Week Fifteen October 26 – November 1, 2008

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

Week Fifteen October 26 – November 1, 2008

The following is a summary of the activities that I have been engaged in during the week of October 26 – November 1 as they relate to the work I am doing here at UMCE as part of my Fulbright Scholarship.

Physics Project Update

On Wednesday, October 29, I attended the regular physics project meeting and each group went through the progression of their classes. The main thrust at this time was the need for each team to share the various evaluation instruments they are using in class in the online platform of Moodle. There was also an animated discussion about the importance of using evidence to base decisions concerning classroom materials and methods. This is something that I find very interesting and is also something that we at UTEP have been actively engaged in through the Teachers for a New Era (TNE) program, which purports that decisions impacting change in schools and in educational programs must be documented and well supported with evidence.

At UMCE, the discussion seemed to center around the lack of engagement of students in the use of constructivist methods and that the use of technology was not actually being implemented across the entire curriculum. This is an important discussion here, as I believe the use of technology and distance learning strategies would be beneficial in the long run to the academic program here for a number of reasons. Primarily, to integrate the technology of physics tools, such as Data Studio or Modellus, would help students to see how these tools can help them to solve all sorts of problems, not merely those in a specific content area in physics. Also, if more online materials were utilized across the department, then if there was a change in the schedule or a closure of the school for some reason, the facilitation of the material could still take place in real time.

Personal Transition to Work in Spanish

I submitted an article to a science education magazine here in Chile, and the article I wrote, along with some colleagues at UTEP, focused on the trip I took to Antarctica with students last year. The main thrust of the article is on the overall impacts of the program on students as well as the availability of K-12 products on the IPY-ROAM Web site that can be used by all teachers and students. This is very important in Chile, which does have a claim to Antarctica and has a great scientific history that spans the ages. This effort I believe is also of great interest in the schools, and with the development of our products into Spanish in the upcoming year, more materials will be made available to our local areas and partner institutions, whether they be in the US or around the world.