FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Students take classes in subjects that interest them, but that interest can be fanned or flattened by the person who teaches them. A University of Arkansas physics professor is working to strengthen and support physics teachers in the elementary and secondary school classrooms so they can create a rewarding experience for their students.

Gay Stewart, associate professor of physics, has spearheaded a project called PhysTEC, the Physics Teacher Education Coalition, on the University of Arkansas campus, one of six original sites for the program. She presented the most recent progress in the program at a recent meeting of the American Physical Society.

The project focuses on supporting undergraduate science majors who might consider careers as secondary science teachers and pre-service elementary school teachers who will teach science in the classroom. The program addresses both curriculum development and mentoring relationships for new teachers.

"We’re trying to build as much support for new teachers as possible," said Stewart. "Many times faculty complain that students arrive ill prepared to take university-level physics classes. But we have to remember who taught the teachers, and to become involved in that process if we want to improve student preparedness."

The PhysTEC program combines the efforts of the College of Education and Health Professions, the physics department and local schools to accomplish its goals.

The science methods courses not only teach students how to teach science, but why they should teach it in a certain way. They provide teacher guides, laboratory materials and other support for prospective teachers to develop their own inquiry-based labs.

"Little kids are the perfect scientists," Stewart said. "Elementary teachers are probably our most important science teachers. We need to give them the tools to teach science effectively."

The initial years of teaching often prove to be the most difficult, especially for physics teachers, who sometimes find themselves in demand to solve technical problems unrelated to their jobs.

"If every new teacher stayed, we wouldn’t have a problem. But three years after they get out of school, many have left the profession," she said.

Institutions participating in the PhysTEC program hope to minimize the number of teachers leaving the profession by providing support to existing teachers and enhanced learning environments for pre-service teachers. Part of the program includes bringing a physics teacher to campus for a year to work with professors and students, serving as a mentor for pre-service teachers and as a resource to professors who are trying to revise their curricula to teach the teachers.

Stewart and her colleagues have worked to redesign physics courses and some of the science methods courses to emphasize inquiry-based learning. The physics course revisions have proved successful, with almost 95 percent of the students taking the calculus-based University Physics II saying that they liked the course and learned a lot from it.

The physics department has developed inquiry-based laboratory classes that integrate and reinforce what students learn in the classroom. In addition, lectures have become more interactive, and some have a Web-based component. In one algebra-based physics course taught by associate professor Paul Thibado, for instance, technology-based question and answer sessions during class and Web-based homework resulted in increased student attendance, participation and preparation. Further, these students completed their homework and fared better on exams than they did in the previous semester’s class, which included none of the technology enhancements.

The teacher in residence at the University of Arkansas this year, Marc Reif, not only helped the professors and students on campus but also served as a mentor to his replacement at Fayetteville High School, Stewart said.

The PhysTEC program is sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education.