Physics Teacher Education Coalition (PhysTEC)

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There is a National need to develop better-trained and educated physics and science teachers. The PhysTEC project is an effort of the APS, AIP, and AAPT, to improve teacher preparation within physics departments at a set of selected Primary Program Institutions (PPIs). The project PI's will work with six PPIs to produce a change in the way courses for pre-service teachers are taught at the university level and, by leveraging the clout and influence of professional associations, bridges will be built between physics and education departments on these campuses and eventually across the country. The efforts of this proposal are an important opportunity to make significant changes in the way teacher are taught and encouraged to continue with science education. The proposal will involve both content-people and methods-people in cooperatively attacking problems encountered in the various institutions and would give attention to what has often been overlooked in science education. The proposal will deal with structuring the training of prospective teachers in ways that integrate content knowledge and pedagogy. Also important are the mechanisms by which science faculty and school of education faculty can collaborate toward educating, encouraging and mentoring prospective science teachers for the future.