There are many programs for the professional development of high school physics teachers that have proven to be effective in preparing these teachers to conduct inquiry-based activities in the classroom. In this paper, we describe a small-scale professional development program called the Physics Van Inservice Institute. During the program, teachers are engaged in inquiry-based physics modules and are then able to borrow the equipment so that they can conduct the activities in their own classes.
Some examples of model professional development programs include the Physics by Inquiry Program at the University of Washington, the Modeling Instruction in High School Physics at Arizona State University, and the Constructing Physics Understanding in a Computer-Supported Learning Environment Program at San Diego State University.1 Many exemplary programs require a substantial support staff, and the professional development component often occurs at large research universities with faculty and staff who are very familiar with the materials and the development of the materials. For individuals at smaller institutions with less funding, resources, and support, it is often harder to adopt one of these established programs in its entirety. In addition, many faculty members at these smaller institutions are not trained to conduct these workshops and are not able to spend sufficient time being trained in the instructional approach behind these programs.
For many colleges and universities, a smaller-scale program may be more viable and provide specific resources for teachers that other long-term programs may not. One type of program that specifically addresses the immediate needs of teachers is the mobile science program. Such programs exist throughout the country. In some states, such as Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Alabama, the program is run statewide.2 In 2003, Chicago State University launched its own version of the mobile science program for teaching physics at the high school level. The Physics Van Inservice Institute is modeled after these programs and the successful Chemistry Van program that has served high schools in Chicago for more than 10 years.3 The Chemistry Van and Physics Van Inservice Institutes are now part of the Chicago Collaborative for Teacher Excellence and include Chicago State University as the lead institution, Chicago Public Schools, and the University of Illinois-Chicago. All three partners work closely together and draw upon each other's resources. Both the Chemistry and the Physics Van projects share a common vision of providing inquiry-based activities to inner-city students.
The goals of the Physics Van program are (1) to provide physics teachers with courses on implementing hands-on inquiry-based teaching using both low- and high-tech equipment and (2) to provide teachers, who have completed this course, with follow-up support through a van service that will bring the laboratory equipment to the teacher's classroom. Physics van activities attempt to address common difficulties students have with different physics topics using the results of physics education research as a guide. During their inservice training, teachers participate in the activities and practice thinking about questions that they can ask in the classroom to help students construct an understanding for themselves. Figure 1 shows two teachers working through an activity that explores balancing during the inservice training. The van program supports teachers throughout the school year through material loans and instructional support, which creates on ongoing partnership that extends well beyond the two-week inservice course.
Figure 1. Chicago State University is located on the south side of Chicago, and the majority of participants in the van program are teachers in Chicago Public Schools (CPS). Because of this, the program must meet the needs of a very diverse group of schools with different resources and student backgrounds. During the past three years the Physics Van has served both well-performing schools and struggling schools in CPS.
There are four major components to the Physics Van program. These are the specific Physics Van activities, the two-week teacher inservice training, the van driver, and the acquisition of equipment for lending. Each of these components is integral to the successful implementation of the program in the high school physics class.
The program and activities must fit the general structure and the constraints of the CPS science class. In the majority of schools we work with, the class period is only 45 minutes. This is a major obstacle for many teachers who want to conduct laboratory investigations in their classes, let alone inquiry-based activities, which necessarily take more time than lectures or the more traditional types of laboratory activities.
In order to address these logistical issues, van activities were developed that could either be completed in a single 45-minute class period or two class periods, could be easily set up and taken down, and address topics in the CPS curriculum. Of course, the pace of the class depends on the particular student population. While some groups will finish an activity in a single class period, others will take two periods and some will need longer than two periods to complete an activity. The activities are designed with natural stopping points so that a teacher can choose to do only the first few parts of an activity. We encourage teachers to follow an instructional pace that is appropriate for their particular students. The emphasis is therefore more on helping students acquire deep understanding rather than helping students simply complete the activity. Figure 2 shows students working through a Physics Van activity in which they explore the properties of a lens.
Figure 2. Because the program can serve a school no more than once a week, the activities are modular and although many activities build on others, they are for the most part stand-alone units. This is one area in which the Physics Van activities lack the cohesiveness of some of the larger scale professional development programs mentioned earlier.
