Patterns Physics and the Knowles Teacher Initiative: Supports for New Physics Teachers

The Knowles Teacher Initiative provides career-long support for physics teachers through its Teaching Fellows Program and the Knowles Academy. This session will provide a sample from an Academy course, Patterns Physics. The Patterns Approach to science instruction emphasizes the use of mathematical patterns to predict the future and understand the past. Students construct science knowledge by making an initial "wild-guess", asking questions, planning and conducting experiments, collecting data, finding a mathematical model that fits their data, explaining the phenomenon based on that model, and then finally making a data-informed prediction. In this session, participants will experience Patterns as a student would, uncover and understand a mathematical pattern through data collection and analysis, and then engage in a data discussion. Participants will then discuss the pedagogical approaches that underlie the Patterns approach. All Academy courses are led by Knowles Fellows, and participants will learn about the generous five-year Knowles Fellowship, its benefits, and how to apply. New physics teachers--and those that support and prepare new physics teachers--should know about this opportunity that helps physics teachers thrive and become leaders from the classroom.