K-12 Task Force

As K-12 Institutions adjust and redefine norms for post-pandemic education, the needs of physics educators and their students may shift. The AAPT K-12 Program must take this opportunity to examine current AAPT resources to determine how they correspond to the current and future needs of teachers of physics. This task force will seek to discover how AAPT can help to meet these needs.

Charge:

The K-12 Task Force is therefore charged with the following tasks:

  • Investigate and define short and long-term needs of K-12 teachers of physics (and their students) using available research or formulation of a comprehensive needs assessment of AAPT members who are K12 Teachers. Dialogue with community constituents is encouraged in this effort.
  • Examine existing resources and programs with the lens of current and future needs, and propose adjustments to existing programs (including sunsetting) or the creation of new programs that can be implemented over the next three years. Proposed programs should include mechanisms that support content knowledge development, and advance innovative pedagogical approaches that include the use of modern scientific tools and resources, with attention to addressing diversity, equity, and inclusion in the physics classroom.
  • Propose more effective means for growing and promoting connections among the larger community of teachers of physics in ways that decrease isolation, foments professional communities, support new teachers, and foster teacher leadership development, all as a valuable benefit of AAPT membership.  

The K-12 Task Force will provide updates to the Board and AAPT members regularly, deliver a formal report to the AAPT Board by the Spring of 2023, and present their recommendations to the larger AAPT Community at the Summer 2023 Meeting.

Members:
Debbie Andres
Matt Bryant
Carol Burns
Kenric Davies
Bree Dreyfuss
Justine Harren
Jennifer Isaacs
Lynn Jorgensen
Mark Lattery
Martha Lietz
Jan Mader (chair)
Colleen Megowan-Romanowicz
Maajida Murdock
Ann Robinson
Marianna Ruggerio
Marta Stoeckel-Rogers

Past Members:
Mark Hannum (co-chair)