The Partnership Experience
Partnering with IPaSS
Learning from One Another
True partnership takes advantage of everyone’s strengths and contributions. While we can provide one perspective with our research-based curriculum, it is the teachers' experience with their students in the classroom that will be essential for creating an effective learning environment. We see this program as an on-going partnership, with the activities improving iteratively. The program starts small, then grows as we gain expertise into the key elements for creating a successful experience.
We realize that high school physics teachers do not have "extra" time available, so we will work to have these activities fall within professional development time or provide supplemental compensation as necessary.
Professional Development
Durable Instructional Change Through Sustained, Community-Centered PD
The IPaSS Professional Development program puts education researchers, university physics instructors, and teacher professional development staff at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in collaboration with in-service high school physics teachers to adapt university physics curricula and pedagogies to fit the context of their high school classrooms. The PD is structured around two key components of U of I’s undergraduate physics curriculum:
- a web-based “flipped” platform, smartPhysics, which contains online pre-lectures, pre-labs and homework
- research-based physics lab activities targeting scientific skill development, utilizing the iOLab wireless lab system – a compact device that contains all sensors necessary for hundreds of physics labs with an interface that supports quick data collection and analysis.
Teachers work with peers and the U of I IPaSS team to integrate these materials into their high school courses.
Collaboration to Develop Top-Quality Curricula
A Physics Teaching Community of Practice
Within the physics teaching community of practice , teachers and U of I team members share their experience and resources with one another. Through this collaboration, teachers integrate the very best of their existing course materials with the IPaSS materials and those of their peers to develop the most robust and fitting curriculum for their class.
Advanced Placement Support
The IPaSS Partnership Program also fills a timely need for guidance, support and resources as teachers adapt to the shifts in Advanced Placement (AP) Physics standards, recently revised to emphasize deep conceptual understanding of central physical principles and scientific practices learned through inquiry-based laboratory work.
Partnership Levels
A Partnership Structure with Flexibility: Deepening Engagement and Mutual Trust Over Time
For some, the program’s total curricular transformation and PD commitment may seem like a lot to commit all at once. To reduce this barrier to engagement, we have developed zero-depth and intermediate-depth partnership programming: Phase 1 Exploratory Partners and Phase 2 Gateway Partners respectively. Phase 1, Exploratory Partners test-drive selected iOLab activities in their classes. Phase 2 Gateway Partners select one aspect of the IPaSS curriculum to completely integrate into their classes (e.g. labs; online homework; video pre-lectures and checkpoints). Here is a brief description of the steps teachers may choose to take prior to becoming Teaching Fellows:
~Seeking New Teaching Fellows, Gateway and Exploratory Partners for Summer 2024~
Want to take the next step and partner with us? Start your application now!
We are currently seeking teachers that will form our 5th cohort of 8 Teaching Fellows, beginning in the summer of 2024.
If you would like to explore our program as a Gateway or Exploratory Partner, we are accepting applications on a rolling basis.
CLICK THE BUTTON BELOW TO FILL OUT AN APPLICATION / EXPRESS INTEREST IN PARTNERING WITH US: