Science teachers prepare to teach Physics First
 |
 About 30 science teachers, primarily from District 117, participated in a week-long training session from June 3-6 to prepare them to teach a physics class designed for incoming freshmen.
The training is part of a national initiative called Physics First that flip-flops the traditional science curriculum in high schools: Instead of beginning with biology freshman year, students begin with physics and end their science education with biology.
During the training, teachers collaborated in small groups to complete the same physics lab assignments they will be assigning to their students and to familiarize themselves with the textbook.
The Physics First trainers were science teachers based from as far away as New Mexico and Massachusetts, said John Allen, regional sales manager for CPO Science, the company that arranged the training for the district.
The District 117 School Board approved the proposal to adopt Physics First last September. According to the American Association of Physics Teachers web site, Physics First will "lay the foundation for more advanced high school courses in chemistry, biology or physics" and is "an important and useful way to bring physics to a significantly larger number of students than has been customary." |
