Physics and Everyday Thinking (formerly Physics for Elementary Teachers) [http://cpucips.sdsu.edu/web/pet/ ] is a one-semester curriculum designed especially for prospective elementary teachers. The course uses a student-oriented pedagogy with a content focus that aims to help students develop physics ideas included in the National Science Education Standards and the Benchmarks for Scientific Literacy. In addition to the physics content focus, there is also a unique Elementary Students Ideas (ESI) component, which provide PET students with the opportunity to apply their evolving physics knowledge in the context of the elementary classroom, as well as activities designed to help students focus on the nature of science and on their learning about learning.

• The PET project is supported by the National Science Foundation Grant ESI-0096856. The PET curriculum, pedagogy and web-based professional development resources have been partially adapted from three other NSF-supported projects: The Constructing Physics Understanding (CPU) Project (NSF Grant ESI-9454341), the Constructing Ideas in Physical Science (CIPS) Project (NSF Grant ESI-9812299), and the CIPS Professional Development Project (NSF Grant ESI-0138900).

· The PET curriculum has been taught at two-year and four-year institutions, has been adapted for a science methods course in schools of education, and has been offered as a workshop for practicing elementary teachers.  In the latter version, special activities are included that teachers can use in their own elementary classrooms.

Resources [LINK TO http://petproject.sdsu.edu/resources/resources.html ]are available to help faculty implement PET in their classrooms and for staff development leaders to implement a PET workshop for practicing teachers. These resources include a comprehensive web-based teacher guide, and a set of workshops.

Evaluations

Background and details of implementation