PHY500: an Online Graduate Course
in Physics Education for HS Teachers
Daniel MacIsaac and Luanna Gomez
Physics
SUNY College at Buffalo
Buffalo, NY 14222
<macisadl@buffalostate.edu>
Abstract
PHY500: Physics Education Seminar (online) is
designed to lay a foundation of Pedagogical Content
Knowledge (PCK) in high school Physics Teaching
scholarship, to engage high school Physics Teachers as
practical consumers of physics and science education
scholarship, and to foster critical reflection on their own
teaching practices. We describe purpose, content, activity,
and lessons learned from offering PHY500 to 78 middle
and high school physics teachers since 2002.
An expectation of a secondary teacher
program is to be able to lead the student to
understand the importance of thinking
critically about what and how they will teach
in the physics high school classroom (Arons,
1997, Grossman, 2005; McDermott &
DeWater, 2000).
Other Goals
Student population and context




†
1500+ students†
Urban, suburban, and rural
school districts
NYS Regents exam in
physics & physical science
The secondary physics exam
is administered during the
spring term in grade 12
(N = 4500+ students)
includes secondary, intermediate,
and elementary students.
Regents’ examination background

The exam‡:
•
•
•
is aligned with New York State core curriculum¶;
has been administered since 1979; and
contains 3 sections:
• multiple choice,
• constructed response (e.g. requires a short answer or
•
‡
calculation), and
extended constructed (e.g. requires a written passage or
multi-step calculation)
See, for example, http://www.nysedregents.org/testing/scires/regentsphys.html
¶The NYS core curriculum may be viewed at http:///www.nysed.gov
June 2008 secondary-level student
data (Item 1)
Item 1
Major learning goal: To be able to
discern that measured quantities can
be classified as either a vector or a
scalar.


Difficulty: 0.80
Correct: 80%
Concept multiple-choice question
The speedometer in a car does
not measure the car’s velocity
because velocity is a
(1)
vector quantity and has
magnitude and direction
(correct).
(2)
vector quantity and does not
have a direction associated with
it.
(3)
scalar quantity and has a
direction associated with it.
(4)
scalar quantity and does not
have and does not have a
direction associated with it.
June 2008 secondary-level student
data (Item 2)
Item 2
Major learning goals: To recognize that
an object or system has a kinetic
energy associated with its velocity,
and that its gravitational potential
energy depends solely on the relative
positions of the objects in that system.


Difficulty: 0.48
Correct: 47%
Concept multiple-choice question
A car travels from point A to point
B at constant speed up a hill. As
the car travels its gravitation
potential energy
(1)
increases and its kinetic energy
decreases.
(2)
increases and its kinetic energy
remains the same (correct).
(3)
remains the same and its kinetic
energy decreases.
(4)
remains the same and its kinetic
energy remains the same.
June 2008 secondary-level student
data (Item 3)
Item 3
Major learning goals: To recognize
that an object or system has a
kinetic energy associated with its
velocity, and that its gravitational
potential energy depends solely
on the relative positions of the
objects in that system.


Difficulty: 0.75
Correct: 68%
Short calculation item
A 65kg pole vaulter wishes to
vault at a height of 5.5m.
Calculate the minimum amount
of kinetic energy the vaulter
needs to reach the height if air
friction is neglected and all the
vaulting energy is derived from
kinetic energy. [Show all work,
including the equation and
substitution with units.]
Correct answer: KE = 3500 J
(rounded to 2 significant figures)
June 2008 secondary-level student
data (Items 4-6)
Major learning goal: Interpretation of
graphs
Item 4

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Difficulty: 0.97
Correct: 97%
Item 5
 Difficulty: 0.93
 Correct: 93%
Item 6
 Difficulty: 0.45
 Correct: 27%
Multi-step calculation item
Item 4: Plot the data points for
the dart’s maximum vertical
displacement versus spring
compression. [Use the
information in the data table (not
shown).]
Item 5: Draw the line or curve of
best fit.
Item 6: Using information from
your graph, calculate the energy
provided by the compressed
spring that causes the dart to
achieve a maximum vertical
displacement of 3.50m. [Show all
your work, including equation
and substitution with units.]
Teacher data collection (preliminary)
Individual teacher interviews (N ~ 3)
Teachers were asked whether they believed
computation-based (i.e., formula-driven) problems
were more or less challenging for students than
concept-based (i.e., qualitative) problems on the
Regents’ exam in physics/physical science—they
believed that the calculation problems were more
difficult than conceptual ones!
Tentative conclusion
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Conceptual items may be more difficult than most
calculation-driven ones
Teachers may not appreciate the value of concept
questions and dismiss the results because they are
perceived as “trick” questions.
More time may be spent preparing students for the
Regents exam in physics with equations rather than
concepts.
[Teacher quotes go here]
Implications

[Teachers’ attitudes]
[Instruction]

[Motivation for further inquiry]
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Acknowledgements
SUNY Buffalo State College
Kathleen Falconer, Elementary Education and Reading
Western New York Regional Information Center
Timothy Johnson, Erie 1 BOCES