I'm offering a single session; by request, the session will be FRIDAY-SATURDAY, July 14-15. This session is confirmed.
We can take a maximum of 40 participants. We're up to 30 as of June 25. When we're full, we're full!
If you're close enough to Woodberry Forest School, you're welcome to attend in person rather than online (though I'm prioritizing the online experience). We have one participant so far who will be live in studio. Others are certainly welcome - just let me know!
Folks, I'm already teaching several AP summer institutes - see the left-hand sidebar for details. But what if you are looking for physics professional development that is NOT aimed at college-level physics? I mean, I meet so many of you each year who teach on-level, honors, college-prep, Regents... to all ages, to all varieties of student. And in my personal mission to spread physics knowledge to as wide an audience as possible, these sub-college courses represent a critical first point of contact with our discipline. I focus as much energy on my conceptual course as on my AP course each year. So I'd like to focus some of my summer professional development expertise on those who teach these first-level courses.
We've done this for three years now. See the comments at the end of this flyer for participant reviews. They all say, this institute was an amazing, friendly, and productive experience.
I'm offering a two-day institute on July 14-15, 2023. It will be online, broadcasting via Zoom from my lab. Skip past the institute description for fees and registration instructions. The single session will be limited to the first 40 who sign up. The daily agenda is included here at the bottom of the page.
Jacobs Physics
Conceptual Physics Institute Description
July 14-15, 2023
July 14-15, 2023
All levels of high school physics can be taught conceptually – where verbal and experimental reasoning is prioritized over mathematical problem solving. While mathematics are used extensively, they are used as a tool to create predictions about the workings of the natural world. Whether you teach “general”, “on-level”, “honors”, “Regents”, or “college-prep” physics, a conceptual approach can be adapted to most any introductory physics topic – and to most any state or district standards.
In our institute, we will discuss, practice, and share methods of teaching common physics content in a conceptual style. I will be broadcasting from my laboratory via zoom. Time will be devoted to experimental methods that are especially useful at the sub-college level; to course planning on a year-long and a unit basis; and to best-practices physics pedagogy, which differs substantially from pedagogy in other disciplines.
Participants will be given a full-year’s set of classroom-ready materials, including fact sheets, in-class and laboratory activities, assessments, and planning documents. More importantly, through their interactions with the instructor and with their colleagues, participants will develop skills and ideas for adapting these materials to their specific classroom environment. Those attending will also earn a certificate indicating their participation in 15 hours of physics professional development.
How much does it cost: $200 for the weekend. The schedule of events is listed below.
(1) Click the "donate" button below (or in the left column of the blog). It will take you to paypal.
(2) Enter $200.00 as the donation amount, either through paypal or credit card
(3) Click "Add special instructions to seller" or "click here to provide contact info"
(4) In the note, please include your name, preferred contact email, and institution
(5) Fill in payment info and click "donate now" That's all - I'll be back to you within a day or two confirming your registration, and sending you links to the classroom-ready materials.
Cancelation issues: If you register then can't attend, contact me via email. As long as I can replace your spot, I'll send a full refund; if I can't replace your spot, I'll refund all but $25.
Schedule: Each session will include both whole-group presentation/discussion, and breakout groups for activities. In between sessions and during breaks, Greg will be available for informal conversation.
Friday 14 July (all times eastern time)
10:00 Introductions
What does “conceptual” mean – defining levels of physics
Different levels of physics: Culture building in the physics classroom
Different levels of physics: developing your resources
11:30 Eight styles of physics laboratory activities
Including the two best-adapted for conceptual physics
My first day activity – reflection experiment
My first group laboratory experiment – refraction
1:00-1:30 break
1:30 Sequencing your course
Starting the year right: the most important physics teaching skill
Justifying answers with facts
Simple ray diagrams for optics in conceptual physics
Justifying answers with equations
In-class laboratory exercises: circuits
3:00 The daily “quiz”
Tests and quizzes, targeted to different levels
Other sorts of assessment
Preparing for the trimester/semester exam
Adapting a conceptual course to external standards
In-class laboratory exercises: motion graphs
Afternoon – asynchronous
Read through the shared files
Read through the Jacobs Physics blog
Adapt to your district or state standards
Bring questions and ideas for the social or for Sunday
7:30 Optional Zoom social: Dinner, dessert, drinks, and conversation. BYOB, obviously.
Saturday 15 July
10:00 Building and creating experiments with whatever you’ve got
Developing your own in-class lab exercises
Using or substituting inexpensive equipment
In-class laboratory exercises: direction of force and motion
11:30 Methods to speed your grading
In-class laboratory exercises: forces in 2-d
In-class laboratory exercises: motion in 2-d
1:00-1:30 break
1:30 The final third of the year – once skills are built
How I teach impulse/momentum
Energy bar charts at the conceptual level
Laboratory exercises with harmonic motion
3:00 Sharing: Any Other Demos
Online simulations:
The Physics Classroom
The Physics Aviary
Ending the year: the Physics Fight
If you are on the fence, I recommend attending this workshop. I attended last year and I have been using ideas from this workshop in my classroom all school year. I love the emphasis on having students justify their answers. Incorporating "justify your answer" helped my students improve their critical thinking and problem solving skills. I also like how lab activities were incorporated throughout - it's just what my classes needed post-pandemic. I'm looking forward to attending again this July.
ReplyDeleteI highly recommend this institute. I am new to teaching and taught AP Physics for the first time last year. I attended Greg's APSI and then followed up with this institute to help reinforce the methods, information, etc. Greg's institutes made so much difference for me in all levels of physics that I taught last year. Time with him is time well spent!!!
ReplyDeleteOver the past 13 years, I have taught most high school sciences (earth sci, bio, chem, ecology). The past two years, I started teaching AP Physics. I first came across Greg by watching him in college board's AP Physics 1 videos. I was immediately struck by his warm, welcoming approach to physics. The past two years, I had success in my classroom whenever I have tried his ideas and strategies from his videos, his blog, and 5 steps to a 5 review book. This coming year I will be teaching my first general level physics, so I knew that I just had to attend Greg's conceptual summer institute. And Greg turned out to be just as amazing in real life as he was in the videos. I was not disappointed. He laid out a plan that I can follow, from the very first activity on the first day of class to the culminating project of the year. Greg shared his labs, classwork sheets, HW, and assessments. Considering how many hours it would have taken me to find/adapt/create my own curriculum, the cost of this conceptual summer institute is an amazing deal. But Greg doesn't stop there. He makes a convincing argument for teaching conceptual physics to your students, regardless of whether you teach a general or advanced physics class. Greg shows how his approach fosters independence and confidence for students (and first time physics teachers!) And just as important, Greg shares how to approach student (and parent) complaints about grades, what to do when students bring a blank page to you asking for help starting a problem, and responding to poor behaviours. If you've read Greg's blog, you probably recognize some of these topics. But even if you've read every single one of his blog posts and sorted them by topic or unit for future reference (guilty...), attending Greg's class to hear how he weaves together his pedagogy, philosophy, and curriculum is absolutely worth it. Even if you don't teach physics, there's a lot in this class to think about adapting to other science classes. The only two things that could make this course even better would be if everyone could do the class live (instead of virtual) and if the class was a day or two longer. Greg expects his own students to work hard, get better every day, and take care of each other. As a student in his conceptual summer institute, I got to experience all three of those.
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