UTEP-UMCE News – Dr. Bill Robertson, Fulbright Scholar, UTEP Assistant Professor
Week Five August 17-23, 2008
The following is a summary of the activities that I have been engaged in during the week of August 17-23 as they relate to the work I am doing here at UMCE as part of my Fulbright Scholarship.
US Embassy Radio Interview
This week the US Embassy Radio Interview that I did along with was aired on the Internet and on Chilean radio from here in Santiago. The radio show was broadcasted as an approximately thirty (30) minute taped show hosted by Veronica Clark. The interview was done in Spanish as an outreach for the citizens of Chile on education and other issues. The interview will be available throughout Chile in the coming weeks as part of a regular US Embassy program and should also be archived and accessed on the Web in the future. The interview was over topics in science education, including the physics education projects that I am working on with Claudio while here in Santiago.
You can access it as a link on the front page of the Embassy site (http://www.embajadaeeuu.cl) as a link in the Noticias section or directly at the following URL:
http://www.embajadaeeuu.cl/OpenNews/asp/pagDefault.asp?argInstanciaId=1&argNoticiaId=4062
Beginning of Classes for Spring Semester at UMCE
I am preparing to begin my interactions with students in the new classes at UMCE, which began on Monday, August 18. I will be participating directly in classes associated with the new physics project, and am preparing a list of seminar options for the faculty to look over to see where my areas of expertise might best match to their course offerings. My goal is to participate in each of the 4 modules as well as interact with the entire faculty.
I am also preparing a list of approximately 10 topics that I can use to give presentations in other professor’s classes in the physics department. This will help me to interact and network with the other professors in tangible ways as well as help me to increase my depth and breadth in my academic delivery here in Santiago. This is also part of my Fulbright project, which is a Lecture/Research award, and an important part of my actual interaction with students in classes throughout the semester. This also will have an added benefit of being useful topics for multicultural science education once I return to UTEP.
Faculty Meeting
On Wednesday, August 20, I attended what the regular weekly staff meetings with the Physics department on the new physics project they are implementing this coming semester. At this meeting, we discussed the issues of the physics units that are being developed in the areas of the workshop in scientific thinking that uses a problem-based learning approach, as well as the mathematical physics module. I have also been finalizing the translation for my evaluation instruments on efficacy (STEBI-B) in Spanish and technology use for students in Spanish. There will be a final review by the physics faculty next week and then prepared and delivered to the students as part of my Fulbright Study. I am also planning to make this available for the faculty to use in subsequent semesters, as the project will continue here in the 2009 academic year.
The faculty also uses , the online platform Moodle as a way of sharing all information related to the department and within the college. This has an added be3nefit in that materials on any of the areas being implemented can be shared with other faculty not able to make meetings or presentations. It also has the important additional benefit of not having copies of large computer being sent around via email and users only have to go to one site in order to access the most current versions of materials. While we at UTEP have the MySpace area and we use it well for things like graduate exams, I believe this is an area that we at UTEP could do better, and by seeing how the colleagues here use Moodle, I believe I will have some practical suggestions for the future to share with my colleagues.
Motivational Demonstration of Action Science at UMCE
On Thursday, August 21, I did a demonstration on the patio of the College of Education building at my host institution, la UMCE, here in Santiago as part of Prof. Claudio Perez's class in Physics education. My demo was part of the beginnings for the student teams who will use data from my skateboarding to construct mathematical models and computer simulations. There was a lot of interest in the class as well as a large crowd that gathered that included both faculty and other students on the campus. The idea was to engage the students in a constructivist activity that would motivate them to work within the teams to develop an active hypothesis that they can use to construct a computer model to simulate some of my movements. We will be performing measurements next week with both traditional materials such as tape measurers and stopwatches as well with Pasco sensors to get data from the movement in order to construct date driven computer models.