A dedicated Physics Van driver accompanies each of the van activities, brings the equipment to the school, and helps the teacher prepare the classroom and conduct the activity. The van driver is a retired CPS science teacher who has experience working with a diverse group of students. Teachers choose to involve the van driver at different levels depending on the particular activity, the class size, and the level of comfort they have with the activities.
Some teachers conducting activities for the first time typically depend on the van driver to assist them in serving as facilitators. More experienced teachers often elect to have the van driver do drop-offs, in which the driver simply brings the equipment to the teacher and returns at a later time or day to pick up the equipment. Typically, drop-offs will occur after teachers have done the activity one or two times and are comfortable with the various aspects of the activity such as the physics involved and the equipment in the activity. As more and more participants become experienced with the activities, the number of drop-offs increases and the van driver is then available to serve more and more teachers and schools. This allows for the program to continue to grow even if the level of funding remains relatively constant.
One key to the success of the Physics and Chemistry Van programs is the professional development portion. The model we follow is the model commonly adopted in training teachers to use reform-based materials. Teachers are engaged in the same process and activities that they will use with their own students. Teachers therefore become familiar with the activities and the equipment that is used in the activities. Teachers also think about the underlying pedagogy behind the activities as they progress through the inservice class. Because the teachers know their students best, they are asked to think about the issues or difficulties their students will face as they conduct the activities. In addition, teachers begin to think about the specific questions they could ask their students to address these issues. The teachers therefore think about the activities at a much deeper level than their students and usually spend just under two hours on a particular activity.
Inservice training for the Physics Van has been offered four times so far and has involved more than 40 teachers. Because of the timing of funding, the first inservice training occurred over 10 Saturdays during the spring 2003 semester. The second, third, and fourth inservice oppportunities were offered over two-week periods during summer 2004, 2005, and 2006. Courses met between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., with a working lunch, for a total of 60 hours of professional development.
The day typically begins with an Eye Opener Activity led by two experienced teachers in CPS. These are typically 10- to 15-minute activities that can be used to motivate students. After the Eye Opener Activity, the participants take a survey, or pre-test, and then begin working in groups of two on the specific Physics Van activities.
The pre-tests serve as diagnostics as well as instructional tools and precede each activity. These pre-tests indicate where difficulties may exist and therefore aid in addressing particular issues that will most likely come up during the activity. The pre-tests also act as an instructional tool in that they highlight what is to come in the activity and force the participants to think about the relevant ideas on their own, before they engage in group work. The model used attempts to foster conceptual change by eliciting ideas from the participants, helping participants confront inconsistencies between their initial ideas and observations, and then helping them to resolve the inconsistencies through the activity. Many reform efforts in physics instruction follow this approach in the classroom and have been found to be effective in promoting conceptual change.4 Teachers are encouraged to give their own students pre-tests to set the context for the activity.
After the pre-tests, teachers begin working in groups on the van activities. Van activities are worksheets with questions that guide the participant toward developing an understanding for themselves. For teachers unaccustomed to the guided-inquiry approach, the van activities provide a framework of questions as a starting point. Of course, the activities cannot replace the teacher, and the success of the activities ultimately depends on how the teacher implements the activity. Activities and the questions contained in the activities provide a scaffold for the teacher, where the level of scaffolding depends on the particular teacher.
Teachers are encouraged to play an active role in the Physics Van program and aid in the revision and development of activities. Open time during the inservice is provided for the teachers to either (1) work on adapting activities to better serve their students, (2) develop new activities using equipment at their schools or van equipment, (3) work through other activities they would like to do with their classes, or (4) investigate and work on grant proposals so that equipment can be purchased for their own schools.
New activities developed by the project participants are then shared with others in the program and are made available on the Physics Van website (www.csu.edu/ChemistryAndPhysics/csuphysvan/). It is our hope that this will create a community of teachers who share common ideas and goals. Teachers in the program have mentioned time after time that communicating and working with other teachers at different schools is extremely important to them. Almost all the teachers in the program are the only ones at their school who teach physics. Therefore, for the most part, they work in isolation. To further establish a community of teachers, the grant provides funding for academic year meetings so that teachers can continue working with each other.
