Teaching Fellows’ Meetings
2003 Physical Science Cohort Fellows' Meetings
March 27-28, 2008
The 2003 Science Teaching Fellows met in Boston, Massachusetts, in conjunction with the annual conference of the National Science Teachers Association and NSTA’s Teacher Researcher Day, Teacher Researcher Day, organized by Dr. Emily van Zee from Oregon State University, Clare Bove from Mills College, and Deborah Roberts-Harris from Desert Mountain Elementary School (AZ), provides teachers opportunities to learn about teacher research, share findings and collaborate with other teachers engaged in research. In addition to attending regular NSTA conference sessions, the fellows participated in Friday’s Teacher Researcher day by displaying a poster and presenting a session on the collaborative lesson study work they have done for the past five years on student understanding of gas laws and waves. The fellows also participated in workshops on conducting teacher research, and attended presentations from other teachers engaging in classroom research. After presenting at this year’s Teacher Researcher Day, the fellows jointly submitted an abstract to present at the 2009 NSTA conference in New Orleans.
November 2-3, 2007
The fall meeting of the 2003 Science Teaching Fellows was held in Portland, Oregon, and focused on opportunities for teachers to engage in classroom research. The fellows worked with Dr. Emily van Zee, an associate professor at Oregon State University and a co-organizer of Teacher Researcher Day at the annual NSTA meeting. Before the meeting, the fellows read the book that Dr. Van Zee co-edited, Teacher Research: Stories of Learning and Growing, which gave examples of projects from a wide spectrum of teacher research projects in science classrooms. At the meeting, the fellows spent time planning their posters and presentations for the 2008 Teacher Research Day, which will highlight the lesson study work they have done for the past five years on student understanding of gas laws and waves. The fellows also viewed video of each other’s classrooms and discussed ways to use video as evidence of student learning in classroom research. They discussed their video using analysis questions provided by the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards in their portfolio development guidelines. Finally, Dr. van Zee worked with the fellows to develop their own research interests into workable plans that they can pursue throughout this year and next, with the aim of presenting at the 2009 Teacher Research Day at NSTA in New Orleans.
April 27-28, 2007
For their spring meeting the 03 fellows met in St. Louis, Missouri, to investigate standards focused project-based learning. The workshop was led by Tristan de Frondeville of the Buck Institute for Education, and also included two high school teachers, Arnie McKinley and Kevin Gant, who have experience designing project-based learning in chemistry and physics. Fellows worked in teams to develop two- to three-week projects in their subject areas, such as: using a knowledge of standing waves to build musical instruments, proposing a safe but extreme bungee jumping ride for an amusement park, and analyzing contaminated soil from various sites to make recommendations to the town zoning committee for building a playground. The fellows will continue their work in designing their projects at the Summer Fellows’ Meeting.
October 20-21, 2006
For their fall meeting, the 03 fellows met in Arlington, Virginia, to investigate strategies for differentiating instruction for academically diverse learners. The workshop was led by Amy Germundson, a former high school chemistry and physics teacher and a current doctoral student at the University of Virginia. A graduate student of Dr. Carol Tomlinson (a nationally known expert in differentiation,) Amy consults with high school science teachers on differentiating instruction. The focus of her workshop was on planning science curriculum and differentiating lessons to meet diverse student learning needs, based on student readiness, interest and learning profiles. In addition to Amy's workshop, the 03 fellows also used a critical friends' protocol to develop individual goals for their annual KSTF teaching portfolios.
March 31-April 1, 2006
For their spring meeting, the 03 Science Fellows met in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, to investigate POGIL (Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning; http://www.pogil.org/), a classroom and laboratory technique developed originally for college chemistry classrooms. Now being developed and used in high school chemistry classrooms, the POGIL technique encourages exploration of chemistry content using guided inquiry, while seeking to "simultaneously teach content and key process skills such as the ability to think analytically and work effectively as part of a collaborative team." The purpose of this workshop was for the fellows to engage in a chemistry curriculum that introduced inquiry to them in a different way from those that they had used previously. In addition to this workshop, the fellows worked on their modified lesson study units, writing a lesson using the POGIL method.
Having not been back to New Jersey since they were selected for their fellowships, this meeting also was an opportunity to see KSTF's new headquarters and see Mr. and Mrs. Knowles. A reception on Friday evening provided the Knowleses, the fellows and KSTF's staff a wonderful occasion to catch up.
October 21-22, 2005
During their fall 2005 meeting, the 03 Science Fellows observed the classrooms of teachers in Seattle, Washington, who had recently completed the UW Physics Education Group's (PEG), six-week inquiry-based physics summer course. They participated in a workshop on light and shadows, held by PEG, Friday morning and afternoon - visiting classrooms mid-day. The purpose of this workshop was to challenge their depth of understanding in physics and to show them how to teach physics in an inquiry-based manner. On Saturday morning, they participated in a workshop on assessment given by Dr. Jim Minstrell of Facet Innovations. Dr. Minstrell shared a tool developed at Facet Innovations for diagnosing student misconceptions.
April 8-9, 2005
The 03 Science Fellows spent their spring meeting at the University of Maryland, College Park. The focus of the meeting was inquiry-based teaching practices. Dr. David Hammer, an associate professor in the Physics Department at the University of Maryland, discussed his work on Discovery Learning and Discovery Teaching with the fellows on the first day. They also worked with Christina Smith, a veteran science teacher and expert in science assessment and Daryl Taylor, a veteran physics teacher who is well known for his knowledge and use of inquiry instruction. Christina's workshop explored ways to authentically assess inquiry-based instruction. Daryl's interactive workshop on inquiry teaching encouraged the fellows to examine the way that they teach and to begin to make adjustments that teach their students to learn science in a different way.
November 5-6, 2004
In November, the 03 Science Fellows met in San Diego, California. They attended middle and high school science classes on Friday and observed teachers using the Physics First Curriculum Model. They also met and discussed teaching with the experienced teachers whom they observed. On Saturday, the cohorts spent time working collaboratively on their lesson study units. They then participated in a discussion with a local teacher who is experienced with the Physics First Curriculum Model. Saturday afternoon, Dr. Fred Goldberg, Professor of Physics at the University of California, San Diego and Co-director of C.I.P.S. (Constructing Ideas in Physical Science) shared his work on inquiry and physical science.
March 4-6, 2004
The 03 Science Fellows met outside Chicago, Illinois. On Friday they had a tour of Argonne National Laboratories. After passing through security and a short time in the Argonne hands-on exhibit, we toured several of the labs, including the APS, Advanced Photon Source.
Saturday was a more casual day. While some of the fellows met in small groups to share lessons, others worked at viewing the videotapes the fellows had each brought of his/her teaching. For example, on one video they observed Jill Rhoden using a cookie recipe as an introduction to the concept of limiting reagents.
November 14-16, 2003
The 03 Science Teaching Fellows met in Haddonfield, New Jersey. Andy Anderson and Gail Richmond shared the framework for planning that has emerged from and is informed by their research. Fellows watched a videotape of Jim Minstrell teaching following the framework presented.
The Board of Trustees had their meeting at the same time. Not only were the fellows able to talk about science teaching in the informal setting at meals, one formal session of the meeting allowed each fellow to tell the Board of Trustees one thing they liked about the fellowship and one thing they though KSTF could do better.
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