
Students will be surveyed on their physics knowledge, attitudes, and future career aspirations before and after their physics course, video recordings of student group work will be made, and student written coursework and grades will be collected. To answer these questions, several streams of data will be used: Instructional artifacts and video recordings from teachers’ PD activities and classroom teaching throughout the year will be used to trace the development of teachers’ pedagogical and instructional development.
#Ipass call professional
How does IPaSS impact teachers’ practice and what aspects of the professional development are most useful?.Ongoing research on the IPaSS Partnership Program addresses three central questions In addition to the benefits afforded by implementing a high school physics curriculum better aligned with university expectations, developing a unified secondary and post-secondary physics educator support network will enhance the overall continuity of students’ educational experiences as they transition from high school to college.Īction Research Identify Best Practices to Support Teachers and Students For schools lacking the budget for up-to-date physics lab equipment or the expertise amongst personnel to offer advanced physics, the IPaSS curriculum and associated teacher PD give schools an opportunity to better align their physics course offerings with what will be expected at the university level while creating a cohesive physics teacher network. We are committed to recruitment of teachers from low income, rural and URM-serving schools, as students in at these schools are more likely to miss out on exposure to advanced physics curricula in high school than their peers. The long-term vision of the IPaSS program is a community of Illinois physics teachers who are engaged in continual development of advanced high school physics curricula, teacher-documented examples of these curricula suited for a range of school and classroom contexts, and a research-based set of PD principles aimed at supporting students’ future STEM opportunities and engagement. Our Vision A Vibrant Teaching Community to Strengthen the Next Generation of Engineers improved diversity of students choosing and obtaining STEM degrees in general, and from the U of I in particular.reduced barriers to entering the University of Illinois to obtain a degree.increased student interest in pursuing STEM degrees, including physics.We hope that long-term benefits will include:

Our Goals: This program supports teachers’ adaptation, adoption, and integration of high-quality, university-aligned physics instruction into their classrooms, in turn opening more equitable, clear and viable pathways for students into STEM education and careers. building continuity between secondary schools and U of I to create more coherent pathways for students into engineering.supporting formation of statewide physics teacher communities of practice via sustained professional development rooted in teacher agency and peer collaboration.

working closely with teachers as they adapt, adopt and implement these materials.giving teachers access to materials from an award-winning university curriculum.Our Model: The Illinois Physics and Secondary Schools (IPaSS) Partnership Program responds to these disparities in student access by bringing together Illinois high school physics teachers to participate in intensive PD experiences structured around research-based, vetted, university-level instructional materials. However, access to such advanced physics instruction is not universally available, particularly in low-income serving districts, in which instructional resources for teachers may be more limited, and physics teacher isolation and out-of-field teaching are most common. Our Mission Opening Pathways for Students into EngineeringĪccess to high-quality, advanced physics instruction in high school can open pathways for students to attain university STEM degrees by preparing them for the challenges faced in gate-keeping undergraduate physics courses.