Equipment and materials that are used in the Physics Van activities are held and maintained at CSU. The van driver keeps track of all equipment, and identifies equipment needs and equipment requiring repair. After completing the training on a particular activity, the participating teachers can request the activity and the equipment that goes with the activity. Because of the varying needs at CPS schools, the equipment available through the Physics Van ranges from the very basic (metersticks, stopwatches, bricks) to the more advanced (Vernier and PASCO probeware, Van de Graaff generators, YBaCu superconductors). Van activities use very basic and cheap materials, expensive materials, or a combination of the two. We hope to convey the idea that one can engage students in inquiry-based science even with a very small budget. Yet, we also want schools with very limited resources to gain experience using more technology-oriented items such as Vernier and PASCO probeware. We have observed that students at these schools often feel that they have been overlooked in terms of the resources that are provided to them and their schools—providing this type of equipment at these schools can work toward a change in the perception that these students have of themselves as learners of science.
We have included a sample activity, a sample Eye Opener Activity, and the activity list on the Physics Van website (http://www.csu.edu/ChemistryAndPhysics/csuphysvan/) so that those interested can get a better sense of the instructional materials we use in the program.
The program was evaluated using a collection of surveys, some of which were developed internally and some of which were developed externally.5 The van activities seemed to work well for the teacher participants in terms of the level of difficulty, the inquiry-based style, and the specific content addressed in the activities. In addition, the teachers gained experience using different types of equipment from the very basic and affordable to the more technical and expensive. Teachers often cited the inquiry approach as well as the experience with the equipment as the most positive aspects of the program. We asked teachers to rate various components of the van program on a scale of 1 to 5. We also asked the teachers to respond to open-ended questions. Responses to these questions were often the most interesting. On these questions many teachers stated that the Physics Van program would change the way they teach science. About half the teachers cited applying inquiry methods as the change in their teaching, while others cited the use of equipment as the major change.
Although the Physics Van does not provide a large-scale, comprehensive professional development program that some other programs provide, it does provide an extremely viable way to encourage inquiry-based science in the high school physics classroom. It can therefore be an attractive alternative for teachers not able or not willing to engage in major course-wide revisions. It can also be implemented as a professional development offering at smaller colleges and universities, which may not be able to conduct large-scale programs that demand substantial resources.
It is important to note that even teachers who want to modify their instruction by incorporating more inquiry in the classroom often want to do this in small steps. The Physics Van may therefore provide a first step for teachers who are moving toward larger scale revisions.
One reason the Van Programs have been a success is because of the supportive relationship between the three collaborating institutions: Chicago Public Schools, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and Chicago State University.
The author would like to thank Gloria Pritikin, Joel Hofslund, Samuel Bowen, Michael Mimnaugh, and Sharon McCarthy for co-leading the Chicago Collaborative and providing continuous feedback and advice. Roy Coleman, Megan McDonnell, Brad Noren, Lee Slick (CPS), Carl Martikean (Proviso Math and Science Academy), Sr. Maureen Fallon (St. Scholastica Academy) and Lorne Nash (CSU) have been instrumental in co-teaching the van institute and making the program a success. Ray Kujawa and Janet Dryjanski at CSU have provided essential technical and administrative support. Michael Lach and Marty Gartzman in the Office of Math and Science at Chicago Public Schools have been strong supporters of the program since its beginning and have provided both logistical and financial support. Finally, we would like to thank the hard working Chicago Area Teachers who have participated in the program since spring 2003. It was extremely exciting for us to work with such a talented and thoughtful group of teachers.
The majority of this work is supported by a grant from the Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE) through the Improving Teacher Quality State Grant Program. Additional funding has come from the American Physical Society (APS) through its Physics on the Road Program as part of the World Year Physics 2005. We are very grateful to both these organizations for their support. Additional information can be found on the Physics Van website at: http://www.csu.edu/ChemistryAndPhysics/csuphysvan.
References
Mel Sabella is an associate professor of physics at Chicago State University. His research interests focus on improving instruction for students underrepresented in the STEM disciplines. He earned his bachelor's degree from Binghamton University and his Ph.D. from the University of Maryland.Department of Chemistry and Physics, Chicago State University, 9501 South King Dr. — SCI 232, Chicago, IL 60628; msabella@csu.edu
Full figure (38 kB)Fig. 1. Examining the conditions for balance. First citation in article
Full figure (41 kB)Fig. 2. A Chicago public school class investigates the properties of a lens. First citation in article
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