Physics Recent research data provide evidence of a strong focus on the development and fostering of Math and English skills at the elementary level. Unfortunately, other areas of study have not received necessary attention (Goodstein, 2001). At the University of Florida, the School of Teaching and Learning teamed with the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences to address this situation. With the assistance of a PT3 grant, Dr. Gene Dunnam, Physics professor, and Richard Hartshorne, Teaching and Technology Fellow, have designed a course entitled Our Physical World: Science for Elementary Teachers. The course discusses basic physical science for elementary teachers, emphasizing applications from everyday life. The scope of the course is similar to many college-level science courses. However, while most courses focus solely on the acquisition of science content knowledge, Our Physical World also focuses on the acquisition of pedagogical content knowledge in science (Duggan-Haas, Enfield, & Ashman, 2000). Topics addressed in the course begin with the scientific method and span the entire spectrum of the physical sciences, even discussing Einstein and relativity. The purpose of this course is twofold. First, the course provides tomorrow’s teachers with appropriate science content knowledge. Second, the course models appropriate methods of integrating meaningful science learning into the elementary classroom. In order to attain these goals, Our Physical World was designed and created as a web-based learning environment. There were three major reasons for creating this environment. The first reason was accessibility of the information. While initially intended for students of the course, we thought that the information presented, both in the course and on the website, might be useful to other elementary teachers. The second reason was adaptability. With a web-based learning environment, activities and information can easily be updated and modified. The final reason was ease of communication. On the website, individuals will be able to suggest activities that they have found useful, and provide feedback to the creators of the website. There are four major components to the website: a course information area, a relational database, a Sunshine State Standards search mechanism, and an administrative area. The first component of the course is the “Course Information”. This area contains important information for students enrolled in Our Physical World. Items such as scheduled events, syllabus information, readings, assignments, and experiments are listed here. A second major component of the course is the relational database known as the PT3 Physical Science Database. Upon entering the learning environment, teachers are provided with various activities designed to promote meaningful science learning. This database is part of the course website, but potentially could be accessed by elementary teachers elsewhere. Eventually, the database might be expanded to cover other science areas, such as the biological and chemical sciences. The premise of the database is that elementary teachers can search for activities by choosing various criteria. The search criteria include the following: topic, grade level, activity type, amount of materials necessary, and Sunshine State Standards (Brogan, 1995). Any, or all, of the search criteria may be used when searching for various activities. The search areas of topic and grade level, while general, are useful in narrowing down any search for activities. Activity types will include simulations, laboratory experiments, web-quests, tutorial, classroom demonstrations, and others. One of the more interesting areas of search criteria is the “amount of materials necessary”. Upon leaving elementary education programs, students go to different schools, with each of the schools possessing different resources. The “amount of materials necessary” field is broken down into four levels, addressing the varying level of resources. Theses levels are low, medium, high, and computer based. While each of these levels is relative, simply examining a few of the activities for each of the levels would make the criteria for each very clear. A third component is the Sunshine State Standards search mechanism. This search option was added, after the initial conception of the database, in order to assist Florida teachers relate science instruction to the appropriate standards. This tool allows students to search content by the Sunshine State Standards. Sunshine State Standards as a search criterion will obviously be of most utility to Florida teachers. The final element of the website is an administrative area. In this area, administrators are able to add, delete, or modify any of the activities or search criteria. Throughout the course, students find appropiate activities on various physical science topics for inclusion into the database. Also, there is an area for individuals using the site to suggest activities by completing information about the suggested activity on a form. These activities are then reviewed by the main site administrator, and, based on quality, either added or not. With further development we hope that this database will prove to be a valuable science instruction resource for teachers everywhere. While only students registered for the course will be able to view the modeling of various activities, it is the opinion of the creators that the database as a stand-alone resource would be extremely useful. As mentioned previously, the database may eventually stand on its own, outside of Our Physical World, and may be expanded to contain other areas of the sciences, and possibly videos of the course activities being modeled. With these additions, the goal of improving the instruction of all sciences at the elementary level may be attained. During the third year, there were changes in both the curriculum and the implementation of educational technology in Our Physical World: Physical Science for Elementary Teachers. The Powerful Ideas In Physical Science (PIPS) curriculum was combined with past curriculum in an effort to create more of a "hands-on" and "discovery learning" atmosphere in the classroom. The course implemented a small group/laboratory format and served as a model for appropriate science instruction at the elementary level. The PIPS curriculum focused on students developing their own understanding of basic physical science concepts likely to be addressed in the elementary classroom. Topics addressed using the PIPS curriculum included Light and Color, Electricity, and the Nature of Matter. Other topics in the course included Measurement, Motion, Energy, and the Nature of Science. The integration of the Personal Response System (PRS) began during the second year of Our Physical World and has played a more prominent role as the course has modified. The PRS is a remote-controlled method of soliciting student responses from a variety of prompts. The PRS is used as a tool for clarifying student understanding of course material and appropriately addressing misconceptions. Questions may be asked either prior to, during, or after a class activity, followed by an appropriate instructor response to the student reactions. The Hyper-Interactive Teaching Technology (H-ITT) software allows for immediate collection of student responses, allows for instant checking of results/understanding, produces a record of student responses which can be examined in more detail after an individual class session, provides a graphical representation of the class responses for immediate examination, and promotes active student engagement in class discussions. The use of Elementary Level Lessons In Physical Science (E.L.L.I.P.S.) in Our Physical World has undergone significant changes since it's first integration into the course. Initially called the PT3 Physical Science Activity Database, this tool was used as a lesson plan resource and collection device for student-created elementary science lessons. As the course and tool changed, so did the manner in which it was implemented in Our Physical World. Originally, students created elementary physical science lessons to be added to the PT3 Physical Science Activity Database. However, we soon noticed that, at this stage in their programs, students often did not possess the necessary skills and knowledge to create exemplary elementary science lessons. As a result, students are now required to find exemplary science lessons and teacher content resources for addition to the E.L.L.I.P.S. tool. We have found that the students enrolled in Our Physical World are much more equipped to successfully and effectively accomplish these tasks. Two other recent additions to the E.L.L.I.P.S. tool include a "discussion board" and a "read/write lesson review section". Due to the fact that these tools are early in their development, they have not been integrated into Our Physical World. However, there are plans to utilize these tools in future versions of the course. Presentations by the Physics Team Hartshorne, R. & Dunnam, F. E. (2002). Teaching science to elementary teachers: Exploring 'Our Physical World' through science and technology. In Willis, D.A., Price, J., & Davis, N.E. (Eds.) 2002 Information Technology and Teacher Education Annual: Proceedings of SITE2002 (pp. 2115-2116). Norfolk, VA: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE).   Resources Duggan-Haas, D., Enfield, M., & Ashman, S. (2000). Rethinking the Presentation of the NSTA Standards for Science Teacher Preparation. Electronic Journal of Science Education, V4 N3, http://www.msu.edu/~dugganha/PCK.htm Goodstein, D. (2001). Re/Views: Science Education Paradox. Technology Review , http://www.techreview.com/magazine/sep01/reviews.asp Brogan, F. (1995). Sunshine State Standards. http://sunshinestatestandards.org
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