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DR. ZETTILI: MAKING AN IMPACT Dr. Nouredine Zettili, Jacksonville State University associate professor of physics, is making an impact on northeast Alabama by improving the quality of physics and chemistry courses in secondary schools. His project is called Improving Physics and Chemistry Teaching in Secondary Education -- or IMPACTSEED. IMPACTSEED is aimed at consolidating President Bush’s No Child Left Behind initiative in northeast Alabama in the field of physical sciences. The program assists chemistry and physics teachers in alignment with state and national standards so that every student receives high quality instruction from knowledgeable, well-trained, and well-supported teachers. “IMPACTSEED is intended to help teachers make physics and chemistry understandable and fun to learn within a hands-on, inquiry-oriented setting, and to overcome the fear-factor for physics and chemistry among students,” Dr. Zettili said. To reach this goal the project will initially run for three years. It contains five major components: an intensive, two-week long summer professional development program; a series of five technology workshops designed to show the many applications of physics and chemistry in our daily lives and industry; sustained, year-round on-site support for teachers; year-round physics and chemistry hotlines to offer immediate support to the teachers whenever the need occurs; and a website to disseminate the results of the project and to list useful resources. IMPACTSEED offers a strong correlation to teachers’ Alabama Course of Study and national standards. Dr. Zettili said, “The primary emphasis of the program is on discovering rather than memorizing, and instruction is by questioning rather than telling. “The vision, goals and methodology of our project have the potential of being very useful to any high school nationwide, most notably in regions where science education assistance is needed.” Zettili said IMPACTSEED is federally funded with the grant administered by the Alabama Commission on Higher Education as part of the No Child Left Behind initiative. “We, at IMPACTSEED, are more than confident that the extensive efforts and contacts undertaken in preparing and piecing together the various components of this project will bring tangible improvements in the teaching of chemistry and physics at the secondary level in northeast Alabama,” said Dr. Zettili. For further information about IMPACTSEED, please visit the project’s web site at http://www.jsu.edu/depart/pes/physics/impactseed/ or contact Dr. Zettili at (256) 782-8077 or nzettili@jsu.edu (http://www.jsu.edu/depart/pes/physics/nzettili/). |
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