Organization of Spring Semester Classes by Day and Section
The organization of the day at the university (la UMCE) is set around 90 minute blocks of time, with the first block (I) beginning at 8 AM and the last block (VII) ending at 10 PM or 20:00 hours (horas). The 90-minute block periods have a regimented 15-minute break between the blocks, and classes in science education typically covering 2 of these blocks. The students in the physics program are assigned to either an “A” or a “B” section, as there are in effect 2 sections of each class being taught. The students and the professors usually take a break in the mid-morning to have a coffee (un café) or some juice (unos jugos), and there is usually an extended lunch (un almuerzo) beginning at 1 PM (13:00 horas) which is a longer break of around 90 minutes and is usually the biggest meal of the day. Later in the day, there is another late afternoon break with more relaxed conversation and coffee or tea and then a final push until people head out for the day.
UMCE facts
You can also see some interesting News from UMCE regularly on the Noticias area of their Web site (http://www.umce.cl/investigacion/noticias.html) as well as additional information on the physics department (http://www.umce.cl/~fisica/principal.html).
Personal Transition to Work in Spanish
In the past week of my academic work here, I had new challenges but in many ways it also began to feel a lot like the work I do back in El Paso. I am beginning to see that my methods as an instructor utilizing constructivist approaches are solid, and that my efforts as a researcher will be useful and valuable. With increased interactions with students in real classes, I feel that I am expanding on my skills as an instructor in Spanish, and this will surely help me when I return to UTEP.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Week Four August 10-16, 2008
UTEP-UMCE News – Dr. Bill Robertson, Fulbright Scholar, UTEP Assistant Professor
Week Four August 10-16, 2008
The following is a summary of the activities that I have been engaged in during the week of August 10-16 as they relate to the work I am doing here at UMCE as part of my Fulbright Scholarship.
Quinta Normal Schools – Physics in Secondary Schools
On Monday, August 11, Claudio Perez Matzen and I went to visit 2 schools in the Quinta Normal who are participating in a project in physics education in which we both we will be working this fall. The first school, Liceo Juan Antonio Ríos, is and there are approximately 15 students in the project. The second school, Liceo Capitán de Corbete Pedro Gonzáles, is and has 2 sections of students, the first with approximately 30 students and the second with 35 students. The main idea is to use the physics of skateboarding as a focus and have the students engage in experiments and modeling that use both traditional methods and computer programs, such a s Excel, Modellus and Data Studio. We administered 2 surveys on attitudes (science and computers) as well as basic tests on physics and technology concepts to be covered during the units. We will evaluate these as pre-tests and administer the instruments at the end of the unit as a post-test measure.
ECBI Workshops
On Tuesday, August 12 and Wednesday, August 13, I participated in part of a workshop utilizing the ECBI (Enseñaza de las Ciencias Basada en Indagación) approach that utilizes a hands-on approach to teaching physics, chemistry and biology. The workshop was over basic principles of inquiry and the way to go through the learning cycle, following the approach of focalization to exploration to analysis and then to evaluation. In many ways, this is also like ht 5 Es of constructivism, and the techniques of the constructivist classroom, student-centered, teacher-facilitated lessons using questions to drive student learning were common themes throughout the workshops.
The first day was spent working in small groups on experiments using this approach and the second day was spent in a series of workshops at different grade levels. I was in charge of leading a small group of colleagues through the 5th grade basic science materials on Movement and Design. This material is similar to that used in schools in Juarez, and I had participated in similar work when the group from Chile visited here in January of 2007. You can see some of the pictures from the workshop at the following URL: (http://picasaweb.google.com/drsk8board/ECBITaller).
Meeting with UMCE Administration
On Tuesday, August 12, I met during the Noon hour with the administration of UMCE, including Rector (University President), Dr. Raúl Navarro Piñeiro; the Prorrector (University Provost), Dr. José Martínez Armesto, and the Director of Graduate Studies Postgrado, Dr. Mario Leyghton Soto. The meeting was a chance for them all to meet me and for me to have an interaction with them as a member of the visiting faculty at UMCE. They expressed a great interest in having our universities continue to work together, and were very encouraged about our new Ph.D. program in TED. They had met previously with Dr. Tinajero and Dr. Hampton on a number of subjects, and were interested at increasing the exchanges of faculty and students both in Santiago and in El Paso. They also asked me if I would work with a local school that UMCE has been working with as a magnet school, and I said I would be happy to assist in anyway I could. I will be planning a site visit in the next week or so to meet some of the staff and look for a project to do with the students at the school.
