Class Information

This graduate-level course is intended for first-time teaching assistants in the SMU Physics Department. The course will assess your presentation methodologies, provide a peer-mentored environment for learning about best practices in physics teaching, and utilize your own experiences in the active graduate teaching environment as a means to improve your interactions with introductory physics students.

-- Stephen Sekula, Associate Professor of Physics


Coordinates:
FOSC 32, 11am, Mondays. During the first weeks of class, we'll meet more frequently to assess communication of problem-solving, and this will reduce the number of weeks we formally meet.
Syllabus
PDF

Contact Information

  • Professor Sekula: ssekula@smu.edu, Fondren Science 39, 8-7832
General Information

This course is intended to introduce graduate students to the foundational skills and approaches in the modern physics education environment. Students will learn to...

  • Understand the methods and applicability of the best researched physics teaching techniques;
  • Craft their own problem-solving approaches and then demonstrate physics problem solving approaches to undergraduates;
  • Engage undergraduates in a team-based problem-solving environment;
  • Improve their performance in the classroom environment (e.g. speaking, writing, and interaction/communication skills) through problem solving demonstrations with peer/instructor review and feedback;
  • Engage professionally with undergraduates.

Prerequisites

PHYS 3305 or equivalent.

Course Materials

This course will be tightly tied to the cooperative problem-solving sessions that will accompany the introductory physics classes (PHYS 1303, PHYS 1304, PHYS 1307, and PHYS 1308). These are henceforth referred to as "Co-Op Sessions."

Assessment

  • In-class problem solving and teaching will be scored using a rubric containing the following categories, each scored on a scale of 0-5. A total score will be computed for each in-class problem solving exercise, and a weekly grade will be assigned based on that performance. The key observation the course instructor has to make and then judge at the end is the overall level of improvement from the beginning to the end, not necessarily the average of these grades. Students should be teaching at the level of a “B” or better on this grade scale at the end to have demonstrated progress and prowess.
    • Organization of pre-class preparation for the problem-solving session
    • Accuracy of the application of physics principles in the demonstration
    • Speaking pace
    • Speaking clarity and orderliness
    • Writing pace
    • Writing clarity and orderliness
    • Engagement with the audience (eye contact, pausing to invite comments or questions, etc.)
    • Overall professionalism (ability to work within time constraints, ability to address audience respectfully and to invite, not end, discussion)
  • Co-Op evaluations: At least twice during the semester, we will ask undergraduates in the Co-Op sessions to evaluate their graduate teaching assistant based on categories involving clarity of communication, organization of the co-op session, availability and interactivity during the session, etc. Graduate students should have improved from earlier in the semester to later in the semester, and be performing at least at the B level by the end of the semester based on these assessments.