Contents

Teaching & Design
Summary
Teaching Positions
Philosophy
Intro. Astronomy
Elementary Methods
Computer Methods
Elementary Teaching
Ivy Tech
High School
Oregon Adventure
STREAMS

Teaching: Ivy Tech State College

Context	This is an introductory physics course for returning students who are working toward their associate degree in either mechanical engineering or electrical engineering. This was a small course of only eight students and as such I could engage in much more interactive dialogue with the students and could more easily assess each student's prior knowledge of physics and mathematics.
Conditions	All of the students in this course were adult students who had not taken a physics course since high school and also had little math background. Hence, a goal of this course was to support students in developing not only a conceptual understanding of physics but also a stronger working knowledge of algebra and calculus concepts. When designing the course, I focused on a conceptual understanding of physics concepts while scaffolding students understanding mathematics. By the conclusion of the course the students were working on real world problems such as heat flow through different materials and how to design structures that could withstand various forces.
Scope	I taught this course during my first semester as an IST graduate student which was in the fall of 1997.
Role	I was the sole instructor for this course and as such I was responsible for designing the syllabus, assessments, and also developing laboratory activities. When I took over the course, the lab was not an integral part of the course, but I worked on how to better integrate laboratory activities into the course structure.