Week Seven August 31 – September 6, 2008

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

Week Seven August 31 – September 6, 2008

The following is a summary of the activities that I have been engaged in during the week of August 31 - September 6 as they relate to the work I am doing here at UMCE as part of my Fulbright Scholarship.

Presentation at Campus Santiago de la Universidad de Talca

Last week, I participated as part of a panel at the American Academy of Science and Technology, an initiative in partnership with the US Embassy and the University of Talca. On the US Embassy Web site, there was a story entitled, “Panel of U.S. and Chilean Experts Discussed Innovative Strategies for Science Education”. The 5 panelists, including myself, met with students and educators on August 29, at the American Academy of Science and Technology, at University of Talca’s Campus Santiago. The article has some good text on both my projects and UTEP. It is available in both English and Spanish, and can be accessed at the following URLs:

English (http://www.embajadaeeuu.cl/OpenNews/asp/pagDefault.asp?argInstanciaId=2&argNoticiaId=4075)

Spanish (http://www.embajadaeeuu.cl/OpenNews/asp/pagDefault.asp?argInstanciaId=1&argNoticiaId=4074)

Upcoming Presentations for Spring Semester at UMCE

I recently submitted 2 papers to be considered for the upcoming presentations at UMCE, and was notified that I was accepted for both. The conference will be here in Santiago from October 1-3 and will focus on innovative uses of technology in teaching and learning in science education. I will be participating as part of a panel on the use of technology in science education and will also be delivering a presentation on a paper that I submitted and was accepted for publication. The paper is entitled “Ciencia de acción: Educacion transformativa en fisica” and was written in Spanish. The paper will be published in a peer-reviewed magazine here in Chile and should appear in the spring.

Faculty Meeting

On Wednesday, September 3, I attended the regular weekly staff meetings with the Physics department on the new physics project they are implementing this semester. At this meeting, we went over the use of evaluation and diagnostic tools as a way of gaining information on the make up of a class and their understandings of concepts. I was able to talk a bit about how we use online tools, such as those in WebCt and Blackboard, to get assessment data rapidly online. I also spoke about the need for the department to perhaps standardize some instruments, and put them online so that they could be used by all the faculty without being a burden in terms of time for professors. I am going to try and do this with the instrument I have been using and see if I can make it work in their online platform Moodle. I think this will help the department to better understand the attitudes and efficacy of their students and hopefully serve as a model for future content driven assessments across the department.

Physics Instruction at Liceos

On Monday, September 1, I worked at the 2 local high schools implementing the physics project from la UMCE. The first school, Liceo Juan Antonio Ríos, has approximately 15 students in the project. The second school, Liceo Capitán de Corbete Pedro Gonzáles, has 2 sections of students, the first with approximately 30 students and the second with 35 students. We worked with the student teams in order to develop an active hypothesis that they can use to construct a computer model to simulate movement in a straight line. I worked with Prof. Perez in facilitating the group discussions to get students to come to consensus on a single line of investigation, which we will implement in the following week.

Changes in Class Schedules at UMCE

Last week, there were some changes to the class schedules as student protests fueled a few days of change on the campus. From what I can best determine, this happens each September as the days of remembrance of past political conflicts rise to the surface. The month also features the coming celebrations of national independence that happen September 18,19 and are 2 days of national celebration.

Data Analysis of Student Attitudes in Science and Computers

I have continued to input my survey data from both the classes at UMCE and from the 2 liceos, and should have a solid set of preliminary data from which to draw my comparison studies. I am inputting everything in Excel at this time, as it is just re-test data, but will be able to use SPSS to analyze the statistics once the post-tests are done. The goal is to have data pre and post in the areas of attitudes, efficacy, technology use and content information in physics for the students at UMCE and hopefully have the pre and post in the areas of attitudes and content information in physics for the students at the liceos.

Personal Transition to Work in Spanish

I have had a bit of an upswing in both my pursuits in writing and speaking, especially in my communication among the faculty and the students. I think that having to deliver a lot of materials in Spanish as well as write both presentations and articles in Spanish has been starting to pay off. I am also beginning to understand the cadence of the language here, which is often faster and very different than Spanish in El Paso. Although I know I have a long way to go, I am seeing some positive results from my persistence and from my immersion. Having a couple of great mentors has helped as well, and I can better how I can help to mentor others at UTEP once I return.

UMCE Notes

The faculty in Science has recently put up some information on the new Observatory facility and has posted a blog that is for the students in Physics and the entire college.

http://observatoriumce.blogspot.com/

Week Six August 24-30, 2008

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

Week Six August 24-30, 2008

The following is a summary of the activities that I have been engaged in during the week of August 24-30 as they relate to the work I am doing here at UMCE as part of my Fulbright Scholarship.

Presentation at Campus Santiago de la Universidad de Talca

On Friday, August 29, both Claudio Pérez and I participated as part of a panel at the American Academy of Science and Technology, an initiative in partnership with the US Embassy and the University of Talca. The panel of 5 presenters gave talks in Spanish over the theme of “Innovative Strategies for Science Education” (Estrategias Innovadoras para la Educación en las Ciencias) and I did my talk on Transformative Education (Educación Tranfoormativa). The event was held from 4 PM to 7 PM in the auditorium of the Santiago Campus of the University of Talca. It was well attended and the talks convered topics including action science, transformative education, space science, Microsoft school, modeling and mathematics on the Web.

Academic Presentations for Spring Semester at UMCE

I have prepared a list of 11 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. My goal is to participate in each of the 4 modules as well as interact with the entire faculty. 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 27, I attended 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.

Motivational Demonstration of Action Science at Liceos

On Monday, August 25, I did 2 demonstrations at the local high schools I am working at during this semester, here in Santiago as part of Prof. Claudio Perez's outreach class in Physics education. The first school, Liceo Juan Antonio Ríos, has approximately 15 students in the project. The second school, Liceo Capitán de Corbete Pedro Gonzáles, has 2 sections of students, the first with approximately 30 students and the second with 35 students. My demos were 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 both campuses. 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.

Meeting with Informational Technology Division at UMCE

I had a meeting with members of the Informational Technology Division at UMCE and presented some of the work we are doing at UTEP, including the use of WebCT, Blackboard and Faculty Web sites. The group is part of a campus wide effort to better offer online services as well as train teachers in the use of technology to aid their instruction. In many ways, the efforts they are doing are similar to a fusion of our ISS and CETaL, so that technology can aid the teaching and also benefit students and teachers in access and availabity. The group was lead by a consultant from Spain, who has close ties to UMCE and has extensive experience in E-learning.

Data Gathering and Demonstration of Action Science at UMCE

On Thursday, August 28, I did another brief demonstration on the patio of the College of Education building at la UMCE, here in Santiago as part of Prof. Claudio Perez's class in Physics education. This was mainly at the request of the students and my colleagues who wanted to see physics in action. Afterwards we set up instrumentation with the student teams who gathered data with both traditional materials such as tape measurers and stopwatches as well with Pasco sensors. This was done in order to get data from the movement so that the student teams can construct data driven computer models.

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. I also submitted an article for a conference and publication in Spanish as well as prepared and delivered all my materials in Spanish associated with the US Embassy/University of Talca presentations last Friday.

Week Five August 17-23, 2008

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.