A modeling method for high school physics instruction

The design and development of a new method for high school physics instruction is described. Students are actively engaged in understanding the physical world by constructing and using scientific models to describe, explain, predict, and to control physical phenomena. Course content is organized around a small set of basic models. Instruction is organized into modeling cycles move students systematically through all phases of model development, evaluation, and application in concrete situations─thus developing skill and insight in the procedural aspects of scientific knowledge. Objective evidence shows that the modeling method can produce much larger gains in student understanding than alternative methods of instruction. This reveals limitations of the popular "cooperative inquiry" and "learning cycle" methods. It is concluded that the effectiveness of physics instruction depends heavily on the pedagogical expertise of the teacher. The problem of cultivating such expertise among high school teachers is discussed at length, with specific recommendations for action within the physics community. © 1995 American Association of Physics Teachers . Malcolm Wells is the primary author of this article, because it is about his contribution to physics teaching. Malcolm has intended to publish an account of his work since his doctoral dissertation was completed in 1987. But the writing was delayed, first because he gave himself to conducting workshops for the benefit of other teachers, and then, in the last few years, because Lou Gehrig's disease has consumed his energy in implacable decline. So it has fallen on his coworkers, DH and GS, to speak for and about Malcolm Wells. We do this gladly to celebrate the life of a truly great teacher, but more -- because Malcolm has elevated the craft of teaching, and we believe that his unique contributions can help others surpass themselves and perhaps even Malcolm. 1. Malcolm's educational research. The story of Malcolm's research is told by DH, who directed Malcolm's doctoral work and continued to collaborate with him thereafter. The story has an unambiguous moral: to upgrade high school physics, partnerships are needed between experienced teachers and physicists involved in educational research. By any conventional measure, Malcolm was a superior teacher before his partnership with me. Yet his doctoral thesis documents a large improvement in the outcomes of his teaching, and it clearly identifies the contribution of educational research to the change. I have been active in theoretical physics research for the duration of our partnership. Though my physics research has deeply influenced my educational research, only the latter has been of direct benefit to Malcolm. Here is the story.