The Weizmann Institute will further develop their database of diagnostic assignments and will mentor diagnostics coaches to support and strengthen their implementation
Three years ago, the foundation supported a physics diagnostics program at the Weizmann Institute, which aimed to develop a database of 150 diagnostic assignments, designed to help teachers diagnose students’ difficulties, typical errors and common misconceptions. In addition, they aimed to develop one hundred short learning tasks and teaching strategies to help the teacher adapt their teaching, based on the student diagnosis. The assignments and tasks were to be uploaded to a designated area on the physics teachers’ website and introduced via the teachers’ communities and other professional development frameworks.Over the past two years, the development of assignments and learning tasks was executed as planned, and their integration in the field was carried out primarily via the physics teacher learning communities. Approximately 200 teachers have used the assignments and tasks in their classrooms, tried to adapt their teaching in line with the data gathered, and discussed their experience with colleagues. However, this integration was somewhat sporadic, as teachers tried 2-3 assignments over a year. While teachers were enthusiastic about the idea, and found the assignments useful in reflecting student thinking, they struggled with how and when to use them. Collection of the data and its analysis required substantial effort on their part and they were not convinced to use it on a regular basis and as an inherent component of their teaching.
The Weizmann Institute is therefore proposing to address the above challenges by further developing the database so that it includes longer and deeper teaching protocols and routines. Twenty such routines will be designed around common misconceptions of students. Each routine will encompass a number of diagnostic assignments as well as teaching strategies and learning tasks addressing the diagnosed errors, and will require a teaching cycle of between 1.5-3 hours. They will upload these kits to a Leaning Management System (LMS) to help teachers overcome the technical difficulty of manual data collection and of keeping record of student progress.
In order to strengthen the implementation, one representative of each of the current twelve teachers’ communities will be trained to become a diagnostics coach. Following their training, each of these teachers will return to their communities to lead an incremental integration process. From the second year, four communities (around 80 teachers) will be selected to specialize in diagnosis-based teaching. These teachers will integrate the diagnostic routines in a more systematic manner into their teaching, implementing a full teaching process in their class 3-4 times over the year. Fifty of these teachers will also receive one-on-one individual coaching by the diagnostic coaches.
In total, around 230 teachers will participate in implementation during the three years of the project. In addition, the larger physics teaching community will be exposed to the databases and teaching processes via different frameworks such as bi-annual regional seminars, conferences and dedicated features on the physics teachers’ website. At the request of the foundation, there will be an international conference on diagnostic-based teaching with experts from Israel and abroad, which will include a presentation of case studies and workshops of teachers using assignments and tasks.