Physics Courseware Evaluation Project: Courseware Evaluationand PCEP Teacher Institute

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The goal of the program is to enhance the effectiveness of high school physics teachers in their use of the computer in the classroom and laboratory both for instruction and computation. This will be accomplished via two distinct but inter-related activities: * The evaluation of physics software for the use of all physics teachers. * A Teacher Institute for empowering leadership teachers to use the software and achieve full utilization of computers in the teaching of physics. The software evaluation component will provide independent , timely, reliable and comprehensive guides to currently available courseware for high school physics teachers. These reviews will be disseminated by publication in The Physics Teacher and by contributed presentations and workshops given locally and nationally. The institute will provide intensive hands-on activity in the use of the latest Microcomputer Based Laboratory(MBL) interfaces, spreadsheets and sample exercises, and courseware materials for classroom demonstrations and student assignments. Each summer two sessions will be organized with 12 leadership teachers in each. The sessions will be of three weeks duration at the Physics Courseware Laboratory of North Carolina State University. During the following year staff members will make two follow-up visits to the teachers high schools and the following summer the teachers will return to NCSU for two weeks of review and assessment. A total of 48 nationally selected high school teachers will be able to participate in this three year project. During the first and second academic years the leadership teachers will be expected to conduct a total of 4 workshops and to give at least one presentation at a professional meeting on the utility of computers to teach physics. It is expected that a total of about 2000 teachers will receive information about the utility of computers in physics instruction. Cost sharing is equal to 17% of NSF funding requested.