Physics Courses for Teachers
Have you always wanted to take the time to see how contemporary physics fits with the good old Newtonian physics you have known, loved, and taught? Have you wished for the opportunity to discuss real physics content with other teachers and with people who spend their lives studying physics education? Well now you can!

Who, What, Where, When and Why
How to Register
Course Philosophy
What Teachers are Saying about the Course

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Who: High School teachers who teach physics or who are seeking to deepen their understanding of basic introductory physics topics. Registration is limited to no more than 15 students.

What: Distance learning course on introductory calculus-based Mechanics every spring, E&M every fall – topics will be similar to those in a traditional introductory calculus-based university physics course but will emphasize the atomic nature of matter in ways that are pedagogically novel. The courses will stress the use of fundamental principles to address novel problem situations. The programming language VPython will be used throughout the course to illustrate and examine key concepts. No prior programming experience is required since all necessary programming information will be provided as part of the course. More details on the philosophy of the course are available at the bottom of the page.

When: Mechanics every spring, E&M every fall semester. The courses will follow the NCSU calendar but since they are offered via distance learning, no set dates have been established other than the normal semester start and end dates.

Where: Via NCSU distance learning, using lectures provided via CD, online discussion and homework tools.

Why: To deepen your understanding of basic physics, to provide critical input into the development of this course for teachers, and to earn graduate credits. The courses may count for technology credit since the course makes heavy use of the programming language VPython.

How to Register:
The course title for Spring is PY 581, Matter & Interactions I for Secondary School Teachers, on mechanics.
The course title for Fall is PY 582, Matter & Interactions II for Secondary School Teachers, on electricity and magnetism.

Participants will receive 3 graduate credits and a letter grade; enrollment is limited to 15 students.

The normal sequence is to take mechanics first, but a number of teachers have taken the electricity and magnetism course first, and it went well for them.

These graduate course will deal not only with physics content that is novel though accessible but also with the pedagogical implications of taking a modern view and emphasizing a small number of powerful fundamental principles.

At distance.ncsu.edu, click on How to Apply, then Online Application. If you have not previously taken a course at NCSU, choose to enroll as a NON-DEGREE STUDENT and take Distance Education courses. Then continue with the application.

After you are registered as a non-degree student, the next step is to register for the specific course PY 581 or PY 582, which you do by going to www.ncsu.edu and clicking MYPACK PORTAL. Log in with your new NCSU login and access course registration information.

You should also email Bruce_Sherwood@ncsu.edu of your intent to register, as registration is by permission. He will in turn inform the distance education group that you are a teacher who is eligible to participate.

We're excited about working with you!

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Matter & Interactions (Spring/Fall):
A modern course in physics for high school teachers

Matter & Interactions is a modern two-semester physics curriculum and textbook developed by Prof. Ruth Chabay and Prof. Bruce Sherwood in the Department of Physics at NCSU (http://www4.ncsu.edu/~rwchabay/mi). Sherwood offers a distance learning version of Matter & Interactions for in-service high school physics teachers. Mechanics is taught in the spring and electricity and magnetism in the fall. While the recommended sequence is to start with mechanics, physics teachers have found it feasible to take electricity and magnetism first. The intent is not to train teachers in how to teach this college-level curriculum in high school but rather to enhance teachers’ physics culture, by offering a broad, deep, and contemporary approach to physics which can enhance their approaches to their own teaching. This course will be of particular interest to those whose own physics preparation may not be as strong as they would like, but it will also be of interest to any teacher interested in new insights into contemporary physics and novel physics pedagogy.

Fundamental principles: Physicists place great emphasis on the “reductionist” nature of their science, that starting from a few powerful fundamental principles such as the energy principle one can analyze a very broad range of complex real-world phenomena. Despite this shared viewpoint, most physics curricula inadvertently encourage students to view the subject as one in which there is a huge number of special-case formulas, one for each specific situation. As a result, students come to believe that their task is to plug given numbers into specified formulas, and they rarely encounter a problem that hasn’t already been worked out in detail for them in the textbook. Matter & Interactions strongly emphasizes starting all analyses from fundamental principles, thus empowering students to attack novel situations, not just plug numbers into known solutions.

Atoms: The atomic nature of matter is constantly emphasized throughout the curriculum, and macro-micro connections are continually made. In addition to its intrinsic interest and importance, the emphasis on atoms facilitates integrating subjects that are usually kept completely separate. In the first semester, mechanics and thermal physics are intertwined, culminating in a completely accessible application of quantum statistical mechanics to the thermal properties of solids. In the second semester, electrostatics and circuits are unified thanks to an atomic point of view that makes it possible to understand with a deep sense of mechanism the behavior of DC and RC circuits, analyzed directly in terms of Coulomb’s law and the properties of conductors.

Modeling: In Matter & Interactions students encounter messy real-world situations to be analyzed by making a simplified physical model of the phenomenon, through approximations, simplifying assumptions, idealizations, and estimates. Such physical modeling is at the heart of contemporary physics but is nearly absent from most curricula, which unfortunately contributes to shaping student beliefs that physics is not applicable in the real world.

Computation: It used to be that physics could be characterized as experiment, theory, and their interplay. However, contemporary physics is experiment, theory, computation, and their interplay. Yet even someone with an undergraduate degree in physics may never have done any serious computational physics. In Matter & Interactions even those with no prior experience in programming quickly learn to write programs which produce navigable 3D animations, thanks to the novel VPython programming environment (http://vpython.org). For example, early in the mechanics semester students model a binary star system, with elliptical orbits. Early in the electricity and magnetism semester students write programs to visualize in 3D the electric field of a point charge, and of a dipole. After taking this course teachers will have the skills necessary for writing 3D programs to use for demonstration purposes in their own teaching.

