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        MODELING WORKSHOPS FOR HIGH SCHOOL PHYSICS REFORM: update

        (I posted this announcement last fall and early in Feb.  It would
be best if 5 to 10% of the 48 participants in the Leadership Modeling
Workshop series are post-secondary physics teachers. That would aid the
dissemination through the nation and also help the method spread to
post-secondary physics teaching. As of Feb. 24, 2 or 3 such openings are
available.
        Also, a high school teacher can be exceptionally qualified even if
they don't have a degree in physics. Commitment, experience, and ability to
work with teachers are more important. So don't be intimidated by the lack
of a physics degree!  There might be a few openings available for high
school teachers, in which case late applications will be considered.
          We invite exceptionally motivated university, college, two-year
college, and high school physics teachers to apply.  Send an e-mail to me
or call.)

                        ANNOUNCEMENT:

        In-service high school teachers nationwide are invited to apply for
an NSF-funded program of intensive workshops to help them upgrade their
teaching.  The Modeling Workshops involve a thorough restructuring of the
high school physics curriculum design to incorporate (1) computer
technology and (2) teaching methods grounded in recent educational research
and the experience of exceptional teachers.

        The workshops are of two types:
I. LEADERSHIP WORKSHOPS - open to exceptionally qualified high school
teachers who wish to be involved in the training of other teachers.
Successful applicants participate in 5-week workshops in summers 1995-96,
with a 2 or 3-week wrap-up in summer of 1997 (thus a 3-year commitment).
Sites are at Arizona State University and the University of Illinois at
Chicago. Participants will be paid $300 per week and given room and board
and travel allowances.  Participants will be networked in an Internet
learning community during the school year.  The first application deadline
is Feb. 24,1995.
II. LOCAL WORKSHOPS - open to all in-service physics teachers, subject to
organizational constraints.  Taught by participants in the leadership
workshops starting in 1997, preferably in association with a college or
university for academic credit.
        The instructional approach is called the Modeling Method, because
it emphasizes the construction and use of scientific models to describe, to
explain and to predict physical phenomena.  Rather than lecture, the
teacher engages students in lab activities and promotes interactions with
other students which induce them to articulate, evaluate and defend their
points of view.  Computers are used to simplify data gathering and
analysis, so students can concentrate on understanding the results.  The
method was developed for more than 10 years by Malcolm Wells, a high school
teacher and co-author of the Force Concept Inventory and Mechanics Baseline
test.  It has been thoroughly tested in previous Modeling Workshops
supported by the NSF.  Teachers who have completed the workshops report
that their teaching behavior has been radically and permanently changed!
        If you're interested in this, or if you know high school teachers
who would be interested, send an e-mail to jane.jackson@asu.edu.

Jane Jackson (Professor of Physics, Scottsdale Community College--on leave)
Dept. of Physics, Box 871504, Arizona State University, Tempe AZ 85287-1504.
E-mail: jane.jackson@asu.edu  (My alias is jacksonj, if you're on BITNET.)
PHONE: (602)965-8438.  FAX: (602)965-7331.