Lillian C. McDermott
5
History
3/15/10
chagrin) that the one who learns most from explanations by a teacher is the teacher, not
the student.
This perception set the tone for the type of
guided inquiry
that characterizes
instruction by our group today.
Unlike open-ended inquiry, which is often how we begin
instruction on a new topic, guided inquiry (as we interpret this term) is intended to help
students arrive at an understanding of a concept that physicists consider correct.
In 1970 I helped Arnold write a proposal to the National Science Foundation
(NSF) for a series of eight-week summer programs for inservice elementary school
teachers.
Along with our preservice courses, these would provide an environment for the
design of inquiry-oriented instruction.
Leonie K. Piternick (from the Biology Instructional
Program) and John P. Smith (from Science Education) were also included in the proposal.
When it was funded with Arnold as the Principal Investigator (PI), I became a grant-
supported, part-time Lecturer in Physics.
Arnold began to write
The Various Language.
6
Our first NSF summer program took place in 1971.
It provided instruction in
physical science and biology, guidance in the design of science lessons, and opportunities
to teach young volunteers.
(Among them were Melanie and Connie, who fondly recall
learning science in a way very different from their experience in elementary school.)
During the following academic year, I began developing a course for preservice
(prospective) high school teachers but open to other students as well.
The official
prerequisite was one year or more of standard physics courses, but I also admitted students
who had done well in the course for preservice elementary school teachers.
These
students had already adapted to learning by inquiry and resisted the tendency of their
classmates to treat physics as a collection of facts to be memorized and formulas to be
manipulated.
The combination of student populations worked well.
The course also
included a practice-teaching component (practicum), in which the preservice teachers
could teach a series of science lessons to elementary school students. I described the
combined physics course and practicum in an NSF report, which Arnold urged me to
submit as two papers to the
American Journal of Physics.
7
These were followed by
6
A. Arons,
The Various Language
(Oxford University Press, NY, 1977), a beautifully written book that
was later used in our courses for teachers.
(The title is from
Thanatopsis
by William Cullen Bryant.)
7
L.C. McDermott, “Combined physics course for future elementary and secondary school teachers,”
Am.
J. Phys.
42
(8), 668 (1974) and L.C. McDermott, “Practice-teaching program in physics for future
elementary school teachers,”
ibid.
42
(9), 737 (1974).
Lillian C. McDermott
6
History
3/15/10
another in
The Physics Teacher
that identified important reasoning skills that physics
courses should help high school teachers develop.
8,9
At about this time, I undertook a new project.
Together with a few graduate
students (for whom I later became the dissertation supervisor), I conducted several sets of
workshops for teachers in local school districts.
10
I invited former Summer Institute
participants to be peer instructors.
Our weekly preparation took place in the late
afternoon.
Not only did the teachers in the workshops benefit, but the project also
reinforced the commitment of the peer instructors.
Recalling their enthusiasm a few years
later, I established a series of Continuation Courses that are open to teachers of all grades
who have participated in at least one Summer Institute or in our preservice program.
The
Continuation Courses, which have continued to meet once a week throughout the
academic year, have strengthened enthusiasm for teaching science by inquiry.
Some
teachers attend for many years.
In addition to professional development, the Continuation
Courses expand the environment in which we can develop, test, and revise curriculum.
During 1972-1973, Arnold was offered a position at the Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts.
He negotiated a retention offer that included a
new faculty position in physics education to reside either in the Provost’s Office or in the
Department.
Because the physics faculty did not want physics to be taught outside of the
Department, it was decided that the appointment would be there.
The position was
advertised.
Since the anti-nepotism law had by then been revoked, I could apply.
2
II.
Early Years on the UW Regular Faculty
As one of three finalists for the new faculty position, I was expected to give a
colloquium.
I spoke about my experience in teacher preparation.
I remember being
terrified, but I must have done well enough because I was offered an appointment as an
Assistant Professor, beginning in Autumn 1973.
The salary was lower than the average
for elementary school teachers, but at least I now had a regular faculty position.
8
L.C. McDermott, “Improving high school physics teacher preparation,”
Phys. Teach.
13
(9), 523
(1975).
9
Both
AJP
and
TPT
are published by the American Association of Physics teachers (AAPT).
10
L.C. McDermott, “Teacher education and the implementation of elementary science curricula,”
Am. J.
Phys.
44
(5), 434 (1976).
This paper describes a series of workshops to support district-wide
implementation of
ESS (Elementary Science Study)
in Edmonds, WA.
