Modeling Workshop in Mechanics

*If you must pay out-of-pocket, please email jane.jackson@asu.edu for a coupon code that will give you a $350 discount, so that your registration cost is only $50. (This is a 1-time special, thanks to generous funding by Salt River Project.)

What you'll learn:

The modeling workshops address aspects of high school physics teaching, including integration of teaching methods with course content as it should be done in the high school classroom. Workshops incorporate up-to-date results of physics and science education research, best high school curriculum materials, use of technology, and experience in collaborative learning and guidance.

Participants are introduced to the Modeling Method as a systematic approach to the design of curriculum and instruction. The name Modeling Instruction expresses an emphasis on making and using conceptual models of physical phenomena as central to learning and doing science.

Adoption of "models and modeling" as a unifying theme for science and mathematics education is recommended by both NSES and NCTM Standards as well as AAAS Project 2061. Mathematics instruction is integrated seamlessly throughout the course by an emphasis on mathematical modeling. Modeling Instruction is aligned with all eight science practices of the NRC Framework for K-12 Science.

Content for an entire semester course is reorganized around models to increase its structural coherence. Participants are supplied with a complete set of course materials and work through activities alternately in the roles of student or teacher. Teachers use computers as scientific tools to collect, organize, analyze, visualize, and model real data

Course content:

• Unit 1: Scientific thinking in experimental settings
• Unit 2: Particle with constant velocity
• Unit 3: Uniformly accelerating particle model
• Unit 4: Free particle model -- inertia and interactions
• Unit 5: Constant force particle model
• Unit 6: Particle models in two dimensions
• Unit 7: Central force particle model
• Unit 8: Modeling energy storage and transfer
• Unit 9: Impulsive force model

What you'll receive:

Certificate showing Continuing Education Units earned

​Prerequisite:

For non-physics teachers, a minimum of one semester of trigonometry-based college physics for science majors.

Limited spaces in the classroom are available. To apply for a space, please e-mail jane.jackson@asu.edu.