Dissertations and Theses @ UNI
Investigating the effectiveness of a professional development program for secondary physics teachers
Availability
Open Access Thesis
Keywords
Physics teachers--Training of--Iowa; Follow-up in teacher training--Iowa; High school teachers--Training of--Iowa;
Abstract
National studies have exposed a shortage of highly-qualified high school physics teachers, with over 25% of physics teaching vacancies in Iowa being very difficult to fill or unable to be filled. In an effort to improve the nation’s education system, there have been broad changes in the framework of what constitutes high-quality teaching which supports a trend away from traditional, lecture-based teaching methods and towards interactive, student-centered methods. This study analyzed the impact of a professional development program that aimed to prepare more high-quality high school physics teachers by building physics content knowledge through the use of reformed teaching techniques that could then be applied in their classrooms. The Iowa Physics Teacher Instruction and Resources (IPTIR) program was a three-year professional development program with a total of 35 high school science teacher participants. Program staff administered conceptual and pedagogical evaluation to teachers, and collected conceptual assessment data from their students. Analysis of this data provided insight into the program’s effectiveness as well as implications for future professional development programs. The IPTIR program enabled 20 out-of-field high school physics teachers to obtain a State of Iowa physics teaching endorsement, and improved the content knowledge of the teachers and their students through the use of interactive engagement techniques such as PRISMS PLUS learning cycles and Modeling Instruction. The results of this study reveal the effectiveness of programs such as IPTIR, and emphasize a need for further similar programs to produce more quality high school physics teachers.
Year of Submission
2014
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Science Education Program
Department
Department of Physics
First Advisor
Lawrence Escalada
Date Original
2014
Object Description
1 PDF file (vii, 94 pages)
Copyright
©2014 Meghan Reynolds
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Reynolds, Meghan, "Investigating the effectiveness of a professional development program for secondary physics teachers" (2014). Dissertations and Theses @ UNI. 74.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/etd/74
