MARIUS SCHAMSCHULA
APEX
NSF Awards: 1238192
Conventional high school physics instruction often relies on the teacher lecturing. The Alliance for Physics Excellence (APEX) seeks to replace this reliance with evidence based learning (hands on experiments) and other techniques that ask the student to discover the answer for themselves. One such technique taught at APEX workshops uses introductory elicitation questions to have the students bring out their current understanding of the material (or, for that matter, their lack of understanding). A conflict that often arises in the ensuing discussion serves to heighten the student’s interest in the upcoming subject matter.
APEX
NSF Awards: 1238192
Conventional high school physics instruction often relies on the teacher lecturing. The Alliance for Physics Excellence (APEX) seeks to replace this reliance with evidence based learning (hands on experiments) and other techniques that ask the student to discover the answer for themselves. One such technique taught at APEX workshops uses introductory elicitation questions to have the students bring out their current understanding of the material (or, for that matter, their lack of understanding). A conflict that often arises in the ensuing discussion serves to heighten the student’s interest in the upcoming subject matter.
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Tami LaFleur
K-12 STEM Coordinator
Thank you for taking on the issue that high school physics has historically been complicated and inaccessible to many students from the beginning. Bringing a more hands-on approach to the content sounds very appealing. Where has APEX's work already been promoted? Is there anything that I can share with our high school science department at this point in your project? Thank you!
Marius Schamschula
Assistant Professor
Thank you for your interest!
For more information on APEX, please see our website http://alapex.org/, particularly see the wiki, which has more detail about the activities in the Summer Institutes and the Weekend Follow-up Workshops.
Also, there are two prior videos we produced for the Video Showcase in the past two years:
2015: An introduction to APEX: http://resourcecenters2015.videohall.com/presen...
and
2016: The Four Step Method: http://stemforall2016.videohall.com/presentatio...
Tami LaFleur
K-12 STEM Coordinator
Thank you. Have you found physics teachers receptive to using a more hands-on approach versus a traditional lecture?
Marius Schamschula
Assistant Professor
Yes, very much so. Classroom visits have shown the teachers and their students have taken to inquiry based leaning, particularly when combined with the four step method. Students particularly like the white boarding technique, so much so, in fact, that they have been asking teachers in other disciplines to adopt it.
Of course, the transformation of teaching techniques does not occur over night. Our teachers are in APEX cohorts for three years. The RTOP (Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol) pre-APEX and after two years of APEX has shown that teachers are adopting this reformed teaching approach.
Michael Kolodziej
Associate Vice President
Thank you Marius for your work and for sharing with us. I wonder if there are any pain points that you have discovered in adoption of the method, and possibly any effective practices for overcoming them?
Thanks in advance for any insights!
Dale McCreedy
Vice President of Audience & Community Engagement
I very much appreciate the use of introductory elicitation questions to highlight current understandings. Are you evaluating the impact of his PD effort? What are some of the strategies being taught that allow more introverted students or those with less content knowledge adequate room to develop their own knowledge? And - as this approach takes more time than lecture - what are teachers doing to address time constraints?
Marius Schamschula
Assistant Professor
Yes we are constantly evaluating every aspect of our PD.
Indeed, inquiry based learning takes more time that the traditional lecture based method. However, we know from physics Education Research, that the traditional teaching approach does not work, i.e. the students do not absorb the material.
The APEX approach combines several components: 1) Solicitation questions, 2) inquiry learning (generally low tech), 3) modeling and 4) technology (simulations).
Tami LaFleur
K-12 STEM Coordinator
Thank you for the links, Marius. I did use them to find out more about the "four step method" and the "whiteboard method." How many teachers have you done this training with? Is there a certain location in the US that has been through this training?
Marius Schamschula
Assistant Professor
We are currently in year 5 of APEX, about to start the no-cost extension year. As of this last weekend, two of three cohorts of teachers, along with Alabama Science in Motion (ASIM) Specialists, have completed the entire PD. APEX PD consists of three two week Summer Institutes and a total of nine two day Weekend Workshops (actually Friday/Saturday). Our cohorts are drawn from the entire state of Alabama.
Dale McCreedy
Vice President of Audience & Community Engagement
If you had one 'take-home' message about teaching/facilitating physics for teachers - what would it be?
Marius Schamschula
Assistant Professor
APEX has shown that it is possible to start with a group of teachers, predominantly trained as biology (~60%), general science (~20%), math (~10%), and within a span of three years transform them into experts in physics Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) and Discipline Content Knowledge (DCK).
As mentioned above, Alabama has the advantage of the statewide network of ASIM specialists (https://cws.auburn.edu/asim/Home/Home), who provide the high school teachers with laboratory equipment and further training. As the specialists have also been trained by APEX, and have equipment provided for APEX activities, we anticipate that the impact of the reformed physics curriculum will last many years into the future.
Dale McCreedy
Vice President of Audience & Community Engagement
Thanks Marius! Good luck with this - what an impact increased inquiry will likely have!
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