Dickinson Summer Seminars on Teaching Physics
Using Interactive Teaching Methods on Computers
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V. Communications
Finding out about ITMC seminars at
Dickinson: Respondents
reported finding out about ITMC from a variety of different
sources (see Chart 24).
In addition to the specific and general sources listed
above, Change magazine was mentioned twice, and the
NSTA meeting was listed three times. The NSTA meeting
and the PNACP (Pacific Northwest Association of College Physics)
meetings were both mentioned once.
Keeping up with ITMC on the World Wide Web: When it
comes to keeping up on developments in ITMC, the world wide
web was reported as being useful to some. Use was variable,
however; on the light side among those who responded to the
web use question (n=29). Of the eight respondents at
the low end of the spectrum, use was described as once
(1), twice (1), not often (3), some (1)
or occasionally (2). Those respondents in the middle
ranges described using the web a couple of times a year
(7). Respondents reporting higher use of the web (14 total)
indicated using it about once a month (8), twice
a month (3) and once a week (3).
A larger number of respondents reported using the web,
but failed to follow up with information on how often.
In addition to those who said they used the Dickinson web
site (30) and the Tufts Web site (12), a number of respondents
indicated use of other sites to enhance their teaching of
physics (see Table 4). Note: Those sites mentioned more than
once list the number of mentions in parentheses.
| Table 4: Other WWW Sites Listed |
| U. Maryland (4) |
U. Washington (3) |
San Diego State U.
(CPU) (2)
|
| Harvard (Mazur) (2) |
Alan Cairns page (2) |
Project Galileo
(Harvard) (2)
|
| NASA |
U. North Carolina |
NC State |
| Berkeley |
Arizona State U.
(Modeling Physics)
|
Sci Ed
web page
|
|
PAS, Vernier, PASCO
on-line catalogues
|
Various sites identified by students
and other faculty
|
ERIC
database
|
Getting the word out about ITMC to others: Question
about getting the word out to others drew a wide variety of
responses. Forty-one respondents reported spreading the word
about ITMC to an average of six other faculty members within
their institutions, or about 250 others, overall. Sixty-seven
respondents reported spreading the word to an average of about
three faculty members outside their institutions, or to about
180 others, overall.
The most common means of dissemination reported was through
informal word-of mouth conversations. Seventy-five respondents
reported spreading the word this way (82%). Fifty-two reported
having specific conversations with colleagues to encourage
them to attend a future ITMC workshop at Dickinson (57%).
Interestingly, nearly a third of the respondents (28, 31%)
report spreading the word about ITMC by giving workshops and
presentations (see Chart 25).
RELATING INFORMATION ABOUT ITMC TEACHING
METHODS:
Means of Dissemination
An open-ended question about the means of dissemination
elicited a variety of more specific responses, as listed in
the following table. Demographic data about each respondent
is listed in the row immediately above their comment in the
table (see Table 5).
|
Table 5: Spreading the Word About ITMC:
How is it Done?
|
| Year |
Gender |
Experience |
Degree |
Type |
Faculty |
Students |
ID |
| ‘96 |
female |
7 years |
Masters |
public |
7 faculty |
11,000 |
1
|
|
Respondent’s comment:
Presented talk at NC AAPT meeting on my experiences,
gave departmental colloquium on VideoPoint software.
|
| ‘94 |
male |
22 years |
? |
public |
4 faculty |
500 |
4 |
|
Respondent’s comment:
Workshop for the physics teachers at the Gymnasium in
Switzerland.
|
| ‘91 |
male |
33 years |
Bachelors |
private |
4 faculty |
1,800 |
18 |
|
Respondent’s comment:
Presentation at Iowa Academy of Science meeting
|
| ‘95 |
female |
28 years |
2-yr coll. |
public |
2 faculty |
900 |
34 |
|
Respondent’s comment:
Talks at national and regional conferences
|
| ‘90 |
male |
11 years |
Masters |
private |
5 faculty |
3,000 |
39 |
|
Respondent’s comment:
Local high school physics AP class visits to perform
our introductory lab which uses computers and ITMC (3rd
year in a row.)
|
| ‘92 |
female |
34 years |
2-yr coll. |
public |
5 faculty |
17,800 |
42 |
|
Respondent’s comment:
By encouraging colleagues to attend TYC MBL workshop.
By getting colleagues to switch to labs using computers
(MBL) and spreadsheets for graphing and analysis.
|
| ‘92 |
male |
40 years |
2-yr coll. |
public |
1 faculty |
5,200 |
52 |
|
Respondent’s comment:
Presentation at TYC IPC conference and article in CaFD.
|
| ‘95 |
male |
28 years |
PhD |
public |
18 faculty |
20,000 |
59 |
|
Respondent’s comment:
Quarterly meetings with high school teachers.
|
| ‘92 |
female |
25 years |
Bachelors |
private |
2 faculty |
1,000 |
60 |
|
Respondent’s comment:
I conducted 1 workshop for teachers in this area.
|
| ‘95 |
male |
28 years |
Bachelors |
private |
3 faculty |
1,200 |
62 |
|
Respondent’s comment:
I presented a paper at last year's summer AAPT meeting
at Maryland on our first year's experience with ITMC.
|
| ‘96 |
male |
25 years |
Masters |
public |
6 faculty |
12,000 |
64 |
|
Respondent’s comment:
I encourage HS teachers who are in my classes to adopt
the ITMC approach.
|
| ‘95 |
male |
27 years |
Bachelors |
private |
1 faculty |
550 |
82 |
|
Respondent’s comment:
Article submitted to the Physics Teacher.
|
| ‘95 |
male |
6 years |
PhD |
public |
10 |
20,000 |
84 |
|
Respondent’s comment:
Science Summer Camp, Grades 1-9.
|
| ‘90 |
male |
28 years |
Bachelors |
public |
6 |
9,000 |
89 |
|
Respondent’s comment:
Discussed in talks/papers at national AAPT meetings
|
| ‘94 |
female |
30 years |
Bachelors |
public |
5 |
9,000 |
92 |
|
Respondent’s comment:
Presentations at APS/AAPT and AAPT meetings.
|
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