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The course is full, please email wendy@modelinginstruction.org to be added to the waitlist.

Due to the COVID-19 crisis, most face-to-face Modeling Workshops have been canceled and/or replaced by virtual offerings.

Workshop description: Physics Modeling Workshops offer teachers the opportunity to experience a structured inquiry approach to high school physics teaching from both the teacher and the student perspective.  These workshops will incorporate pedagogically appropriate technology and best practices based on physics education research. The basic paradigm of the Modeling approach is to help students overcome their preconceptions about physical systems and become proficient in the scientific modeling process, thus incorporating all of the essential scientific thinking and process skills.

In this course, you will engage in a number of modeling cycles, investigating and developing a model which describes the behavior of a carefully chosen physical system, ultimately using the resulting model to accurately predict the behavior of similar systems.  This Introduction to Modeling course is not a modeling workshop, but rather an online environment which cannot perfectly replicate the experience of collaborative scientific modeling in a face to face environment, in particular the rich discourse that participants practice and learn to facilitate. However, we believe that the online environment has several advantages. 

In the process, you will:

• examine the essential theoretical underpinnings of the modeling approach,
• learn and practice the essential classroom practices and approaches that make learning physics work for the majority of our students,
• use a variety of tools and techniques that can help you further hone your craft,
• hone your understanding of physics concepts, the preconceptions your student will have, and tried and true ways to address them,
• gain a new perspective on how using the scientific method allows students the freedom to investigate and develop these models on their own,
• learn how to effectively moderate interactions between student groups which are designed to give students ownership of their own and each other’s learning,
• experience and practice the potential and the challenges of an online learning environment for student-centered, interactive instruction,
• and build a network of like-minded peers to lean upon in the months and years ahead.

The course will meet from June 22-July 9, every Monday through Thursday, from 11-1 and 2-4 Eastern Daylight Time, and you can expect 1-2 hours of additional work to do at your convenience each day. Topics will include kinematics, dynamics, energy, and possibly other topics in Mechanics.

Dates: June 22- July 9
Meeting times: Monday-Thursday 11 am-1 pm to resume from 2-4 pm EDT
Leaders: Nicholas Park and Ben Grimes
Costs: $750.  .
Graduate level credits: $79 per credit through the University of Pacific 
Location: Zoom

Meet the leaders:
Nicholas Park teaches Physics at Greenhill School in Addison, TX. A strong advocate for learner-centered strategies based on the best research available, Nicholas has been teaching Physics since 1998. He became interested in modeling instruction in 1999, seeing in it a well-designed structure for improving both learning outcomes and the student experience in introductory physics.

Nicholas participated in modeling workshops at ASU in 2001 and 2003. While continuing to perfect his craft, he also began to lead modeling workshops in Texas in 2007. He has additionally led modeling-friendly AP Physics workshops for the College Board since 2014.

Nicholas has taught various levels of physics, from 8th grade physical science to AP Physics C, in both public and private schools. Nicholas helped to design many of Greenhill’s elective physics courses and transformed its Honors Physics course into an AP Physics 1 course. He has most recently helped to create Greenhill’s 9th new grade physics program, with a built-in competency-based grading and self-assessment component. Nicholas holds an MAT in Physics/Math from Duke University and a BA in Physics from Swarthmore College.

Benjamin (Ben) Grimes began his Physics teaching career in 2001 at IUPUI mentoring students in the first semester algebra-based Physics course.  There he discovered his love of teaching, but always believed that his students were still leaving the course without a rich understanding of the underlying principles.  

Benjamin was introduced to Modeling at a Workshop in Indianapolis in 2009.  After learning about the guided inquiry / white boarding approach in his first Mechanics Workshop, Benjamin began implementing Modeling in his classroom, adding more each year while attending workshops every summer.  Benjamin also attended the Modeling Leadership Training Course in New York City in 2017, becoming a certified Modeling Workshop Leader under AMTA.  Since being introduced to Modeling, Benjamin has attended, led or co-led 10 separate workshops in both Mechanics and E&M.

After graduating Purdue University with a Bachelor’s in Physics in 2006, he was hired at Roncalli High School in Indianapolis where he has taught Freshman Physical Science, Astronomy, Introductory Physics, AP Physics 1, AP Physics 2 and AP Physics C Mechanics.  Outside of teaching and modeling, Benjamin has also earned his Master’s Degree in Education from Indiana Wesleyan University in 2012 and served on the board to rewrite the State Standards for Physics in 2015.