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Towson University

Towson University is a public university in Maryland with a student population of just over 21,000. It began as a teacher’s college, and still graduates the highest number of education majors in the state of Maryland. Currently 2,555 students are enrolled in teacher education programs at TU, with a large percentage of these pre‑service teachers working toward a degree in either elementary or early childhood education. In an earlier project, Towson was funded by PhysTEC for four years (2004‑2008) to reform the field experience course taken by elementary education majors to inculcate them with inquiry‑based teaching techniques. Towson's new PhysTEC project, which starts in Fall 2010, will focus on secondary teacher preparation.

Towson University is one of the few academic institutions to have a significant number of education faculty housed in its content departments, including five in the Department of Physics, Astronomy, and Geosciences. These faculty are responsible for providing in-service workshops for teachers in neighboring counties, developing science curricula, conducting research on the teaching and learning of science, and teaching a variety of content, methods, and internship courses for elementary, early childhood, and secondary preservice teachers. The department is in a strong position to begin its PhysTEC project, having already put in place a number of initiatives to increase student retention. These include a freshman seminar, inquiry-based introductory courses, mentoring opportunities, a Learning Assistant program, and scholarship opportunities, including a Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship.

Goals

To increase the recruitment, retention, and graduation rates of physics secondary education
majors enrolled in the Department of Physics, Astronomy and Geosciences, our PhysTEC project
will accomplish the following goals:

Physics Program

1. Refine, enhance, and expand the amount of active-learning pedagogy in introductory and
   upper division physics courses
   
2. Provide professional development and mentoring for full- and part-time physics faculty
   new to active learning instruction
   
3. Increase the extent to which physics majors engage in ongoing discussions regarding
   secondary teaching as a possible career option
   
4. Provide early teaching experiences for physics majors to get them interested in secondary teaching as a possible career option

Physics Secondary Education Program

1. Clarify, reorganize, and disseminate the description and requirements of the secondary
   physics education program to help with recruitment of secondary education majors
   
2. Modify the secondary science teaching methods course such that secondary education
   majors increase their depth and breadth of physics-specific pedagogical content
   knowledge
   
3. Create organizations and activities that will help secondary physics education develop
   feelings of belonging to an educational community
   
4. Provide education-based internships to help declared secondary physics education
   students maintain an interest in teaching as a career
   
5. Work with the College of Education, its Center for Professional Practice, and neighboring
   school districts to select appropriate mentor teachers and provide orientation workshops
   to ensure that active learning approaches are valued and implemented in the student
   teaching semesters
   
6. Increase the amount of financial support offered to secondary physics education majors
   
7. Maintain communication with and provide mentoring for recent secondary physics
   education graduates