Countywide : Physics Program to Aid High School Instructors

An intensive physics program designed to help high school instructors teach the principles of superconductivity, fusion, lasers and other technologies will open June 26 at Cal State Fullerton.

The teaching institute, paid for with a $475,500 grant from the National Science Foundation, will be directed by Roger Nanes, physics professor; John W. Jewett, acting chairman of the physics department at Cal Poly Pomona, and William H. Leader, physics teacher at Loara High School in Anaheim.

Fifty-two teachers from Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties will participate in the 2-year program to enhance their knowledge of modern physics and sharpen teaching skills. The teachers will attend 4-week sessions during 1989 and 1990 and take part in monthly lecture sessions and three conferences during each academic year.

“The project is aimed at helping to alleviate the severe problem that exists nationwide in high school physics today,” Nanes said. “Most high school instructors who teach physics have little or no formal training in the subject and so are struggling to get by in the classroom.”

As a result, he said, many students who have taken high school physics classes arrive at college poorly prepared for higher-level work, Nanes said.

Each teacher will receive a $1,380 annual stipend for attending the institute.