Physics 641: Physics Pedagogy
An On-line Course for Teachers of Physics

This on-line course, available through the University of Virginia's Department of Physics, carries 3 graduate credits. While it is useful for certification/licensure, recertification, and can lead to a master's degree, it is not a typical physics content course. The course is meant to explore current results from physics education research and especially recent curriculum design and instructional strategies in physics teaching. It also will teach new skills in educational technology and introduce ideas about the Nature of Science (NOS).

This is not a course intended for a beginning high school physics teacher. The expectation is that only experienced teachers wishing to upgrade their teaching skills should be taking this course. The course is open to MAPE students (teachers) within 2-3 courses of graduation or experienced high school physics teachers. The previous requirement of 5 years experience in teaching high school physics has been decreased to 3 years for spring 2006 as an experiment. This course serves as a capstone course for teachers in our Master of Arts in Physics Education degree program, but other teachers are certainly welcome to take the course. Because of these various prerequisites, instructor permission is required of everyone who wishes to take the course. This requirement is not meant to keep teachers away, however, so please correspond with Professor Thornton if you have interest in taking the course.