Cornell Presentation: - Dan MacIsaac

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Cornell Presentation June2006 MacIsaac Notes

M.S.Ed. (Physics) Certification Programs at

SUNY - Buffalo State College:

Alternative Paths and Lessons Learned

Dan MacIsaac & Dewayne Beery,

Department of Physics;

Kathleen Falconer & Dave Henry,

Dept of Elementary Education and Reading; and

Joe Zawicki,

Dept of Earth Science and Science Education

SUNY- Buffalo State College, 1300 Elmwood Ave, Buffalo NY 14222

Needs:

Huge needs for highly qualified STEM and in particular, physics teachers nationwide in US and in NYS growing ever more desperate; see MacIsaac et al (2004) JPTEO article and NAS “Rising Above the Gathering Storm” (2006) report.

Buff State Programs History, Overview & Current Populations

Show overview

Started in 2002 with 2 candidates; currently

- 30 MSEd (Physics) candidates (25 cross-cert – no BS Phy)

- 14 MSED (Physics +AC) candidates; 7 engineers; 1PhD Phy

- 11 graduates (2 AC); 1 not teaching by choice

- 12 inactives

- roughly 6 in pipeline at any one time

Less inactives: 11 women; 1 Hisp-Am; 1 Afr-Am candidate

Buffalo State Summer Physics Teachers’ Academy grown to five graduate courses serving 75-90 teachers this summer; drawing participants regionally; Aug courses two weeks ago

Show PHY622 summer 2005

One tenure-track physics faculty (tech conversion hired; 2nd to be hired); physics faculty inc. certified HS teachers; collaborated with past HS Physics Teachers now faculty in Elementary Education and Reading + Earth Science and Science Education; a dozen local master physics teachers (WNYPTA community)

Opportunities to work outside the traditional box of physics teacher licensure and receive state and national recognition by establishing new model NYSED AC program, seek NSF funding, institutional recognition

Important Lessons Learned that we feel contributed to our success:

- we built physics teacher preparation programs specifically dedicated to and focused upon teaching one subject only, housed within physics and team taught with appropriate physics faculty and master HS physics teachers for professional credibility to multiple audiences (candidates; teachers, SED; faculty)

- redefined the physics teacher candidate shortage problem for success by targeting nontraditional yet highly motivated physics teacher preparation audiences (cross certification; alternative certification) SOME OF WHOM ARE ALREADY TEACHING PHYSICS and who are unlikely to be readily replaced by qualified candidates even if these were available

- physics teacher preparation courses were scheduled to meet Full Time employed adult target candidate needs – evening courses, online courses and intensive summer academies; knowledge of support mechanism for candidates

(Noyce scholars; Perkins and Stafford Loan forgiveness etc)

- we recognize physics teacher candidates pretty universally don't know their physics content, don’t how to teach it, and they don't know that they don't this. Yes, even our physics majors too -- see the extensive PER and SER literature.

- programmatic role of PCK is central: graduate level showcase courses contain undergraduate physics content (absolutely requred), lower division mathematical representations and graduate level PCK (E.g. [pic])

[pic]

- in-depth use of PER-based activities and curricula; extended reflection; use of "Student hat" and "Teacher hat" activities and analyses throughout

- need for transparent, operationalized and well-articulated definitions of high quality introductory physics learning and teaching (RTOP == Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol)

- "perfect storm" Buff State institutional and physics department politics: teacher preparation mission, search for distinctive programs and identity, important cross-disciplinary collaborations, flexible faculty willing to go "outside the box," experienced players in teacher preparation, growing the pie in physics department resources, ?lack of physics graduate program competition?

References

MacIsaac, D.L., Henry, D., Zawicki, J.L. Beery, D. & Falconer, K. (2004). A new model alternative certification program for high school physics teachers: New pathways to physics teacher certification at SUNY-Buffalo State College.

Journal of Physics Teacher Education Online, 2(2), 10-16.

MacIsaac, D.L. & Falconer, K.A. (2002). Reform your teaching via the Reform Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP). The Physics Teacher. 40(8), 479-486.

Olszewski, C. (2006). PHY690: Reflecting on the Road Less Traveled: Industrial Physicist to HS Teacher. Manuscript in preparation for the Journal of Physics Teacher Education Online. Available from .

National Academy of Science (2006). Rising Above The Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future. Available from

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