9812547 Gonzales The results of the physics test of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study for the school leaving population showed that the US students performed quite poorly compared to their peers in other countries. A few explanations have been put forward for this unhappy result. Much of the teaching (and learning) of physics at the high school (and college) level has been traditional memorizing algorithms and formulae. Over the last few years the NSF has funded the development of instructional materials that require students to understand the concepts rather than memorize formulae. ESIE has also funded the projects that provide professional development for teachers to teach using modeling and development of concepts. This proposal is to test students who are learning from NSF developed materials or are being taught by teachers who took selected NSF-funded professional development, using the same instruments that were used by TIMSS. This proposal provides an evaluation of the newer methods of teaching and learning physics to inform the physics teaching community
