Initial Publication Date: November 15, 2013

Supporting Undergraduate Education at (Fictional) Physics Society of America (PSA)

2400 members
PSA Education Division
Education staff lead: Amelia Goodteacher, teacher@email.com
www.psa.org

The mission of the Physics Society of America is to create and diffuse effective teaching and learning practices in undergraduate physics. The society is made up of undergraduate faculty who are dedicated to better teaching and learning. All activities of the society address improved undergraduate physics education.

Premier Contribution to Faculty Development

The development and implementation of the new faculty workshop series. The program has run twice each year since 1996 and lists more than 2000 early career faculty participants. External evaluation reports have provided significant evidence that the program has positively impacted physics department across the country.

Since 1996, the PSA has sponsored workshops designed to help new faculty at research and four-year institutions understand how to become more effective educators and support their quest for tenure. Because of the pressure to establish their credentials in research or other scholarly activities, new faculty may be tempted to postpone or ignore the development of teaching proficiency. They may receive direct or subtle messages suggesting that only a focus on research will result in career advancement, and there is often a lack of mentors or role models who demonstrate dedication and enthusiasm for teaching. Similar signals are transmitted to graduate students who may be in training for academic careers. Moreover, because the research universities include many of our large public institutions, a large number of undergraduates may suffer as a result of inadequate preparation of new faculty for teaching. Data suggest that this inadequate attention to teaching, especially in introductory science and math courses, is responsible for driving students away from undergraduate majors in science, mathematics and engineering. To improve the quality of physics teaching on a national scale, PSA created the New Faculty Workshop. Each workshop presents a small number of techniques that have proven to be effective in a variety of environments. These tactics can be implemented with minimal time and effort, thus allowing new faculty to devote more of their attention to research and scholarship.

The program has produced web resources from each workshop and an annual report and an external evaluation report covering each five year interval. A list of publications can be found on the NFW website. The program is marketed primarily through information provided to department chairs. Department chairs routinely report that having seen the evidence from prior participants that they will nominate most of their new faculty for this program. Initially funded by NSF, the program has become self-sufficient with supporting coming from individual departments.

Additional Undergraduate Education Activities of PSA