Experiments: Experiments are integrated into the curriculum, typically using very simple apparatus, with emphasis on contributing to conceptual development of the subject. The second semester features a desktop experiment kit with which it is possible to do electrostatic, circuit, and magnetism experiments at home.

Course format: The course is delivered in collaboration with DELTA, the distance learning branch of NCSU. Video lectures provided on CD's include interactive elements in the form of questions to be answered by the viewer during the lecture, just as students responded in the original lecture by using electronic response systems. WebAssign is used for most homework assignments. An online forum brings participants together on a daily basis.

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What teachers are saying about Matter and Interactions for Teachers:

What are the strongest aspects of the course? From the start the professors emphasize the momentum principle and the work-energy theorem. Instead of working out kinematics, friction, and projectile problems for weeks on end, you are immersed in these two principles quickly. Another strength of the course is that you are always learning about modern physics concepts, most of which you can introduce to your students. T. Marvin, Wilmington, Fall 2004

Learning physics based on a fundamental set of principles makes it intuitively appealing. Rather than fumbling through flip charts of formulas, M&I asks students to make connections between a few formulas and the entire first semester curriculum. You become rather attached to some of the principles by the end of the course. S. Weatherford, Burlington, Fall 2004

Is it worth the time and effort? For me, without a doubt, even though I have a Ph.D. in a related area. I learned an incredible amount including some things I never did understand properly when I took physics as an undergrad, or when, unfortunately, I try to teach it to my students! D. Headly, Virginia, Fall 2004

My background is shaky… The professors do an outstanding job guiding you toward the right method or thought process. There’s an extra bonus to this course: You can ask “off the wall” physics or chemistry questions in order to get an answer or to get the latest explanation on, say, sound traveling through various air masses, or the reason the sky overhead is blue. The professors provide very useful answers to any such question, as well as techniques they’ve found effective teaching our students at the college level. T. Marvin, Wilmington, Fall 2004

The instructor was not only a highly gifted physicist, he is a great teacher and most importantly to me, he took a huge amount of time out of his schedule to communicate regularly with the students, answering emails promptly, grading homework promptly, listening to suggestions and asking for our input regularly, and challenging us at a high level but not letting us get lost and give up when the topics turn really abstract or difficult. D. Headly, Virginia, Fall 2004

I had no programming experience before taking this course. But, within an hour, I was bouncing balls off walls and floors and answering homework problems using the program. VPython is a user friendly syntax set up much like the solution to a physics problem. I strongly encourage chemistry teachers to take this course. There is quite a bit of crossover topics to enhance your lesson plans. I've used a couple of M&I ideas when teaching chemistry last spring. S. Weatherford, Burlington, Fall 2004

I was very surprised at how effective a distance learning course could be! Despite the fact that at the time I was in a location with an eleven hour time difference from NCSU, I never felt that I was isolated or that I couldn’t get the help I needed. Indeed the course is so well designed that, despite the challenging level of the material, I never felt frustrated. I felt that the tasks we were given were always at an appropriate level. The instructor varied the level of the tasks so that we had both tasks that reinforced the concepts we were learning in a very concrete way and others that forced us to “stretch” our brains to make connections we hadn’t encountered earlier. The WebAssign problems had obviously been carefully designed as very few were “plug and chug.” The WebAssign problems required us to apply and connect concepts, explain our reasoning, and, sometimes, think hard about our own misconceptions. The programming language VPython was used as a tool for solving computationally complex problems—not just as an “extra” for us to “wow” our students by simulating demonstrations. The instructors are truly passionate in their belief that the introductory physics curriculum needs to be revised to include more twentieth century physics. They have succeeded in their endeavor with the design of this course—I learned more during this course than I ever did in any course on “modern” physics I took as an undergraduate. M. Booker, Fairfax, VA, Spring 2006

This is a strong endorsement of the Matter & Interactions (Mechanics) course taught by Bruce Sherwood of NCSU. It relies entirely on using fundamental principles (momentum, energy, and angular momentum) to treat a wide variety of rich and challenging (definitely not plug-and-chug) problems. 3-D problems are a key part of the course; the use of the VPython modeling language to attack complex problems via stepwise computations is especially rewarding. The textbook and CDs are excellent. Dr. Sherwood answers course-related emails extremely quickly and is very patient. The weekly videochat sessions help to create a limited sense of a classroom environment. I got more out of this course than any other physics course I have ever taken. So, if you're wavering, I urge you to jump in, as long as you can devote 6-10 hours per week to it. Your brain will thank you! John Barrere, Fresno, CA, Spring 2006

I am a high school math teacher who is interested in obtaining a physics add-on to my math teacher’s license. Prior to the 2005-2006 school year it had been over 15 years since my last physics class. I was a bit apprehensive about taking physics again. The math of the course had always made sense, but the science wasn’t always clear to me. The idea of breaking the science into basic principles, instead of a notebook full of formulas that seem to change from topic to topic, appealed to me. This course made sense to me. The course incorporated the last century of physics into a general physics class in a “real-world” way that allowed for meaningful learning. It wasn’t an easy class, but the answers did yield themselves to my hard work. I never felt like I wasn’t ever going to “get it”. Seth McElvaney, Cardinal Gibbons High School, Raleigh NC

For more information on the Matter & Interactions course contact Sharon Schulze by email or call 919-515-6118.