Physics 2997

PHYSICS 2997

Teaching of Physics

TERM (Fall 2013)

  • Lecturer: Dr. Chandralekha Singh

  • Office: 221 A Allen Hall

  • Office hours: by appointment

  • Phone: 624-9045

  • E-mail: BEST WAY TO CONTACT ME clsingh@pitt.edu

  • Lecture: Friday 3-4.50 pm 105 Allen Hall

  • Text: None, Journal articles or assignments for homework/class discussion will be assigned in class

Course Description

This is a mandatory course for all physics graduate students. The overall objective of this course is to prepare incoming graduate students for their duties as Teaching Assistants (TAs) and lay the foundation for any subsequent teaching role they may assume. This course will introduce students to the principles of learning and physics education research-based curricular and pegagogical approaches using concrete examples. There will be opportunity to reflect upon various aspects of the course and teaching and learning in general.

Courseinfo

The syllabus for this course will be available at the courseweb site for this course. You can access this site by going to http://courseweb.pitt.edu and typing your university account username and password. This site can also be used for discussion forums related to this course in which your fellow classmates and instructor can participate.

Homework

All students have to submit at least two "reflective statements" about teaching during the semester: one reflective statement should be submitted during the first week of the course and another one during the last week of the course. The reflective statement should summarize your teaching goals as a TA, what you think are (were) the most challenging aspects of teaching, how you deal (dealt) with them and in your view what would be an ideal way to conduct your TA responsibilities. Please adapt this reflective statement to the kind of class you will be TAing (recitation section, laboratory, grading etc.). Also, write in your reflective statement what you think are some effective methods for assessing student learning. There will be video-taping of each student's teaching and discussion about it during the semester. You and your fellow classmates will be given a protocol for evaluating your teaching and those of others. Reading material and homework assignments will be assigned per week as needed. If you are assigned a journal article related to teaching, you have to read the article at home and be prepared to discuss various issues related to the article with fellow students in the class.

Grading Scheme

Students will be graded using the S/N option. Satisfactory performance requires full participation in this course without missing any class. Also, not more than two excused absences are allowed (excused absence means that you either have taken permission from the instructor ahead of time, e.g., if you have to go to a conference which is not in Pittsburgh or you have a medical emergency in which case you should bring a doctor's note immediately after you get better).

If you have any questions, please contact me at: clsingh@pitt.edu