Preparation for Spring Semester
I am preparing to begin my interactions with students in the new classes at UMCE which will begin on Monday, August 18. I will be participating directly in classes associated with the new physics project, and am preparing a list of seminar options for the faculty to look over to see where my areas of expertise might best match to their course offerings. My goal is to participate in each of the 4 modules as well as interact with the entire faculty.
I have also been working on new evaluation instruments on efficacy (STEBI-B) in Spanish and technology use for studnets in Spanish. These will be reviewed by the physics faculty and then prepared and delivered to the students as part of my Fulbright Study. I am also planning to make this available for the faculty to use in subsequent semesters, as the project will continue here in the 2009 academic year.
The faculty had to finalize all grades this week and have only a few days off (Thursday and Friday) between semesters this term in order to get ready for the second semester, which will begin August 18.
UMCE facts
You can access some general photos of the Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencia de la Educación (UMCE) from around the campus at the following URL: (http://picasaweb.google.com/drsk8board/UMCE)
You can also see some interesting News from UMCE regularly on the Noticias area of their Web site (http://www.umce.cl/investigacion/noticias.html).
Personal Transition to Work in Spanish
In the past week of my academic work here, I had new challenges which involved direct interactions with faculty in the Science departments around the topics of inquiry based science education. I feel that my methods as an instructor utilizing constructivist approaches are solid, and feel that my group not only understood my facilitation, but was able to see how they might use this in their own teaching. I feel that I am expanding on my skills as an instructor in Spanish, and this will surely help me when I return to UTEP. I also know that the coming interactions with the students will bring unique challenges that I am looking forward to as well, and see this as a valuable part of my work at la UMCE.
Week Four August 10-16, 2008
The following is a summary of the activities that I have been engaged in during the week of August 10-16 as they relate to the work I am doing here at UMCE as part of my Fulbright Scholarship.
Quinta Normal Schools – Physics in Secondary Schools
On Monday, August 11, Claudio Perez Matzen and I went to visit 2 schools in the Quinta Normal who are participating in a project in physics education in which we both we will be working this fall. The first school, Liceo Juan Antonio Ríos, is and there are approximately 15 students in the project. The second school, Liceo Capitán de Corbete Pedro Gonzáles, is and has 2 sections of students, the first with approximately 30 students and the second with 35 students. The main idea is to use the physics of skateboarding as a focus and have the students engage in experiments and modeling that use both traditional methods and computer programs, such a s Excel, Modellus and Data Studio. We administered 2 surveys on attitudes (science and computers) as well as basic tests on physics and technology concepts to be covered during the units. We will evaluate these as pre-tests and administer the instruments at the end of the unit as a post-test measure.
ECBI Workshops
On Tuesday, August 12 and Wednesday, August 13, I participated in part of a workshop utilizing the ECBI (Enseñaza de las Ciencias Basada en Indagación) approach that utilizes a hands-on approach to teaching physics, chemistry and biology. The workshop was over basic principles of inquiry and the way to go through the learning cycle, following the approach of focalization to exploration to analysis and then to evaluation. In many ways, this is also like ht 5 Es of constructivism, and the techniques of the constructivist classroom, student-centered, teacher-facilitated lessons using questions to drive student learning were common themes throughout the workshops.
The first day was spent working in small groups on experiments using this approach and the second day was spent in a series of workshops at different grade levels. I was in charge of leading a small group of colleagues through the 5th grade basic science materials on Movement and Design. This material is similar to that used in schools in Juarez, and I had participated in similar work when the group from Chile visited here in January of 2007. You can see some of the pictures from the workshop at the following URL: (http://picasaweb.google.com/drsk8board/ECBITaller).
