Monthly Archives: January 2019

Florida’s Catholic high schools could lead the state in preparing students for college STEM majors. But as far as I can tell, they don’t.

Posted on January 28, 2019 by Paul Cottle

With their highly disciplined environments and Church teaching that fully embraces modern science, Florida’s Catholic high schools seem to have tremendous potential to lead the state in preparing students for college majors in STEM fields like engineering and the computing, … Continue reading →

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Coercion is no substitute for persuasion: As difficult and slow as it is, persuading parents, teachers, counselors, administrators and policy-makers to improve the preparation of high school students for college STEM majors is the only way to make lasting change

Posted on January 26, 2019 by Paul Cottle

I used to believe in policy solutions for Florida’s poor performance in preparing high school students for bachelor’s degree-level STEM careers. But I gave up on that years ago. Florida’s SB 4, passed by the Legislature in 2010 and signed … Continue reading →

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Why is this FSU physics professor handing out recruiting posters for the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering? Because the posters give high school students a road map for preparing for college STEM majors.

Posted on January 20, 2019 by Paul Cottle

When I met in December with Tisha Keller, who is the Marketing and Communications Director for the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, and Kayla McLaughlin, the college’s Recruitment Coordinator, they seemed a little puzzled that I was so eager to get … Continue reading →

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Got equations? In my calculus-based physics class, equations don’t come first.

Posted on January 19, 2019 by Paul Cottle

At the beginning of the second three-hour class period of this semester’s studio physics course, I told my students that we wouldn’t be using any equations for the next week. Just to be clear, I am not teaching a general … