PHYSICS 460 -- Association in teaching Basic Physics
Syllabus
Description
Study of the principles and practice of lecture instruction in physics through association with staff in Physics 101a. The student will attend and critique course lectures; prepare, practice and deliver a lecture; develop a lecture demonstration to be used in his or her lecture; participate in the preparation of examination problems and their evaluation; address student questions in the physics clinic; and write an evaluative final paper. Open to senior physics and astronomy majors.
Involvement in Instruction
LECTURE--during one week you will be intensively involved in the lecture portion of the course as follows:
- prepare and deliver to the Instructors of Physics 101 and the other students in Physics 460 a practice lecture. If this lecture is deemed successful, you will subsequently deliver it in Physics 101.
- design and develop in collaboration with the Physics Instructional Laboratory Assistant a new (or substantially improve an existing) demonstration to be used in your lecture. (Request the list of existing demos from the Laboratory Assistant.)
EXAMS--for each of the 3 exams, each 460 student will be responsible for proposing one test problem. The problem must be presented along with its solution and in fully written-up form on a WORD diskette to facilitate inclusion in the exam if it is selected. If a problem is selected for inclusion, its author will grade it on all student exams.
CLINIC--throughout the semester you will be involved in assisting the students in their work on the assigned exercises in the physics clinic. You should each plan to spend 2 hours in the clinic on Thursday evenings. Although you are likely to be able to do all the problems without difficulty you should work out all solutions in advance anyway to eliminate any glitches. It is also important to use the clinic in a pedagogically useful manner. It is especially important to resist the temptation just to do the problems for the students. To prepare for countering pressure from the students to do this you are assigned to write up, in advance (give to Lyle or Gabe to look over sometime on Thursday), your first response for all even-numbered problems to a student who says to you something like, "I don't get problem 2.48." Gabe and Lyle will stop by occasionally during the clinic.
Paper
The requirements of Physics 460 also include a research cum experience paper on the topic of Teaching Basic Physics. Your research should make use of the books and articles on reading list appended and independent literature research on teaching effective problem solving strategies. This research should be analyzed in the paper in light of your actual experiences in the course. The paper should be approximately 15 pages (double-spaced) in length and include footnotes and a full bibliography.
Reading list
Dear Mary Lynn,
Please order:
"Inquiry and Learning: Realizing Science Standards in the Classroom"
by John W. Layman
Published by the College Board, New York, 1996
$15
(Please let me know when it arrives. It will be put on reserve for Physics 460 in the fall.)
Thanks,
Lyle AUTHOR Arons, A. B. (Arnold B.)
TITLE A guide to introductory physics teaching
PUBLISHER New York : Wiley, c1990.
SUBJECT Physics --Study and teaching.
ISBN 0471513415.
LOCATION CALL NO.
H Stokes QC30 .A76 1990
AUTHOR Tobias, Sheila.
TITLE They're not dumb, they're different : stalking the second tier /
PUBLISHER Tucson, Ariz. : Research Corp., c1990.
SUBJECT Science --Study and teaching.
Physics --Study and teaching.
Chemistry --Study and teaching.
LOCATION CALL NO.
H Stokes Q181 .T58 1990
(Several department members also have copies.)
AUTHOR Arons, A. B. (Arnold B.)
TITLE Homework and test questions for introductory physics teaching /
Arnold B. Arons.
PUBLISHER New York : John Wiley, c1994.
DESCRIPT vii, 279 p. : ill. ; 26 cm.
SUBJECT Physics -- Study and teaching.
Physics -- Study and teaching -- Examinations, questions, etc.
Physics -- Study and teaching -- Problems, exercises, etc.
Homework.
LOCATION CALL NO.
H Stokes Reserve QC30 .A76 1990 Suppl.
You should find other pertinent sources on your own.
Other Resources
Course Grading
Your grade in Physics 460 will be based on the paper and on the quality of your contributions to the instruction of the course. Each overall aspect of the latter will be assessed by one or both instructors and discussed with you and will contribute as follows to your grade:
Lecture 20%
Lecture demo 10%
Exam problems 15%
Clinic 20%
Final Paper 35%