Task Force on Teacher Education in Physics: Preliminary Results

The nation currently produces a significantly smaller number of well-prepared teachers of physics than it needs. The American Association of Physics Teachers, the American Physical Society, and the American Institute of Physics have instituted the Task Force on Teacher Education in Physics, which seeks to study exemplary teacher preparation programs and identify generalizable characteristics of them. The Task Force will author a report of its findings, which will be distributed to all physics departments and schools of education in the US. In addition, the Task Force will disseminate its findings through presentations, workshops, and other mechanisms, under the auspices of the sponsoring professional organizations. In this talk, preliminary results from site visits and other data collection means will be presented.