A Study Of Thriving Physics Teacher Education Programs

This report presents the results of a study of eight diverse thriving physics teacher education programs, defined as programs at large universities that typically graduate five or more physics teachers in a year. To support other institutions in emulating these successful programs, the study identified common characteristics of such model programs. These characteristics are embodied in a new tool, the Physics Teacher Education Program Analysis (PTEPA) Rubric. The rubric enables characterization of physics teacher education programs and is intended to provide programs with feedback, to guide programs in self-reflection toward improvement, and to provide a means to characterize program growth. This report documents the validation, use, and interpretation of the PTEPA Rubric. Further information about the PTEPA Rubric can be found at http://phystec.org/thriving.

Bridging a gap in the literature by offering a comprehensive look at how STEM teacher education programs evolve over time, this book explores teachHOUSTON, a designer teacher education program that was created to respond to the lack of adequately prepared STEM teachers in Houston and the emerging urban school districts that surround it.

This book focuses on some important aspects of Physics Education: the role of metaphors in Physics teaching and learning, the connections between Physics and Mathematics, the interaction of young children with Physics at the primary level, and recent developments in teacher education in the USA. Contributors present their research related to: • Preparing teachers for TPACK (technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge) and laboratory work. • Developing and evaluating teacher PCK (pedagogical content knowledge) in Quantum Mechanics. • In-service Physics teacher education for early childhood and primary levels. • Pre-service Physics teacher education at all levels. • In-service Physics teacher professional learning for second and higher-level education. Chapters in this book inevitably look into how Physics teacher education is organized in different countries. Suggestions are offered for possible ways of supporting Physics teachers’ learning. An emphasis is made on the much-needed measurements of the effectiveness of different teaching strategies that improve teaching for learning. All this should help professionals, researchers, and pre-service, as well as in-service teachers to get acquainted with the most recent research contributions in the field.

About the book The importance of rubrics, their uses in the classroom, rubrics as an evaluation tool as well as a learning tool, rubric construction and validation, and future options in the development of rubrics are all covered in this book. Rubrics are useful at all stages of education, from elementary school to higher education, and they help to make the assessment process fairer and uniform. The rubric as an assessment tool that can be presented as a simple Rubric [yes/no performance indicators], or as a complex Rubric [descriptive banded performance indicators] since it must be in accordance with the learning outcomes or objectives. Teachers and students in higher education, as well as aspiring teachers, can benefit much from the book.

This book discusses novel research on and practices in the field of physics teaching and learning. It gathers selected high-quality studies that were presented at the GIREP-ICPE-EPEC 2017 conference, which was jointly organised by the International Research Group on Physics Teaching (GIREP); European Physical Society – Physics Education Division, and the Physics Education Commission of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP). The respective chapters address a wide variety of topics and approaches, pursued in various contexts and settings, all of which represent valuable contributions to the field of physics education research. Examples include the design of curricula and strategies to develop student competencies—including knowledge, skills, attitudes and values; workshop approaches to teacher education; and pedagogical strategies used to engage and motivate students. This book shares essential insights into current research on physics education and will be of interest to physics teachers, teacher educators and physics education researchers around the world who are working to combine research and practice in physics teaching and learning.

Assessment by rubrics has emerged as a tool with great potential to guide successful student learning from a competency-based approach. Rubrics, as instruments that make it possible to share the criteria for carrying out learning and assessment tasks with students, are excellent roadmaps for student learning largely because they allow students to know what they are expected to do and what they are expected to achieve by carrying out the learning tasks. Improving Learning Through Assessment Rubrics: Student Awareness of What and How They Learn contributes to the improvement of what is being evaluated by identifying the strengths as well as the weaknesses of the didactic use of rubrics in the assessment of university learning. The book also provides a set of theoretical issues, methodological elements, and practical resources for the assessment of university learning using rubrics. Covering topics such as active learning, self-assessment, and teacher identity, this reference work is ideal for administrators, policymakers, researchers, scholars, academicians, practitioners, educators, and students.

This groundbreaking handbook offers a contemporary and thorough review of research relating directly to the preparation, induction, and career long professional learning of K–12 science teachers. Through critical and concise chapters, this volume provides essential insights into science teacher education that range from their learning as individuals to the programs that cultivate their knowledge and practices. Each chapter is a current review of research that depicts the area, and then points to empirically based conclusions or suggestions for science teacher educators or educational researchers. Issues associated with equity are embedded within each chapter. Drawing on the work of over one hundred contributors from across the globe, this handbook has 35 chapters that cover established, emergent, diverse, and pioneering areas of research, including: Research methods and methodologies in science teacher education, including discussions of the purpose of science teacher education research and equitable perspectives; Formal and informal teacher education programs that span from early childhood educators to the complexity of preparation, to the role of informal settings such as museums; Continuous professional learning of science teachers that supports building cultural responsiveness and teacher leadership; Core topics in science teacher education that focus on teacher knowledge, educative curricula, and working with all students; and Emerging areas in science teacher education such as STEM education, global education, and identity development. This comprehensive, in-depth text will be central to the work of science teacher educators, researchers in the field of science education, and all those who work closely with science teachers.