Meeting with UMCE Administration
On Tuesday, August 12, I met during the Noon hour with the administration of UMCE, including Rector (University President), Dr. Raúl Navarro Piñeiro; the Prorrector (University Provost), Dr. José Martínez Armesto, and the Director of Graduate Studies Postgrado, Dr. Mario Leyghton Soto. The meeting was a chance for them all to meet me and for me to have an interaction with them as a member of the visiting faculty at UMCE. They expressed a great interest in having our universities continue to work together, and were very encouraged about our new Ph.D. program in TED. They had met previously with Dr. Tinajero and Dr. Hampton on a number of subjects, and were interested at increasing the exchanges of faculty and students both in Santiago and in El Paso. They also asked me if I would work with a local school that UMCE has been working with as a magnet school, and I said I would be happy to assist in anyway I could. I will be planning a site visit in the next week or so to meet some of the staff and look for a project to do with the students at the school.
Preparation for Spring Semester
I am preparing to begin my interactions with students in the new classes at UMCE which will begin on Monday, August 18. I will be participating directly in classes associated with the new physics project, and am preparing a list of seminar options for the faculty to look over to see where my areas of expertise might best match to their course offerings. My goal is to participate in each of the 4 modules as well as interact with the entire faculty.
I have also been working on new evaluation instruments on efficacy (STEBI-B) in Spanish and technology use for studnets in Spanish. These will be reviewed by the physics faculty and then prepared and delivered to the students as part of my Fulbright Study. I am also planning to make this available for the faculty to use in subsequent semesters, as the project will continue here in the 2009 academic year.
The faculty had to finalize all grades this week and have only a few days off (Thursday and Friday) between semesters this term in order to get ready for the second semester, which will begin August 18.
UMCE facts
You can access some general photos of the Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencia de la Educación (UMCE) from around the campus at the following URL: (http://picasaweb.google.com/drsk8board/UMCE)
You can also see some interesting News from UMCE regularly on the Noticias area of their Web site (http://www.umce.cl/investigacion/noticias.html).
Personal Transition to Work in Spanish
In the past week of my academic work here, I had new challenges which involved direct interactions with faculty in the Science departments around the topics of inquiry based science education. I feel that my methods as an instructor utilizing constructivist approaches are solid, and feel that my group not only understood my facilitation, but was able to see how they might use this in their own teaching. I feel that I am expanding on my skills as an instructor in Spanish, and this will surely help me when I return to UTEP. I also know that the coming interactions with the students will bring unique challenges that I am looking forward to as well, and see this as a valuable part of my work at la UMCE.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Week Three August 3-9, 2008
UTEP-UMCE News – Dr. Bill Robertson, Fulbright Scholar, UTEP Assistant Professor
Week Three August 3-9, 2008
The following is a summary of the activities that I have been engaged in during the week of August 3-9 as they relate to the work I am doing here at UMCE as part of my Fulbright Scholarship.
US Embassy Radio Interview
On Thursday, August 7, Claudio Perez Matzen and I went to be interviewed on the radio at the US Embassy here in Santiago. The radio show will be broadcast as a thirty (30) minute taped delayed broadcast that was done in Spanish as an outreach for the citizens of Chile on education and other issues. The interview will be available throughout Chile in the coming weeks as part of a regular US Embassy program and should also be archived and accessed on the Web in the future. The interview was over topics in science education, including the physics education projects that I am working on with Claudio while here in Santiago. Information on US Embassy in Chile can be accessed at the Web site (http://www.usembassy.cl).
Fulbright Mentor Program Meeting
As part of the Fulbright Mentor Program that I am participating in while here in Santiago, I will have the opportunity to interact with students who are interested in applying for Fulbright Chile scholarships and discussing US university options with them. This is also a good time to promote the Doctoral and graduate programs that we have at UTEP, not only in the College of Education, but throughout the university. This week I met with a student who is interested in applying for a Fulbright scholarship and is considering programs in the US, but also in Europe. I discussed our new Ph.D. program as well as others in the US southwest, paying particular attention to schools near the US/Mexico border. The student is applying for a scholarship that is due this month with the goal of entering a program in the fall of 2009.
