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- From: "McFarland, Lisa" <lisamc@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 21 Apr 2008 12:03:59 -0400
Dear Selene recruiter/teacher:
I would like to pass on to you the following information from Arizona
State University.
April 21, 2008
ANNOUNCEMENT (please forward to other teachers):
Modeling Workshops in physics, chemistry, and/or physical science for
high school and middle school teachers will be held in summer 2008 in
Birmingham AL (two), Mobile AL (1-week), Arizona (seven!), Georgia (for
middle school teachers), Miami FL (two), Chicago IL (two), Maine, New
York (two), North Carolina (two), Ohio (three), Philadelphia PA (two),
Pittsburgh PA (five 1-week), Dallas TX (two), and Wisconsin.
For details, visit http://modeling.asu.edu <http://modeling.asu.edu/> .
Click on "Modeling Instruction Workshops Nationwide in Summer 2008".
At some sites, stipends and/or free tuition are available for in-state
teachers. (Teachers nationwide can apply for a stipend at Miami FL.)
Modeling Workshops are peer-led. Content is reorganized around basic
models to increase its structural coherence. Participants are supplied
with a complete set of course materials and work through activities
alternately in the roles of student or teacher, as they practice
techniques of guided inquiry and cooperative learning.
Three thousand teachers have taken intensive Modeling Workshops, and
most prefer the method to conventional instruction. It corrects many
weaknesses of the traditional lecture-demonstration method, including
fragmentation of knowledge, student passivity, and persistence of naive
beliefs about the physical world. Modeling Instruction is recognized by
the U.S. Dept.of Education as EXEMPLARY.
Teachers greatly value Modeling Instruction. Teachers nationwide wrote:
* In the one year that I have been modeling, I have seen wonderful
results.
* We have had 3 physics teachers and 5 chemistry teachers enhance
their professional development at your ASU modeling workshops. Modeling
has made a world of difference in our science courses and we are working
to continue this improvement. (A physics first/biology last school)
* Modeling has changed the fundamental way I teach. I believe
eventually, maybe even in our lifetimes, all science will be taught this
way.
* "Modeling has permanently changed my methodology. I have taken
modeling as learned in the physics content area and employed it in other
classes (astronomy, geology, physical science). It has forced me to
"clean house", reduced content volume in these other courses and
triggered a restructuring of lab/worksheet material to fit modeling.
Student response to these changes have been overwhelmingly POSITIVE."
(Tom Todd, suburb of Chicago)
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Thanks!
Lisa McFarland
Research Assistant-Selene Project
http://selene.cet.edu <http://selene.cet.edu/> http://www.cet.edu
<http://www.cet.edu/>
Center for Educational Technologies(r)
Home of the NASA-sponsored Classroom of the Future(tm)
Wheeling Jesuit University
316 Washington Avenue
Wheeling, WV 26003
FAX: 304.243.2497
Phone: 304.243.2479
lisamc@xxxxxxx
selene@xxxxxxx
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