Preparing Future Physics Teachers - June 19, Center for Nanoscale Systems Institute for Physics Teachers CNS Educational Mission: To assist and support K-12 physical science teachers

Preparing Future Physics Teachers - June 19, Needs of High-School Physics Teachers Intellectual community  Relatively little contact with university scientists  Isolation from peers (typically one physics teacher/school) Professional development  Few appropriate resources to learn about modern physics and technology  Need to increase confidence with scientific concepts Lab enhancement  Few hands-on activities for teaching modern physics  Few resources for equipment (~$20 per pupil per year)  New learning standards require more inquiry labs Stimulation for most advanced students  Need access to university-level scientists and resources Source: Conversations with and surveys of physics teachers.

Preparing Future Physics Teachers - June 19, Workshops and Summer Institute Interactions with Scientists Lab Kit Development Updates on advances in physics/technology Building a community of physics teachers Scientists help to lead workshops/courses Scientists and teachers work together on lab development Develop new effective activities for teaching physics/technology Commercialize kits Build “lending library” of lab kits CIPT CNS Institute for Physics Teachers Building Solutions to Teacher Needs Intellectual community of teachers & researchers HS lab enhancement Teacher professional development Stimulating advanced students

Preparing Future Physics Teachers - June 19, K-12 target population Initial focus  High school physics teachers  New York State NY science teachers who attended at least one workshop since inception  Year 1: 105 teachers  Year 2: 181 teachers  Year 3: 239 teachers  Year 4: 365 teachers  Year 5: 475 teachers Location of New York physics teachers who have attended at least one CIPT workshop. Marker color indicates the number of workshops attended. 18% New York State HS physics teachers attended at least one workshop 44% of these teachers attended two or more workshops

Preparing Future Physics Teachers - June 19, Satellite Communities Satellite Locations  New York (146 teachers)  Cleveland (35 teachers)  Los Angeles (82 teachers)  Salt Lake City (35 teachers)  Singapore (150 teachers)  Jackson, MS (30 teachers) New York Jackson, MS Los Angeles

Preparing Future Physics Teachers - June 19, Summer Teacher Institute Teacher support  Cornell academic credit  Housing, tuition, stipend  Classroom lab equipment Participants ( )  NY (78), other U.S. (10), Singapore (5)  9 teachers returned in 2004  17 teachers returned in 2005 Course Descriptions PHYS 501 Contemporary Physics for Teachers (2 weeks, 2 credits) A lecture and lab course with a theme of nanoscale science and engineering. Topics include electronics, photonics, nanoscience and particle physics. PHYS 502 Topics in Physics for Teachers (1 week, 1 credit) A lecture and lab course that changes each year to address the needs of teachers and provide alumni an opportunity to keep updated. Teachers learn how to use a scanning tunneling microscope to image atoms

Preparing Future Physics Teachers - June 19, Summer Institute Evaluation Pre/post test results  Median score increased (40% to 82%) Post-course written evaluation  Enthusiastic response (see below)  All teachers planned to use most labs at end of courses Follow-up survey (end of school year)  67% return rate for June 2005 survey  Overall effect of participation? (1 = no effect, 5 = enormous effect) 2003 class: 4.2 (one year later) 2004 class: 4.6 (one year later)  Average lab implementation rate: 40% Typical teacher comments from Summer 2005: “Learning new things from leaders in their fields was the best part ” “Apart from specific content, I’ve been very energized by the experience” “[This experience will] improve quality and quantity of hands on experiences in areas of modern physics, waves and electronics that I haven’t been able to provide in the past” Summer 2005 Contemporary Physics graduating class

Preparing Future Physics Teachers - June 19, Short Workshops “Excellent talk – good for enrichment and extensions” Most interesting scientific concept: “how nanotubes are made” McEuen lab tour Lipson lecture LED lab “Awesome lab for modern physics—a rarity!” Short workshop stats:  Average 10 per year, various locations  Average 40 teachers per Cornell workshop  Average rating for Cornell workshops: 4.8 (1 = waste of time, 5 = extremely useful) Lecture topics included:  Michal Lipson, “Nanophotonics”  George Malliaras, “Organic light emitting devices”  Melissa Hines, “Using surface chemistry to improve tiny resonators”

Preparing Future Physics Teachers - June 19, Overview of CNS Lab Development Effort Assemble a suite of ~50 lab kits Themes  Nanoscale science and engineering  Fundamental physical concepts Targets  High-school curriculum  Introductory college courses Teacher Hands-on activity CNS Faculty Intro Nanotechnology Course CNS Grad Student

Preparing Future Physics Teachers - June 19, New CNS Labs The Phantastic Photon Atomic force microscopy Imaging atoms with a STM Resistance of gold nanowires Light emitting diodes Thin films and interference Communicating with light The phantastic photon Pinball analogy to Bohr model Rutherford scattering Quantum socks Superconductivity and resistance Exploring wave phenomena Water analogy to electric circuits Resonance Physics of rock climbing Chaos Vortex rings Rollercoaster kinematics Discovering Ohm’s law There’s the Rub Labs in blue available at Water Analogy to Electric Circuits

Preparing Future Physics Teachers - June 19, CNS Lending Library 2003/04 Cornell – 24 requests 2004/05 Cornell – 40 requests CA – 14 requests 2005/06 Cornell – 64 requests CA – 17 requests UT – 3 requests Lending library activity: More than 3400 students used lending library kits in 2005/06 school year

Preparing Future Physics Teachers - June 19, Next steps Continue workshops and summer institute for physics teachers  Maintain two-week course “Contemporary Physics for Teachers”  New one-week course each year to update alumni  Continue offering one-day workshops in a variety of locations Continue building suite of physics lab kits  Goal: 5-10 new kits per year  Commercialize additional kits as appropriate Develop middle school level programs  Poorest, minority-serving districts infrequently offer physics  Many students lose interest in science in middle school  Pursue additional funding for development of middle school level activities and workshops