org/sum07.htm>
-- live summer courses in Bozeman MT; part of the famous year round and
online NTEN / NSTA collection of professional development courses for
inservice teachers
Princeton University: <http://science-education.pppl.gov/SummerInst/>
-- one week Plasma Physics and Fusion Energy Institute for HS Physics
Teachers
SUNY-Buffalo State College: <http://physicsed.buffalostate.edu/programs/>
-- summer courses for teachers, including an online + summer M.S.Ed. program
for HS physics teachers.
University of Virginia: <http://galileo.phys.virginia.edu/outreach/ProfessionalDevelopment/summer-program.html> various summer courses for teachers, including
an online M.A.T. program for physics teachers.
University of Washington: <http://www.phys.washington.edu/groups/peg/2007institute.html> -- the NSF Summer Institute in
Physics and Physical Science for Inservice Teachers
A unique program Tatto
points out is the weeklong Einstein Plus International Teachers' Workshop
on Modern Physics in Waterloo,
Ontario Canada conducted by the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
<www.einsteinplus.ca>. All expenses save transport to Toronto
are paid for non-Canadian applicants.
Vernier Software also maintains web pages for independent and corporate workshops for
physics teachers at <http://www.vernier.com/workshop/independent.html>. PASCO does the same at <http://www.pasco.com/training/>.
More online calculus
based physics video lectures
Frank Nochese of John Jay HS physics suggests the
following calculus-based physics video lectures by Walter Lewin of MIT:
Physics 1: Mechanics <http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Physics/8-01Physics-IFall1999/CourseHome/>
Physics 2: E&M
<http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Physics/8-02Electricity-and-MagnetismSpring2002/CourseHome/>
Physics 3: Waves <http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Physics/8-03Fall-2004/CourseHome/>