The Central Valley Science Project Teacher Retention Institute

and

The Science and MathematicsEducationCenter

offers

Natural Science 140T: Modeling Chemistry

June 18th – June 29th, 2007

Units: 3

Time: 8am to 4pm

Location:FresnoState Campus, McLane Hall Bldg., Rm. # 161

Units: $50.00 per unit (payable to CSU, Fresno Extended Education)

Registration Fee: There will be a registration fee for those teachers who will not be part of the research grant that is sponsoring this summer workshop. The registration fee for non-regional teachers will be $375.00.

Housing:We are currently pursuing this matter with the University Courtyard who may be in the position of offer you affordable housing. We will keep you informed of any information that we receive. Until then, participants will need to pursuit their own lodging arrangements.

Instructors:

Ms. Brenda Royce, Instructor, UniversityHigh School

Dr. David Frank, Professor of Chemistry, FresnoState

Description:

This exciting two week-long program will involve exploring some of the most acclaimed and acknowledged research-based strategies for effectively teaching and learning chemistry. This 3 unit science course focuses on key concepts in high school chemistry from a model-centered perspective. The emphasis is on plans and techniques for helping students to learn concepts in chemistry from the perspective of systematically developed particle models for matter. Instructional strategies include a coherent approach to the role of energy in phase change and chemical change.

As part of the course, participants will review available literature in chemistry education research and then collaborate in applying the instructional strategies learned in this course to develop engaging activities designed to make highly abstract concepts more concrete for greater understanding.

Statement of Learning Outcomes

Participant will learn how to:

  • Use computers and technology in ways that significantly increase student understanding;
  • Use hands-on, guided laboratory activities;
  • Engage students in Socratic dialog both in lecture and laboratory;
  • Address common student misconceptions;
  • Use descriptive, graphical, mathematical, and diagrammatic representations;
  • Develop a small set of conceptual models that students can use to explain discipline dependent phenomena;
  • Create a student-centered chemistry classroom.

Features of Course:

  • The teaching strategies have been adopted from many of the best physics education research groups around the United States.
  • The Modeling Instruction program is a nation-wide effort located at ArizonaState. The Web site URL is
  • Curricular resources will be provided for a full year course in general chemistry.
  • Evaluation tools will be provided.
  • Many of the methods used in this chemistry instruction course are applicable to other courses.
  • This approach has proven to improve students' comprehension in mechanics significantly over traditional teaching methods.

Early Registration for the Modeling Chemistry

Teacher Professional Development Institute 2007