Energizing Physics Teachers for the Twenty-First Century

教育学院和奥本大学工程学院(AU)建议制定一个全面的四部分计划，以加强K-12级别的物理科学教育。这项工作是基于非盟两位首席研究人员新开发的一门名为“教师工程物理”的课程。该课程旨在通过使用量纲分析、适当的图表、逻辑推理和团队合作来解决问题，使教师做好准备，以达到国家科学标准。能源课程的主题取自阿拉巴马州教育部制定的1995年的“阿拉巴马州课程：科学”。问题、示范和项目使用与能源相关的技术，公众可以与之相关。该项目的四项工作是：(1)改进和改进现有课程，(2)利用与阿拉巴马大学伯明翰分校的实时视频链接，将目标受众扩大到伯明翰的未来教师和实习教师，(3)以印刷品和光盘的形式编制配套材料，(4)将课程中开发的资源纳入“运动中的科学”VAN计划，这是一项成功的全州范围内的K-12外联活动。这项改革的目的是：(1)向教师提供最新技术的信息，以便他们能够在课堂上描述21世纪的科学，特别是家庭和汽车的能源使用；(2)将物理、数学和工程与教学方法相结合；(3)通过涉及能源和工程概念的项目提高对科学的兴趣；以及(4)为教师提供系统的量化解决问题的方法。项目任务的实施将使阿拉巴马州的职前和在职科学教师受益。

The College of Education and the College of Engineering at Auburn University (AU) propose to develop a comprehensive four part program to enhance physical science education at the K-12 level. The effort is based on a course entitled "Engineering Physics for Teachers" newly developed by the two principal investigators at AU. The course is designed to prepare teachers to meet national science standards via problem solving using dimensional analysis, appropriate graphing, logical reasoning and teamwork. The course theme of energy is taken from the 1995 "Alabama Course of Study: Science" developed by the State of Alabama Department of Education. Problems, demonstrations, and projects use energy-related technologies to which the general public can relate. The four efforts of this project are: (1) to refine and improve the existing course, (2) to expand the target audience to future and practicing teachers in Birmingham using real time video link with the University of Alabama at Birmingham, (3) to develop accompanying resource materials in the form of printed matter and CD-ROM, (4) to incorporate and integrate resources developed in the course into the "Science in Motion" van program, a successful state-wide K-12 outreach effort. The reform is aimed at: (1) providing teachers with information on state-of-the-art technologies so they can describe 21st century science in their classrooms, with special emphasis on energy usages in homes and automobiles, (2) integrating physics, mathematics and engineering with methods of teaching, (3) enhancing interest in science through projects that involve energy and engineering concepts, and (4) providing teachers with a systematic approach to quantitative problem solving. Implementation of the project tasks will benefit both pre-service and in-service science teachers throughout the state of Alabama.