A PARADIGM CHANGE IN LEVELING PHYSICS LEARNING: FROM FOE TO JOY!

Students constantly complain that Science and Math, specifically Physics are difficult and impossible to understand. These situations are interestingly amplified for groups that are classified as minorities or are physically challenged students. A recent publication by the US Department of Education Civil Rights: “2013-2014 Civil Rights Data Collection: A First Look”, classifies such learning disparities and challenges as a civil rights issue. On its Page 6 the report states that: Black and Latino students have less access to high level Math and science courses and that Courses enrollment rates differ by race, ethnicity, and by disability . Girls are underrepresented among students enrolled in Physics but not in Calculus and specifies that at this rate in the US (thus Puerto Rico), to close the participation gap in Physics more than 91,000 additional girls would need to participate in Physics classes nationwide.

At the Arecibo Observatory (AO) in Puerto Rico, the science education programs are being redesigned to: Improve their reach and be understandable, enjoyable and inclusive to all students, teachers and all casual visitors to the Science and Visitors Center. Through a full redesign based on Constructivism and hands on activities the Science that is done at the AO: Space and Atmospheric Science, Astronomy, Radios Astronomy and Planetary Radar Science are is depicted as a series of experiences that enhance both cognitive development, science learning and appreciation. All of it is oriented so that the students, teachers and all those who want to experience the Science as is being developed can do so.

This Research In Action based programs are now in the phase of promoting the creation of new databases to study how can learning be improved and enhanced in this enriched environment. The proposal is for a qualitative approach to an innovation to the Physics and Astronomy model of Teaching and Learning that takes into consideration all the above mentioned factors.

After a complete exhibits and physical renovation, the Science and Visitors Center at the AO can be the core of an experimental design to verify the short and long term domain of concepts to teachers and students while at the same time being fun and rigorous in its approach.

In this presentation we describe how several activities are developed and the science behind them as well as their transferability to school environments even with the lowest technological requirements.