First Time Physics Teacher Welcome

First Time Physics Teacher Welcome «

First Time Physics Teachers

WELCOME TO THE PROFESSION!

You have received your fall teaching assignment and you are teaching physics. You examine your preparation and realize that you vaguely remember taking one or two physics courses in college years ago or you perhaps are new to teaching with an extensive background in a technological area but no classroom or education experience. The stockroom contains a legacy of jumbled equipment, which may be foreign in both name and use. Realizing that you're going to have some of the school's best students in your physics class, you are determined to do a good job.

Many physics teachers have had your experience and have survived the same frustration and anxiety that you may be feeling now. This resource book is designed to assist you as you get started. Compiled by Jan Mader and Mary Winn, two high school teachers who are members of the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) and PTRAs, Physics Teaching Resource Agents and based on an earlier version edited by Jim Nelson, this book contains specific ideas and materials relating to the first days of a typical high school physics course as well as laboratory experiments, demonstrations and articles to assist you with an entire year of physics instruction.

Included in the Teacher Background Information is information on the learning cycle approach to teaching physics. The AAPT committee of high school and college teachers recommends the 'phenomenological approach' to physics teaching. Learning cycles tie physical laws and concepts to concrete examples with which students are familiar through everyday experience, laboratory experiments, demonstrations, or films. AAPT endorses this method of instruction. The materials in this book are designed to provide an understanding and use of this approach. Teachers and students find the use of the learning cycle approach more enjoyable and successful than the read-the-book-and-memorize-the-formula approach of physics instruction. In addition there is information and resources that provide helpful techniques for problem solving, alternative assessments, cooperative learning, and laboratory evaluations.

Physics is much more than a body of knowledge. It embodies habits of thought, philosophical attitudes, broad concepts, and basic skills that can be developed slowly all year and can last a lifetime. The New Physics Teacher's Resource Book follows the typical high school physics text. You will find activities and demonstrations that will correspond to your text. Physics is a wonderful adventure of the human mind and spirit. Resolve to make the learning process an adventure you share with your students, mishaps, pitfalls, and all remembering that "Physics is Phun".

Last, but not least, it is highly recommend that you join AAPT. Included in your annual dues is a subscription to The Physics Teacher, an excellent journal containing articles written by and for high school teachers. For additional information contact the AAPT's web page: www.aapt.org. Good luck, and welcome to the profession.