Teachers Using a Novel Curriculum on an Introduction to Newtonian Mechanics: The Effects of a Short-Term Professional Development Program

ABSTRACT

The project described here was aimed at developing and evaluating a novel curriculum with corresponding instructional materials for middle school students on an introduction to Newtonian mechanics, based on physics education research findings. A case study showed that teachers who attended a half-day workshop on the curriculum subsequently enacted these materials in their classrooms appropriately and saw improved student performance. Thus, the project suggests that with only a relatively short amount of training time teachers are able to utilize such materials and consequently to improve teaching and learning in physics classes. We therefore regard it as a promising approach for professional development programs.

KEYWORDS:

• curriculum materials
• Newtonian mechanics
• professional development

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Michael Malvern Hull, PhD, for his constructive criticism and for proofreading the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.