PhysTEC

Cornell University Project Report 2009

Goals & Outcomes

Goals

The goal of the PhysTEC program at Cornell University is to increase the number and improve the quality of the physics and physical science teachers that we train. Cornell has very large programs and outstanding students in the physical sciences and engineering, but has on average produced only one physics teacher per year. To capitalize on the potential of our undergraduate and graduate student populations, we need to raise the awareness and change the attitudes of our students and faculty regarding careers in high school science teaching, provide opportunities for our students to experience firsthand the challenges and rewards of classroom teaching, and provide mentoring and support as they work through our education program and on into their first years as teachers.

Selected Outcomes

  • Partnership between Physics and Education, with generous support from Cornell's Provost, has produced a significant increase in visibility for Cornell's Teacher Education Program among undergraduates enrolled in physics courses.
  • Efforts in Physics are producing a culture change in which more and more of our faculty, graduate students and undergraduates view training and careers in high school physics teaching as important and worthy options for our students.
  • After three semesters, our Undergraduate Teaching Assistant Program is generating large numbers of UTA applications, significant numbers of UTAs enrolling in Education Department classes, and enthusiastic response from both UTAs and the students in the introductory courses they serve.
  • The benefits of the UTA program to the perceptions of physics within the broader student body, to our Physics Major program, and in developing spirit and identity among both physics majors and those with teaching interests are becoming clear.
  • Extensive use of surveys and pre-post testing is providing insight into the relative preparation of students in our four introductory course sequences, and into student attitudes towards science and to high school science teaching careers.
  • Our PhysTEC program website is now online, and focuses on recruiting students into physics and physics teaching. With ongoing development it should become a useful resource for other PhysTEC institutions.
  • The TIR is critical to all of our efforts. The TIR brings a perspective, energy and approach that are very different from those of our lecturers and professorial faculty, and that are very beneficial to the teaching and the mentoring in our undergraduate physics program.