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"Giving the Physics Bug to Elementary Education Students"
Mats Selen - University
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign We have designed a physics class specifically for students in the UIUC Elementary and Early Childhood Education curricula. This is the first and only exposure to physics that these students will have as undergraduates, and our goal is therefore not only to give them a good inquiry driven conceptual foundation on a selection of topics, but also to give them the confidence needed to just "figure it out" when they encounter a problem they have not seen before. The class is being offered for the first time this semester to a limited class of 24 students. I will discuss our approach and, more importantly, what we have learned so far. |