Week Eighteen November 16 – November 22, 2008

UTEP-UMCE News – Dr. Bill Robertson, Fulbright Scholar, UTEP Assistant Professor

Week Eighteen November 16 – November 22, 2008

The following is a summary of the activities that I have been engaged in during the week of November 16 – November 22 as they relate to the work I am doing here at UMCE as part of my Fulbright Scholarship.

Argentina Science Education Workshops

On Monday morning, November 17, I did a demonstration for a group of approximately 250 students and my demo was done on the physics of action science and included concepts in forces, motion, Newton’s Laws of Motion and simple machines. I performed for the group at the Colegio JJ de Urquiza, located opposite of the central plaza and established in 1850. I did the lecture and demonstration completely in Spanish. 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 in physics and the concepts associated with their curriculum.

After a quick change, I went to the University of Concepción del Urugauy (UCU) and gave a workshop on the concept of the center of gravity and used a constructivist approach that centered on the aspects of engagement, exploration and explanation. The workshop was for 150 minutes and the physics faculty interacted with me in a brainstorm session and then viewed a small video clip of the use of the center of gravity in action sports. After this, I put students into groups of 3-4 members and had them do a hands-on activity on this concept using materials that are readily available in schools, such as cardboard, string, paper clips and pencils. After the activity, we had a discussion on the methods and the content and I finished with a short presentation on the constructivist method of teaching and learning.

On Monday afternoon, November 17, I did a demonstration for a group of approximately 250 students and my demo was done on the basics in physics of action science and included concepts in forces and simple machines. I performed for the group at the Escuela Normal M. Moreno, and I did the lecture and demonstration completely in Spanish. There was a lot of excitement in the group as well as a large crowd that gathered that included both faculty and other students on the campus.

After this and another quick change, I gave a workshop to approximately 50 teachers on the use of questioning strategies and inquiry demonstrations in science. I also had them do a hands-on activity, and we engaged in a group discussion on constructivist methods as well.

On Tuesday, November 18, I had a workshop with a group of supervisors and directors for schools on the ideas of Transformative Education, the use of Inquiry Science in the Classroom and the practical ways of being a constructivist in a traditional school setting. This was also the most academic of my workshops and lasted for 3 hours. I did engage the group in content presentations over items related to Problem-based learning, Action Science and Constructivist principles and applications. I also lead the group in an inquiry activity that focused on the use of simple machines in the construction of a catapult. The teams also engaged in a brief competition in this activity, which also demonstrated the differences of the constructivist classroom, with a student-centered approach, collaboration among teams, active learning, teacher facilitation and questioning as a basis for content discovery.

UMCE Survey Preparation

On Friday, November 21, I spent the day preparing for the final day of surveys with the students in Mechanics over the attitudes in science and computation. I also prepared materials for the data distribution in Excel and also to prepare for the statistical analysis that is needed to follow. My colleagues here have expressed a great interest in this information, as they have noted somewhat informally that the attitudes of students have changed, but are note sure if they have changed for the best. Also, the results of the content aspects of this will also be determining factors in seeing the state of change in UMCE over the use of technology in the facilitation and learning of concepts in physics.

Personal Transition to Work in Spanish

This week was by far the most intense and most independent time I have had as a Spanish speaker and educator here in South America. In addition to my work in UMCE, where I have developed cooperation and relationships with the faculty, staff and students, I was also placed in new environments in another country with people that I had never met, or only interacted with via email. I also was challenged to use seemingly all my abilities in mental, physical and bilingual aspects. In some ways, it truly was a final exam over my immersion process, and I think in many ways, I passed it well. In other terms, I think I can proceed and build on this experience and have to acknowledge that I have changed as a person and have in reality, increased my abilities to learn, but also to teach in Spanish.