Southern California Area Modern Physics Institute (SCAMPI)

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Fifty physics teachers in the Southern California area will participate in a two-year Institute (1989-91) aimed at improving their content background in modern physics and their teaching skills in general. School districts with high minority representation will be the primary target population in recruiting participants. The main thrust of the Institute will be in modern physics which is generally the area in which teacher backgrounds are weakest. The first summer will focus on electricity and magnetism (E&M) and optics with applications to modern physics. The second summer will focus on relativity, quantum theory, atomic and nuclear physics and special topics. Ten of the participants will be experienced mentor teachers who will act as coaches by providing support and guidance for teams of four less experienced "crossover" teachers. Activities during each of the four-week summer institutes held at Cal State Fullerton will include content updating, laboratory experience, lesson preparation, discussion of pedagogical techniques and problem-solving practice. Content enhancement will be facilitated by use of "The Mechanical Universe". Lectures by project directors, coaches and visiting speakers will present participants with alternative teaching styles and different techniques for teaching physics. Laboratory experiences will aim at maximizing hands-on opportunity by having participants perform the experiments. A group of on-site high school physics students will provide practice sessions for the participants during the duration of the summer institute. During the academic year, follow-up activities will include use of interactive television for monthly video-conference meetings, three Topical Conferences (scheduled on weekend) on current issues in modern physics and site visits by coaches and project directors. Finally, as part of the follow-up agenda, each participant will receive visitations from coaches and project directors for observation in their own classrooms. Several dissemination strategies are planned. These include: opening the topical conferences to twice as many participants, requiring them to make presentations to their colleagues about the program, establishing a communications network of Southern California physics teachers under the auspices of the Orange and Los Angeles County Boards of Education, and having a system-wide conference of the 19 campuses of the California State University to discuss the project. Project evaluation will be performed by Far West Laboratory for Educational Research and Development on a continuous basis during the project. Cost-sharing is approximately 34% of the National Science Foundation request.