Planning for Campus Work in Quinta Normal
In the coming well, I will begin a project working with students at 2 schools in the Quinta Normal region of Santiago on a physics education project that will incorporate technology in the study of motion. The main idea is to use the physics of skateboarding as a focus and have the students engage in experiments and modeling that use both traditional methods and computer programs, such a s Excel, Modellus and Data Studio. We plan to have 3 sections at 2 different schools that will meet each Monday to study this curriculum, and we plan to assess the students in both attitudes and content abilities.
Faculty Meeting
On Wednesday, August 6, I attended what the regular weekly staff meetings with the Physics department on the new physics project they are implementing this coming semester. At this meeting, we discussed the issues of the physics units that are being developed as well as looked over in detail 2 of my 4 instruments I will be using in my study with students. The faculty in the physics department reviewed the instruments with me as a group, and this was very helpful as they were able to both familiarize themselves with the instrument and also to aid in the syntax of the Spanish translation. There are subtle differences in terms and meanings here in Santiago, as compared to my experiences in Mexico, and this session allowed for a good assessment and where the instruments needed to be changed. Upon completing the changes, I posted the instruments into the online platform that they use (Moodle) so that others who were not at the meeting could see the instrument and learn more about the project.
Student Projects – Debate on Nuclear Energy Issues
On Tuesday, August 5, 2008, I was a guest observer for the second part of Prof. Perez’s class on the study of energy and the nuclear energy option (Debate Energético: La Opción Nuclear). In this final class, the 2 student teams engaged in a debate that covered the final 2 main issues the study of radioactive materials and the proliferation of nuclear materials. The student teams were divided into areas of Pro Nuclear and Antinuclear and each team gave a PPT presentation for each area and engaged in a wonderfully spirited debate that went on for upwards of 2 hours and 30 minutes with questions and answers from the audience and panel alike.
UMCE facts
This was the final week of classes and the final exams as well. The semester was shortened this semester, as the students held a sit in (a toma) throughout the universities in Santiago, and the work at the universities was halted for upwards of 20 days. This went on before I got here, but did change the length of the semester. It made for a hectic end to the term for students and faculty alike. Each day was another exam or project, and students and faculty on campus to well into the evening. The faculty have to prepare grades directly and have only a few days off (1 week) between semesters this term in order to get ready for the second semester which will begin August 18.
Personal Transition to Work in Spanish
Each week brings a new challenge and also new insights into my work both here and back in El Paso. For example, I am now interacting completely in Spanish on campus, whether it is in speech, writing, reading or listening. This is a challenge as the accents and word choices are often quite different, and the pace of the Spanish spoken here is quite rapid as well. There is also the added challenge of the vocabulary associated with science, especially physics, and this often has me struggling for the correct terms. All of the faculty and students are quite helpful and patient with me, and are helping me at every turn. This also, I believe, will better equip me with experiences and abilities to in turn help the students I serve at UTEP. For the most part, things are progressing, there a good days and hard days, and I am often exhausted from trying to stay alert and attentive, but this is also part of the reason I am here, to grow and learn in many phases of my academic life.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Week Two July 27-August 2, 2008
UTEP-UMCE News – Dr. Bill Robertson, Fulbright Scholar, UTEP Assistant Professor
Week Two July 27-August 2, 2008
The following is a summary of the activities that I have been engaged in during the week of July 27-August 2 as they relate to the work I am doing here at UMCE as part of my Fulbright Scholarship.
UMCE facts
La Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencia de la Educación (UMCE) was founded over a hundred years ago and has about 6 thousand current students within its enrollment. It maintains about 200 full time professors and a large number of adjust faculty to meet the variety of class offerings and meeting times. There is also about 800 total staff, which includes faculty, support staff and general employees. By comparison, UTEP has over 20,000 students with over 800 faculty and close to 2000 employees. As one of many universities in the area, the focus of la UMCE on pedagogical studies is unique and widely important. An important difference is the relative size of the population that UMCE serves, being part of a city with between 5-6 million inhabitants while El Paso itself comes in around 750,000 people (and Ciudad Juarez with 1.5 Million people for a total of around 2.25 Million in the Metropex area. More information on the history of la UMCE can be accessed at the following URL: http://www.umce.cl/universidad/historia.html.
