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A new model for learning? Nature-centred education. From the OAPT Newsletter, March 2012.
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How can you make homework more effective? Read on! From the OAPT Newsletter, December 2012
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From the OAPT Newsletter, June 2012.
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What makes an inquiry class work? In part, it is the physical design of your classroom - both seating and equipment. Good design will encourage the attitudes and skills that inquiry thrives on. From the OAPT Newsletter, April 2012.
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Your students can achieve learning gains that the greatest lecturers would envy. Good pedagogy trumps razzle-dazzle! From the OAPT Newsletter, February 2012.
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The quality of our instruction should be quantitatively tracked and carefully examined to help us as teachers learn how to teach better. I present data from my Gr. 12 physics class. From the OAPT Newsletter, September 2011.
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Why change? The research confronts us with compelling reasons for change. While there are many challenges, there are also many solutions! From the OAPT Newsletter, April 2011.
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We all wish our students were better at problem solving, but how do we get them there? I present a solution
my students know as "The Physics Challenge" which is based on the Cooperative Group Problem Solving work of Ken
and Pat Heller from the University of Minnesota. From the OAPT Newsletter, February 2011.
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How do we train students how to work well in groups? Most of us teachers have very little training ourselves.
and don't have the tools or techniques to help students overcome their often justified resistance to regular group work.
This articles from the November issue of the OAPT newsletter offers some strategies and materials.
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For two years I have been experimenting with a new model of physics teaching - lectures are eliminated, students work
each class in groups using materials borrowed from or modelled on the products of Physics Education Research. This article
provides an overview of my reformed Gr. 12 physics course. From the September 2010 issue of the OAPT newsletter.
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How do we best use demos in the physics classroom? Do we want the whiz-bang or the hmmm....? Roberta and Chris lead the demo show with a few of their favourites and provide some background on effective demonstrations. Please bring your own demos along to share with everyone and we will have some great discussions.
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This year we shift the keynote focus to provide examples of how OAPT members have turned PER research into practice in their high school classrooms. Dave Doucette will elaborate on Carl Weiman's rationale for change, Glenn Wagner will demonstrate techniques to achieve this change, and Chris Meyer will reveal how change has played out in his physics classrooms. The vision they outline will provide a framework for the PER workshops led by these three and many others. This conference will ensure our OAPT membership remains solidly on the crest of this reform wave.
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As teachers we cannot simply tell the story of physics and expect students to "get it". Physics students must construct their own knowledge and relive the story of physics for themselves in order to build real understanding. Join Chris Meyer and Dave Doucette as they share their techniques for helping students do exactly that. In this workshop you will experience a day in Chris's reformed physics classroom - a lecture-free, group working hive of activity - as you tackle the topic of circular motion. Dave will lend his expertise in psychology and brain-based learning to help adapt your teaching to the way real brains actually work. You will leave this workshop with all the materials you need to begin reformed physics teaching the Monday you return to school!
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Forces are our bread and butter, but is your bread getting a bit stale? Chris will help you teach forces using the latest techniques brought to you courtesy of Physics Education Research. A deep conceptual approach to learning forces through inquiry requires a rewriting of our traditional recipes to add in all sorts of new flavours. Come and enjoy the new education taste sensation! When you leave, you will be armed with all the resources you need to dramatically boost your students' appetite for forces.
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Are you lost in the fields? Learn how to tackle this challenging unit the inquiry way! Find out how to turn your class into a hive of group-working activity using Chris's newly developed unit. After a quick introduction to teaching without lectures, you will get started exploring this topic and trying out the activities and investigations. You will leave with resources at hand (and online) that will allow you to start teaching fields the very next day (or once you track down your ebonite rods)! This topic is foundational for electrical engineering and biochemistry, so it's time we give fields their due. No more wandering!
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How to use problems to motivate learning and reinforce connections with physical reality.
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"Reformed Physics Teaching" and "Understanding Forces"
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How do we encourage the adoption of technology in the physics classroom? Through the combinination of good technology, pedagogy and subject knowledge. This presentation provides examples of my use and data supporting its success.
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An introduction to teaching physics by inquiry through the topic of circular motion. What does an inquiry class look like? How does an inquiry course run? What makes an inquiry investigation work? Find out here! Presented at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics.
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An introduction to teaching physics by inquiry through the topic of circular motion. What does an inquiry class look like? How does an inquiry course run? What makes an inquiry investigation work? Find out here!
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Stop Teaching! A Sample of a Gr. 11 Inquiry-based Physics Program. Presented to the TDSB Eureka Science Teachers Conference
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Electricity by Inquiry, A Sample of a Gr. 11 Inquiry-based Physics Program. Presented to the Physics Teachers Alliance of Toronto
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Two presentations: "Stop Teaching!" and "Cooperative Group Problem Solving"
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"My Experiments with PER", and "The Physics Challenge - Cooperative Group Problem Solving". Presented May 13 & 14, 2011
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"How to Build an Active-Learning Physics Course", and "Cooperative Group Problem Solving". Presented March 22, 2011
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Tired of lecturing? Students inert? It's time to change how physics is taught. This presentation will help you
transform your physics classroom into an inquiry-based, group-working hive of activity. February 18, 2011
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How do you to begin reforming your biology and chemistry classes using active-learning methods? Find out!
Presented to the Bishop Strachan Science Department, Nov 23, 2010.
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What are the changes and challanges required to transform your teaching practise from lecture-based to
active-learning group work? Presented to the Physics Teachers Alliance, Oct 20, 2010.
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A presentation outlining the design of my reformed Gr. 12 physics course which has been redesigned with the
help of Physics Education Research. Lectures are eliminated and students work in groups on inquiry-based
activites and problem solving challenges.