Kelly O'Shea is a well-known member of the physics teaching Twittersphere and blogger. She has helped found and organize the AAPT Physics Teacher Camps which were held just before the national AAPT meeting in the summers of 2015 and 2016 (and will be again in 2017). She teaches at a small, progressive independent school in New York City and uses the modeling method and standards-based grading in her curriculum. You can read more about her in the AAPT Member Spotlight from February 2016. Kelly was raised in Morton Grove and attended Maine East High School: we welcome a native Chicagoan and Cub fan back to her home turf. | Keynote Talk: Model Development: No Lab Instructions Required In the Modeling Instruction pedagogy, students begin each unit with a paradigm investigation. They use the model that they build during that experiment as the basis for all of their knowledge in the unit. By using guided inquiry, students design the observational experiment themselves, eliminating the need for lab instructions. Who needs instructions for their own ideas? In teaching students the process of designing an observational experiment, they learn an important scientific ability that they can use again and again to acquire new knowledge. In this talk, I will share some examples of paradigm experiments and class investigations that my students use as the basis for their physics knowledge. I will also share the process for teaching students to design their own observational experiments, give attendees a chance to practice that skill, and talk about the work I have done recently in figuring out ways to assess those skills and lab work authentically. Workshop (1-4 pm): Facilitating Student-to-Student Discourse with Whiteboards (Description) |
