In this four-year project the Activity-Based Physics (ABP) Group will help teachers and their students learn to engage in authentic inquiry by:
1) Developing a series of Professional Development Institutes at Dickinson College and the University of Oregon to give 120 secondary school educators in physics 160 hours of direct experience using and integrating computer technology with inquiry-based professional development materials developed by members of the Group. These Institutes will enable teachers to improve and critically evaluate their own teaching practices and serve as change agents for science and mathematics teachers in their regions.
2) Creating teacher materials including a Teacher Resource Guide and an Action Research Kit to support teachers in the successful adaptation and critical evaluation of the impact of computer-enhanced, activity-based curricula in their own classroom settings.
3) Evaluating the success of the professional development institutes, teacher materials, and educational materials so the principles that underlie the design of professional development materials and teacher institutes can be used by others engaged in the standards-based reform of science and mathematics teaching.
The creation of the materials and Computer Tools to be used in the Institutes has been guided by the outcomes of physics education research and include Tools for Scientific Thinking Laboratory Guides, RealTime Physics Laboratory Modules, Workshop Physics, Workshop Science, and an Interactive Lecture Demonstration Series.
The matching funds amount to 19% of the NSF award.
