The Four Step Active Learning technique is one of several components that are fundamental to the APEX teaching approach. The Four Step Method represents the pipeline from experiment, to data, to mathematical expression, to understanding the underlying physics.

Read more about the other components of APEX on our website.

Hi, Marius,
The video gives a good sense of the teachers’ working with the physics, and in a sense re-engaging with the fundamentals of the science. I notice from your website that teachers participate in cohorts. Are these annual groups? Do they overlap at all (eg. Cohort 1 and Cohort 2)? Does the program provide a structured or programmatic way for the teachers to stay in touch with each other between events? My questions are related to the challenge of translating PD to actual practice under the pressures of the classroom setting…

There are three cohorts that are in the program for three years each. The cohorts are staggered by a year. The first cohort just completed the program this spring, while the second cohort will finish next year, etc. Each cohort participates in a two week summer teacher’s institute and three two day follow up workshops during the academic year. This video was recorded at one of theses follow up workshops this January.
Beside face to face meetings at the workshops, we have several ways for the teachers to stay in touch:
1) Several mailing lists
2) A Virtual Professional Learning Community
3) The Alabama Science in Motion (ASIM) Specialists

Interesting work! What kind of outcomes are you seeing for teachers and/or students?

Students have really taken a liking to this, even to the degree, that some have asked teachers of their other classes (e.g. chemistry) to adopt this method!

I really how hands-on experiments are used to teach lessons. How do you ensure every team member is involved in the creation of the whiteboard, as opposed to one person doing all the work? Is that even an issue?

Obviously, there is never a guarantee that all members will be equally involved in creating the whiteboard, but it is the teacher’s job to keep each group on task. Most importantly, the right ‘culture’ has to be established at the very beginning of the class, so that all members of a group participate. The instructor will call on every member of the group during the presentation phase. Thus, students that did not contribute to their groups whiteboard will likely not know how to present or answer any subsequent questions.
BTW, it is a good idea to change up the composition of the groups from time to time, e.g. daily or weekly. This encourages the more passive students to participate, as they cannot ‘lean’ on the same ‘stronger’ classmates every time.

Excellent feedback from students. They obviously are enjoying their physics class. You mention that, the Four Step Active Learning technique is one of several components fundamental to the APEX teaching approach. I’m interested in hearing about some of the other components?

Yes, I was just wondering about the other aspects of the teaching. Maybe it’s too much to go into here. I’m sure they’re all very interesting.