Award-Winning Professional Development
The primary mission of AMTA is to provide quality professional development for teachers of STEM courses. AMTA has evidence to support the view that this is best achieved in summer Modeling InstructionTM WORKSHOPS. AMTA reserves the use of the term WORKSHOP to describe a face-to-face (F2F) professional development experience lasting 2-3 weeks (60 – 90 hours). An alternative is a hybrid model which begins with 1 week (30 hours) of F2F interaction, followed by distance learning (DL) sessions (adding 30 – 60 hrs). These workshops thoroughly treat the pedagogy and content for a middle school, high school, or introductory college STEM course and afford participants the opportunity to practice managing classroom discourse.
COURSES are professional development experiences conducted using some on-line synchronous video conferencing software (e.g., Zoom, Microsoft Teams) to provide information and scenarios of Modeling InstructionTM to those who might be unable to attend a F2F workshop. Such courses usually involve shorter (2-3 hr) sessions. Distance Learning courses taught during the summer vary in length and number of contact hours.
Features
- Content is organized around a small set of basic models (rather than a lengthy list of topics) to increase its structural coherence.
- Workshop leaders have attended multiple Modeling InstructionTM workshops and have considerable experience teaching using this method.
- Participants are supplied with a complete set of course materials and work through activities alternating in the roles of student or teacher, as they practice techniques of guided inquiry and cooperative learning.
- Workshop leaders are prepared to integrate technology (such as electronic probes) and give participants new ideas about how to implement it, dependent upon site availability.
- First-time participants in full workshops are eligible for a free 1-year membership in AMTA, while returning workshop attendees can renew membership for only $50.
- Evidence of efficacy
Awards
- Modeling InstructionTM was designated in 2000 by the U.S. Department of Education as one of the seven best K-12 educational technology programs out of 134 programs evaluated.
- Modeling InstructionTM was designated in 2001 by the U.S. Department of Education as one of two Exemplary programs in K-12 Science Education out of 27 programs evaluated. Download the U.S. Department of Education award booklet .
- High School Modeling Instruction received the 2014 Excellence in Physics Education Award from the American Physical Society, the largest association of research physicists worldwide. Our speeches are here.
