Powerful Ideas in Physical Science: A Model Course
Editor's note: The following is taken in large part from the Web pages
of the AAPT (http://www.aapt.org). Readers
are referred to this site and connected sites for more information about
this course and about the AAPT itself.
Powerful Ideas is a new and effective teaching tool for
college and university faculty who instruct prospective elementary teachers
and non-science majors in physical science phenomena concepts. The materials
are published in a three ring binder and include instructor materials,
ready-to-copy transparencies, student materials and homework. The student
materials are available in both hard copy and electronic format to facilitate
adoption to your particular teaching situation. This course was developed
by the American Institute of Physics and the American Association of Physics
Teachers under a grant from the National Science Foundation.
Beginning from the premise that students arrive in the classroom with
their own ideas about the physical world, the course allows the learner
to critically examine these conceptions through a set of interesting activities
and experiences. The activities engage students in both individual and
collaborative activities which elicit their own existing conceptions, allow
students to test these ideas against observable events using everyday materials,
and inspire students to decide on more effective explanations or models
when events often do not match predictions based on these original conceptions.
Five units are provided:
- Constructing Your Course
- Light and Color
- Electricity
- Heat and Conservation of Energy
- Nature of Matter
The AAPT is sponsoring Summer Faculty Enhancement workshops on Powerful
Ideas in Physical Science, where faculty can learn more about this model
and collaborate with other colleagues in adapting it to their own course
needs. Although it is too late to apply for the June workshop at Mississippi
State University, interested faculty should watch for announcements of
next summer's workshops, for which funding from NSF is anticipated.
For more information about Powerful Ideas, contact:
Cliff Sheppard
AAPT
One Physics Ellipse
College Park, MD 20740-3845
301-209-3333
csheppar@aapt.org
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