Faculty Meeting
On Wednesday, July 30, I attended what the regular weekly staff meetings with the Physics department on the new physics project they are implementing this coming semester. At this meeting, we discussed some of the media entries (see Media heading below) as well as the scope of my overall plan and adjustment to life here in Santiago. We spent most of the time reviewing the information associated with 2 units covering the areas of Experimental Physics and Mathematical Methods in Physics. Specifically, the interaction centered on the classroom strategies for engaging students in constructivist science education as well as meeting the standards in module based approaches. For the last part of the meeting, I presented my matrix over the evaluation study that I will be implementing in the upcoming semester. In my matrix, I have identified the instruments, and which student and faculty populations will be tested. The instruments I am using will measure quantitative changes in student attitudes toward science and computers, science efficacy, technology use and science content in physics, as well as evaluating the physics faculty in science efficacy and technology use.
US Embassy Meeting
On Wednesday, July 30, Claudio Perez Matzen, Sarah and I went to visit with the director of the US Embassy here in Chile, Michael Orlansky, who along with his team helps to select and facilitate the Fulbright program for US citizens. It was quite an honor to go there and meet with everyone, and Dr. Orlansky is a former Fulbright participant himself, as he was previously a professor of Special Education at Ohio State University. After his experience as a Fulbrighter, he launched a diplomatic career that has taken him to 4 different countries over the past 20 years. He and his team had much to offer concerning the issues in education in Chile and how we might be able to best contribute to things while we are here. They also have invited me to participate in upcoming events, including an interview on the radio next week as well as a panel discussion on education issues later in August. Information on US Embassy in Chile can be accessed at the Web site (http://www.usembassy.cl).
Student Projects – Debate on Nuclear Energy Issues
On Friday, August 1, 2008, I was a guest observer in Prof. Perez’s class on the study of energy and the nuclear energy option (Debate Energético: La Opción Nuclear). In this class, teams of students have taken on researching the issues associated with Nuclear Energy and the students are engaging in a debate that covers 5 main issues including fundamental scientific understandings, heath impacts, security issues, Radioactive materials and the proliferation of nuclear materials. The student teams were divided into areas of Pro Nuclear and Antinuclear and each team gave a PPT presentation for each area and engaged in a wonderfully spirited debate that went on for upwards of 2 hours and 30 minutes with questions and answers from the audience and panel alike. What impressed me was the way in which the students integrated the technology within their discussions as well as communicated well researched and thought out positions. It was an exercise that demonstrated the use of critical thinking in a final project, with students having to collaborate in order to analyze and synthesize information and then present that information to their peers. Their peers and the instructor using a rubric for the final exercise also evaluated them.
Professional Community of Scholarship
Each Wednesday, the Physics faculty go to lunch at the Faculty Cafeteria and have a time to chat as well over issues in their lives as well as develop a personal community of scholarship within their department. This group as a result has had a relatively stable and productive term over the last number of years, and find that these regular lunches along with casual interactions such as having coffee in someone’s office in the mid-morning or mid-afternoon, help to strengthen collaboration. This is also built into their days on campus, and everyone takes the time to interact.
Personal Transition to Work in Spanish
Personally, I continue to be challenged in my full time transition to life and work in Spanish, and feel that I have had some great successes and personal set backs as well. I have really felt welcomed by the community and supported in my work, as well as in my adjustment to new schedules, styles and ways of interacting. I feel that I am most adjusted in my content area (of course), but also in my abilities to communicate in written formats. I feel I am improving daily with my abilities to speak and listen, yet struggle with getting the right words out in a the right order at the right time. I can certainly understand completely how this can help me in my work back at UTEP and look forward to strengthening these abilities throughout my stay here in Santiago.
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