New Year Resolutions in Science Education
Early January is always the perfect time for New Year’s resolutions: we all want to be better in a new year – to eat better, to have better health, to exercise more consistently, to have more time for friends and family. I think the New Year resolution fever is not going to avoid science educators as well. What do I want to accomplish in 2014 in the realm of science teacher education and how am I planning to accomplish it? I have a lot of plans for 2014 in this aspect of my work and here are a few of the highlights:
1)To host a successful STEM 2014 Conference at UBC in July of 2014 and make sure as many science educators as possible from Vancouver, from UBC, teacher-candidates attend the conference. I am a member of the Organizing Committee and I think this conference will make a significant contribution to science teacher education.
2) To present an invited talk at The Korean Association for Science Education in February. I hope this will be a great opportunity not only to tell others what we do here, but also learn from them. Here is my presentation: Using Educational Technologies to Promote Inquiry and the Nature of Science in Physics Teacher Education
3) To redevelop my courses for future physics teachers and for science and mathematics teachers based on the feedback I have received so far.
4) To present our papers at the American Association of Physics Teachers Winter Meeting in Orlando, Florida, at the AERA Conference in Philadelphia, and at the NARST Conference in Pittsburgh. Each one of these conferences is an opportunity to meet amazing people, learn from them and bring new ideas back to my students.
5) Continue to participate actively in the BC Association of Physics Teachers and support pre-service and in-service physics educators.
6) Continue to participate in the organization of outreach activities for mathematics and science students: UBC Physics Olympics, Science Fairs, BC Brightest Minds, Family Math and Science Day at the Faculty of Education at UBC events, etc.