The Blame Game in Teacher Preparation
Fredrick Stein
It was easy for the statewide gathering of Deans to
place the blame for the general lack of preparation of their incoming
students in science and mathematics. "It must be the fault of
their K-12 teachers. Of course, who else has such a pivotal role
in the students' learning?" But, it didn't take long for the
assembled academic leaders to realize that the majority of the science
and mathematics teachers in their state were educated at their institutions.
If it is true that teachers "teach as they were
taught," then to improve physics and physical science learning
in K-12, universities must model effective teaching/learning approaches
in courses for prospective teachers, which include prospective chemistry,
biology, mathematics, and elementary teachers (most of whom will
teach science).
Currently, 28 percent of our nation's high school students
take at least one course in physics. Although this is a significant
improvement over the last decade, many of our high school physics
courses are still modeled after university and college courses that
are not inquiry-based and do not develop good conceptual understanding.
The ongoing and overwhelming need for in-service teacher enhancement
programs in physics at the most basic level points to the failure
of programs in our colleges and universities to prepare students
adequately for teaching.
Two recent national reports have made recommendations
that are embodied in the PhysTEC project. The Glenn Commission's
report, Before It's Too Late (2000) calls for "strategies
to identify exemplary programs of teacher preparation around the
country, and find ways to encourage others to multiply their successes." The
NRC report, Educating Teachers of Science, Mathematics, and Technology:
New Practices for the New Millennium (The National Academy of Sciences,
2000), recommends that, "colleges and universities should
reexamine and redesign introductory college-level courses in science
to better accommodate the needs of future teachers." They further "envision
master teachers in partner school districts [having] adjunct faculty
appointments in the partner two- and four-year colleges and universities." The
master teachers would "take on a much more significant role
in the mentoring of future teachers." The PhysTEC proposal identifies
the Teacher-in Residence to fulfill this need.
In response, the American Physical Society (APS), in
partnership with the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT)
and the American Institute of Physics (AIP), identified preservice
teacher preparation as a key issue for the physics community and
in 1999, they approved a joint statement in which they, "urge
the physics community, specifically physical science and engineering
departments and their faculty members, to take an active role in
improving the preservice training of physics/science teachers."
PhysTEC, the Physics Teacher Education Coalition, was
proposed as the mechanism to greatly increase the role of physics
departments, in collaboration with education departments, to radically
improve the science preparation of future teachers. On August 23,
2001, a five-year, $5.76 million grant was awarded by the National
Science Foundation to APS, in partnership with AAPT and AIP. On September
13, the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE)
in the U.S. Department of Education awarded a three-year, $498,000
grant to enhance the evaluation, induction, and dissemination components
of the PhysTEC program.
These two grants will enable the professional societies
to create a nationwide Coalition among college and universities.
Beginning with six institutions in 2001, PhysTEC will add a seventh
PPI site in 2004 and, with the help of the APS 21ST Century Campaign
grow from 7 to 17 sites by 2006. After that, we expect to expand
to over a hundred sites across the country. To succeed, however, the
individual PPIs' vision for the PhysTEC program must coalesce.
PhysTEC's three goals are:
- to encourage physics departments, in collaboration
with departments of education to dramatically improve the preparation
of physics, physical science, and elementary teachers who must
teach physical science, and to provide the institutions with the
support and technical assistance necessary to undertake the task.
- to disseminate widely the outcomes, scholarship,
and exemplary programs of study through the resources, national
conferences, workshops, and publications (including electronic)
of the APS, AAPT, AIP.
- to produce more and better-prepared science teachers
who are committed to student-centered, inquiry-based approaches
to teaching and learning, including the objectives and process
skills associated with the expectations of the national reform
movements such as the National Science Education Standards
(NRC) and the Benchmarks of Project 2061 (AAAS).
The program incorporates exemplary components of past
NSF-supported projects that have proven to be successful in making
long-term positive changes in teacher preparation. Others include:
- A Teacher-in-Residence program that provides for
a local K-12 science teacher to become a full-time participant
in assisting faculty with both team-teaching and course revisions
- A long-term, active collaboration between the physics
department, the education department, and the local school community
- The redesign of content and pedagogy of targeted
physics courses based on results from physics education research
as well as utilization of appropriate interactive technologies
- The redesign of content and pedagogy for elementary
and secondary science methods courses with an emphasis on inquiry-based,
hands-on, approaches to teaching and learning
- The establishment of a mentoring program for TIRs
and other master teachers designed to meet the needs of an induction
experience for novice science teachers. This includes the participation
of physics faculty in increasing and improving a wide array of
school experiences
Richard Ingersoll (University of Pennsylvania) has
obtained data that shows that school staffing difficulties are primarily
the result of a "revolving door"-- where large numbers
of teachers depart teaching for other reasons, such as job dissatisfaction. In
other words, retention is more critical in solving the shortage
problem than recruitment. After four years, fully one third of
all teachers leave the teaching profession. The PhysTEC response
is to extend a mentoring program into the schools for the PhysTEC
teachers to reinforce the student-centered, inquiry-based, hands-on
approaches to teaching and learning from the moment they enter the
classroom.
"PhysTEC begins with an initial set of six primary
institutions that share a strong commitment to revise their teacher
preparation programs," according to PhysTEC principal investigator
Fredrick Stein. "This includes improving the preparation of
both elementary and secondary science teachers." The six institutions
are:
- Ball State University
- Oregon State University
- University of Arizona
- University of Arkansas
- Western Michigan University
- Xavier University of Louisiana
Several obstacles still exist to the success of PhysTEC.
Two of the most obvious are enticing faculty members at research
universities to turn their creativity toward improving teaching,
and persuading physics departments and schools of education to communicate
and work together. In both of these, the direct involvement of the
key physics professional societies can play a major role in producing
positive, lasting changes in the way universities interact with undergraduate
students and thus, their prospective teachers.
Fredrick Stein is Director of Education and Outreach
for American Physical Society. He has been a professor, dean, foundation
director and early Peace Corps volunteer (teaching PSSC in Spanish).
His background is in chemical physics; now, science education (particularly
teacher preparation) and philosophy of science.
|
