CONT608: Senior Physics
The study of physics can be challenging but rewarding. Students come to the subject with enthusiasm, thought-provoking questions and a desire for answers, and through conceptual understanding, problem solving and inquiry, they gain a deeper understanding of the world.
Senior Physics teachers must create a culture of high expectations of their students through engaging and accessible content. In this course, you’ll explore the intention and efficacy of teaching practices to address all facets of physics. You’ll have the opportunity to enhance your planning, instructional and assessment approaches to ensure that you meet the needs of all students. By the end of this course, you’ll have the strategies, resources and, most importantly, the confidence to teach Senior Physics effectively.
Learning Outcomes
What You Will Learn and Do
In this course, you’ll have the opportunity to
- create an inclusive and equitable learning environment for all Senior Physics students through effective and inclusive course planning, instructional strategies and assessment practices
- evaluate and apply teaching strategies that centralize thinking and problem solving in the classroom to deepen understanding for students
- explore and apply approaches to integrate inquiry tasks and lab activities, both hands-on and virtual, into everyday instruction, and experiment with both guided and open-ended processes
- understand and apply assessment for learning and assessment as learning practices and their feedback structures to support Senior Physics students’ learning through a course
- evaluate assessment of learning practices to create an effective and inclusive assessment and evaluation plan for a Senior Physics course
- explore and understand the cross-curricular nature of physics to create meaningful and engaging experiences for Senior Physics students
- reflect on the use of effective mathematics instructional and assessment practices that can be adapted for use in Senior Physics courses
Assessments
Module 1
Building Inclusive Physics Classrooms
Module 2
Promoting Thinking and Problem Solving in Physics
Progress Update 1
Module 3
Using Inquiry and Simulations to Support Understanding in Physics
Module 4
Assessment FOR Learning and Assessment AS Learning in Physics
Progress Update 2
Module 5
Course Planning Strategies to Promote Genuine Learning for All
Module 6
Inclusive and Effective Assessment of Learning in Physics
Progress Update 3
Module 7
Course Culminating Task
Final Report