Preparing Future Physics Teachers - June 19, 2006 1

Center for Nanoscale SystemsInstitute for Physics Teachers

CNS Educational Mission: To assist and support K-12 physical science teachers

Preparing Future Physics Teachers - June 19, 2006 2

Needs of High-School Physics Teachers

Intellectual community Relatively little contact with university scientists Isolation from peers (typically one physics teacher/school)

Professional development Few appropriate resources to learn about modern physics and technology Need to increase confidence with scientific concepts

Lab enhancement Few hands-on activities for teaching modern physics Few resources for equipment (~$20 per pupil per year) New learning standards require more inquiry labs

Stimulation for most advanced students Need access to university-level scientists and resources

Source: Conversations with and surveys of physics teachers.

Preparing Future Physics Teachers - June 19, 2006 3

Workshops and Summer Institute Interactions with

Scientists

Lab Kit Development

• Updates on advances in physics/technology

• Building a community of physics teachers

• Scientists help to leadworkshops/courses

• Scientists and teachers work together on lab development

• Develop new effective activities for teaching physics/technology

• Commercialize kits

• Build “lending library” of lab kits

CIPTCNS Institute CNS Institute forfor Physics TeachersPhysics Teachers

Building Solutions to Teacher Needs

Intellectual community

of teachers & researchers

HS lab enhancement

Teacherprofessional development

Stimulating advanced students

Preparing Future Physics Teachers - June 19, 2006 4

K-12 target population

Initial focus High school physics

teachers New York State

NY science teachers who attended at least one workshop since inception

Year 1: 105 teachers Year 2: 181 teachers Year 3: 239 teachers Year 4: 365 teachers Year 5: 475 teachers

Location of New York physics teachers who have attended at least one CIPT workshop. Marker color indicates the number of workshops attended.

18% New York State HS physics teachers attended at least one workshop44% of these teachers attended two or more workshops

Number of workshops teacher attended1, 178 56.2%2, 71 22.4%3, 24 7.6%4, 18 5.7%5 to 12, 26 8.2%

Preparing Future Physics Teachers - June 19, 2006 5

Satellite Communities

Satellite Locations New York (146 teachers) Cleveland (35 teachers) Los Angeles (82 teachers) Salt Lake City (35 teachers) Singapore (150 teachers) Jackson, MS (30 teachers)

New YorkJackson, MS Los Angeles

Preparing Future Physics Teachers - June 19, 2006 6

Summer Teacher Institute

Teacher support Cornell academic credit Housing, tuition, stipend Classroom lab equipment

Participants (2003 - 2005) NY (78), other U.S. (10), Singapore (5) 9 teachers returned in 2004 17 teachers returned in 2005

Course DescriptionsPHYS 501 Contemporary Physics for Teachers(2 weeks, 2 credits)A lecture and lab course with a theme of nanoscale science and engineering. Topics include electronics, photonics, nanoscience and particle physics.

PHYS 502 Topics in Physics for Teachers(1 week, 1 credit)A lecture and lab course that changes each year to address the needs of teachers and provide alumni an opportunity to keep updated.

Teachers learn how to use a scanning tunneling microscope to image atoms

Preparing Future Physics Teachers - June 19, 2006 7

Summer Institute Evaluation

Pre/post test results Median score increased (40% to 82%)

Post-course written evaluation Enthusiastic response (see below) All teachers planned to use most labs

at end of courses Follow-up survey (end of school year)

67% return rate for June 2005 survey Overall effect of participation?

(1 = no effect, 5 = enormous effect)• 2003 class: 4.2 (one year later)• 2004 class: 4.6 (one year later)

Average lab implementation rate: 40%

Typical teacher comments from Summer 2005:

“Learning new things from leaders in their fields was the best part”

“Apart from specific content, I’ve been very energized by the experience”

“[This experience will] improve quality and quantity of hands on experiences in areas of modern physics, waves and electronics that I haven’t been able to provide in the past”

Summer 2005 Contemporary Physics graduating class

Preparing Future Physics Teachers - June 19, 2006 8

Short Workshops

“Excellent talk – good for enrichment and extensions”

Most interesting scientific concept:

“how nanotubes are made”

McEuen lab tour

Lipson lecture

LED lab

“Awesome lab for modern physics—a rarity!”

Short workshop stats: Average 10 per year, various locations Average 40 teachers per Cornell workshop Average rating for Cornell workshops: 4.8 (1 =

waste of time, 5 = extremely useful)

Lecture topics included: Michal Lipson, “Nanophotonics” George Malliaras, “Organic light emitting devices” Melissa Hines, “Using surface chemistry to

improve tiny resonators”

Preparing Future Physics Teachers - June 19, 2006 9

Overview of CNS Lab Development Effort

Assemble a suite of ~50 lab kits Themes

Nanoscale science and engineering Fundamental physical concepts

Targets High-school curriculum Introductory college courses

Teacher

Hands-onactivity

CNS FacultyIntro

NanotechnologyCourse

CNSGrad Student

Preparing Future Physics Teachers - June 19, 2006 10

New CNS Labs

The Phantastic Photon Atomic force microscopy Imaging atoms with a STM Resistance of gold nanowires Light emitting diodes Thin films and interference Communicating with light The phantastic photon Pinball analogy to Bohr model Rutherford scattering Quantum socks Superconductivity and resistance Exploring wave phenomena Water analogy to electric circuits Resonance Physics of rock climbing Chaos Vortex rings Rollercoaster kinematics Discovering Ohm’s law There’s the Rub Labs in blue available at www.westhillbio.com

Water Analogy to Electric Circuits

Preparing Future Physics Teachers - June 19, 2006 11

CNS Lending Library

2003/04Cornell – 24 requests

2004/05Cornell – 40 requestsCA – 14 requests

2005/06Cornell – 64 requestsCA – 17 requestsUT – 3 requests

Lending library activity:

More than 3400 students used lending library kits in 2005/06 school year

Preparing Future Physics Teachers - June 19, 2006 12

Next steps

Continue workshops and summer institute for physics teachers Maintain two-week course “Contemporary Physics for Teachers” New one-week course each year to update alumni Continue offering one-day workshops in a variety of locations

Continue building suite of physics lab kits Goal: 5-10 new kits per year Commercialize additional kits as appropriate

Develop middle school level programs Poorest, minority-serving districts infrequently offer physics Many students lose interest in science in middle school Pursue additional funding for development of middle school level

activities and workshops