Alma Robinson, Virginia Tech

During the 2016-2017 academic year, the Teacher Preparation Section has featured articles presenting programs and activities that have been successful in recruiting and training pre-service physics teachers without the assistance of PhysTEC funding. We conclude this theme with two final articles in this issue from Stony Brook University and Ithaca College.

In the United States, most institutions graduate less than two physics teachers a year, so PhysTEC recognizes the achievements of institutions that graduate five or more physics teachers in one year with the 5+ Club Award. Keith Sheppard, Robert McCarthy, Angela Kelly, and Axel Drees explain how Stony Brook University’s 6 ‘C’ Model (Content Rich, Clinically Rich, Context Rich, Continually Rich, Champion Rich, and Capacity Rich) for physics teacher preparation has been integral in their winning a PhysTEC 5+ Club Award for the past three years.

Michael “Bodhi” Rogers describes how Ithaca College’s science teacher certification program has grown substantially with the development of their Master of Arts in Teaching (M.A.T.) program and Robert Noyce Teaching Scholarship grant. In parallel with this growth, Ithaca has created new science education graduate courses, employed retired teachers in residence, and collaborated with regional institutions that do not offer a graduate teaching certification.

(Endnotes)

¹ David E. Meltzer, Monica Plisch, and Stamatis Vokos, editors, Transforming the Preparation of Physics Teachers: A Call to Action. A Report by the Task Force on Teacher Education in Physics (T-TEP) (American Physical Society, College Park, MD, 2012).

² http://www.phystec.org/the5plus/

Disclaimer – The articles and opinion pieces found in this issue of the APS Forum on Education Newsletter are not peer refereed and represent solely the views of the authors and not necessarily the views of the APS.