Leading team:
- Prof. Edit Yerushalmi
- Prof. Yaron Lehavi
- AVI RAHAV
Secretariat and Administration:
Rina KimchiBrief
The National Center for Physics Teachers was established in 1995 in the Department of Science Teaching at the Weizmann Institute of Science. The center operates within an integrated framework which includes the National Center for Geography – Human and Environment teachers and Earth Sciences teachers. The activities of the National Center are fully coordinated with the Ministry of Education Physics Teaching Superintendence.
The National Center for Physics Teachers aims to advance the professional development of physics teachers in Israel, and to support the expansion of their Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK). The Center is involved in the development and integration of various frameworks and tools that support the professional development of teachers in collaboration with academic institutes throughout the country, such as the Technion, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and particularly the Physics Education Group at the Weizmann Institute’s Science Teaching Department, where the following projects are underway:
- The “Physics Teachers Communities” project, which trains a leading cohort of teachers to guide high school physics teacher communities all over the country;
- The “Research Physics” project – a training program for teacher mentors, introducing additional programs for physics students which focus on inquiry portfolios and long-term research projects;
- The “Gateway to Physics” project, which trains middle school physics teachers to guide inquiry-oriented learning and teaching in advanced level Physics classrooms;
- The physics component of PeTeL (Personalized Teaching and Learning digital environment)
- The “Video Didactics” project – a program which trains physics teachers to moderate an inquisitive, exploratory, non-judgmental peer discourse with their colleagues, based on authentic recorded evidence;
- …And more.
The center also supports various projects in frameworks for professional development (yearly communities and short-term workshops, assisting and empowering teachers in their everyday practice, and introducing novel strategies and tools), as well as in developing tools and aids for physics teaching (such as booklets in Hebrew and Arabic).
The center operates the National physics teachers center website, publishes the journal “Tehuda” (edited by Prof. Yaron Lehavi), holds the National Physics Teachers’ Conference once a year, and supports additional seminars.
Our thanks to the Ministry of Education for its support.