Teacher Preparation Section

John Stewart, University of Arkansas

In this issue, we focus on two of the newer collections in the ComPADRE digital library that might be of interest to working teachers and to the advisers of future teachers. ComPADRE is the National Science Digital Library (NSDL) portal for physics and astronomy education. ComPADRE has previously been featured in the Fall 2007 Forum on Education Newsletter.  Crystal Bailey will introduce the Careers site, a site containing physics career information. As a physics adviser, one of the questions that I am most often asked is, “What kind of job can I get with a physics degree?” Wolfgang Christian, Doug Brown, and Francisco Esquembre will discuss Open Source Physics (OSP) a ComPADRE collection containing a wealth of classroom ready computer simulations and supporting materials. ComPADRE will reach the end of its current funding in August 2012. If the physics community wishes this valuable resource to continue, alternate sources of funding must be found.

The 2011 PhysTEC Conference, focusing on Building Sustainable Programs, was held May 23-24, 2011 in Austin, TX. The PhysTEC conference, formerly the PTEC conference, featured presentations by members of many of the most successful institutions in physics teacher preparation. The UTeach Conference was held immediately afterward. The PhysTEC conference features about 125 participants passionate about improving the training of physics teachers. As always, it was a wonderful affair and I strongly encourage all to attend next year’s conference. Each year it is my favorite. Materials from the conference and previous conferences will be made available at the ComPADRE collection on physics teacher preparation, ptec.org.

Disclaimer- The articles and opinion pieces found in this issue of the APS Forum on Education Newsletter are not peer refereed and represent solely the views of the authors and not necessarily the views of the APS.