Inquiry-Based Physics Lab Using Pre-Service Teachers as PeerInstructors

一个以微电脑为基础的实验室正被用来在普通物理课程中引入以探究为基础的课程。这门课程的学生大约一半是理科专业的，一半是中等教育专业的。虽然该项目的动机之一是通过使用和调整经过良好测试的车间物理课程来提高所有学生对基础物理的理解，但课程中特别关注职前中学教师。这一重点包括让普通物理序列的“校友”在车间物理课程和为非专业设计的概念物理课程中担任同伴讲师。这是通过物理和中等教育教师共同努力来实现的，这将要求中等教育学生有教学经验作为实习，这将计入他们的教育学位。目标是进一步提高这些未来科学教师对物理的理解，并在探究性物理课程中给予他们一些实践经验。

A microcomputer-based laboratory is being used to introduce an inquiry-based curriculum into the general physics sequence. The student population of the course is approximately half science majors and half secondary education majors. While one of the motivations for the project is to improve the all of the students' understanding of basic physics by using and adapting the well tested Workshop Physics curriculum, there is a particular focus on the pre-service secondary teachers in the course. This focus consists of having "alumni" of the general physics sequence return as peer instructors in both the workshop physics course and the conceptual physics course designed for non-majors. This is being done by having the physics and secondary education faculty work together to effect program changes that would require the secondary education students to have this teaching experience as an internship that would count towards their degree in education. The goals are to further improve the understanding of physics of these science teachers-to-be and to give them some practical experience with an inquiry-based physics curriculum.