Week Twenty November 30 – December 6, 2008

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

 

Week Twenty November 30 – December 6, 2008

 

The following is a summary of the activities that I have been engaged in during the week of November 30 – December 6 as they relate to the work I am doing here at UMCE as part of my Fulbright Scholarship.

 

Physics Project Update

 

On Wednesday, December 3, I attended what would be the last of the regular physics project meeting and this meeting focused on my work over the semester. I focused on three main areas, the teaching items I had done at UMCE and in the community, the research project I have been working on, and also on the role I had played as a “cultural ambassador”, in fact one of the only North Americans that most of the students at UMCE had ever met in person.

 

In the areas of teaching, I had worked at La UMCE in the areas of the Physics project, which included Mechanics, Mathematical Methods in Physics, Experimental Physics I and the Workshop on the Development of Scientific Thinking.  I had also been involved in the ECBI program, a large number of seminars, conferences and associated workshops all around the university.  I work directly with professors in the areas of Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Mathematics and Information Technology.  I also worked at a number of local schools including Liceo Juan Antonio Ríos, Liceo Capitán de Corbete Pedro Gonzáles, Colegio Saint Gabriel de Providencia, Liceo Guillermo Labarca. All told, I did12 Demonstrations in Schools in Santiago, 10 Different workshops at UMCE and with Fulbright, 8 Different Presentations at Conferences, wrote 6 articles and Proposals about the work in science and technology education.

 

In the area of research I administered both pre-surveys and post-surveys at UMCE to over 50 students as well as over 80 students in the high schools.  My goal is to analyze the changes in attitudes along with content tests to see what kinds of impacts were made in these separate populations. My preliminary results indicate that there was a small change in attitudes, but I have yet to analyze it statistically to determine the effects over the groups and sub populations. This will be the focus of my work for the spring, and I hope that it will also result in other publications from this effort.

 

In the area of being a cultural ambassador, I feel that I have been a bridge between Chile and the United States, as well as achieved an understanding of what it is like to be a professor at the university and a teacher in local schools.  I have had a large number of opportunities to show the attitudes and abilities of a North American to the students, as well as a number of opportunities to collaborate and work with universities here, at UTEP, at the US Embassy and the Fulbright-Chile Commission.

 

After the meeting, I attended a student sponsored asado, where the students grilled out for the professors and we were able to interact in a much more casual way.  The students here are really great and I do hope that there will be a number of opportunities for inter-exchanges between UMCE and UTEP for both faculty and students in the future.

 

Final IT Video Project

 

On Thursday, December 4, I worked with the staff in IT to assemble a DVD from the Action Science Demonstrations that I had done at UMCE. We assembled 10 clips that can be used for introducing lessons in physics in Spanish, the main idea is to provide future teachers a resource that is in Spanish that they can use to engage their learners as well as a creative way to integrate physics content into the science classroom.  

Week Nineteen November 23 – November 29, 2008

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

Week Nineteen November 23 – November 29, 2008

The following is a summary of the activities that I have been engaged in during the week of November 23 – November 29 as they relate to the work I am doing here at UMCE as part of my Fulbright Scholarship.

Physics Project Update

On Wednesday, November 26, I attended the regular physics project meeting and the main part for me was to begin the focus on the evaluation instruments I have used, as well as the results for the initial surveys for the students in the areas of attitudes towards science and the use of technology in the classroom.  I am also preparing a guide for the faculty to follow so that if they want to replicate my study, they can have the methods in Spanish to follow for future groups of students, or if they can do a longitudinal study that might follow the students over time.  This has potential, as a large number of the students (approximately 65%) are in their first year in the physics department.

We also brainstormed on a number of possible open ended questions to ask students concerning their experiences in the Physics project, and over the methods that were used including constructivism, project-based assignments, the use of rubrics and the integration of software programs for modeling.

Thanksgiving Luncheon at US Embassy

On Thursday, November 27, I attended a luncheon at the home of Carol Urban, who is the Deputy Ambassador for the US Embassy here in Santiago, Chile. She had invited a number of the current Fulbright Scholars from the US, future and current Fulbright Scholars from Chile as well as staff from both Fulbright-Chile and the US Embassy. We had turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, salad, pumpkin pie and all the trimmings. In fact, on this day of Thanksgiving, this luncheon provided a chance to honor this traditional holiday in a nontraditional environment and setting. 

Many of my Chilean friends have asked me about Thanksgiving; to them it is a foreign holiday, meaning it is something they do not completely understand in its reasons, manners or traditions. In some ways, Thanksgiving day in Chile is a lot like me, overlooked at times, seen as something in the distance, something foreign, not connected or integrated into the life at hand.  Yet, in other ways, Thanksgiving is alive and well around the world, even in Chile, where American colleagues living abroad take the time to gather and to celebrate this holiday together. 

I have a lot to be thankful for this holiday season, and I am truly thankful for the experience that I have been afforded with the Fulbright US Scholars program, which has given me the gift of immersion into another culture and into another language.  I am thankful of the support I have had from others, both here and back home, as an experience like this over 5 months requires cooperation and coordination from a team, not merely from any one individual.  I am thankful that I have been humbled in my days in Chile, and that I have also been allowed to grow and to flourish in new directions.  I am also thankful that I will soon be returning home, to reconnect with my family and friends, to reintegrate into the US society, and to be able to apply what I have learned in ways to benefit my university, community, state and nation.

 

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.