Seattle Pacific University Project Report 2007
Collaboration among the Physics Department, Education College, University Administrators, and Local Public School Systems
Successes
- Formation of a Science Education Task Force, composed of faculty from physics and education, to support authentic collaboration between the School of Education and Physics Department.
- Science methods courses are being taught by faculty member Eleanor Close, who holds a joint appointment in the School of Education and the Physics Department, and Lezlie DeWater, who is the TIR in the Physics Department.
- Partnership with local school districts to provide strategic, content-rich, professional development opportunities for teachers. We offer professional development workshops for teachers in 5 large public and private school districts across the state of Washington.
- Offering professional development workshops provides an opportunity to physics faculty to focus specifically on the pedagogical challenges associated with K12 teaching. These workshops also provide a context for building relationships with experienced local teachers who can serve as supervising teachers for PhysTEC teachers.
Challenges
- Several physics majors have begun to seriously consider K12 teaching as a career path but have failed to complete the certification process at SPU. We think this may be a result of lack coherence between course offerings in the Physics Department and the School of Education.
Sustainability Physics Department Buy-In
- The SPU Science Education Task Force is working to provide better program coherence and advising for science students who enter the certification process.
- We will explore options for counting the LA course and LA experience toward the certification coursework.
- We will also explore options for getting pre-service PhysTEC teachers more directly involved in the PD workshops we offer for in-service teachers.
Lesson Learned
- Providing excellent courses for future physics teachers is not enough! The Physics Department and the School of Education must work closely together to understand the relevancy of every course which will be taken by a future physics teacher.
- The starting point for establishing partnerships with local school districts is to find out what they need. We have been successful in cultivating school district partnerships because we have been willing to adapt our offering to their specific needs. These conversations should go beyond simply asking what topics should be covered" to include pedagogical strategies and learning outcomes.
Activity Summary
- SPU Science Education Task Force met four times to discuss strategies for improving recruitment and training of science and math teachers at SPU.
- Adaptation of our LA course to satisfy a general methods requirement.
- Partnerships:
Seattle Public Schools
We work with Seattle Public Schools on several synergistic activities. (See Part II) These include collecting student data on their intial conceptions in properties of matter and piloting our professional development activities.
Bellevue Public Schools
Bellevue school district has been our initial site for research and development of the properties of matter content. They are in the second year of administering pre and post-assessments to all their 8th grade students. Many Bellevue teachers have participated in the project-supported professional development courses. Bellevue has also collaborated with SPU to offer additional and ongoing professional development opportunities to 7th and 8th grade science teachers.
Edmonds Community College
A project-supported professional development course was taught off-site for Everett teachers at the Edmonds Community College Everett Branch Campus.
Everett Public Schools
Everett school teachers have participated extensively in project-supported professional development courses. In addition, an Everett science teacher has been a significant contributor to the project.
The Boeing Company
The Boeing Company has provided us with a continuing grant, which provides partial support for the Teacher-in-Residence, an invaluable member of our project team.
Educational Service District 105
ESD 105 in Yakima Valley, WA is a key collaborator for us at the elementary grade levels. We have twice provided blended content-pedagogy workshops in physical science to K-6 teachers in ESD 105, with special emphasis in the topical areas covered by our NSF TPC grant.
Institute for Systems Biology
We have a long collaboration with ISB's Center for Inquiry Science as we work to sustain science education reform in Washington State and to further develop leadership in the system. ISB has played a key role in publicizing our professional development courses.
Archdiocese of Seattle, Catholic Schools
Project staff provided a professional development workshop for K-8 teachers in August 2006. The workshop topics were those researched by our NSF TPC grant.
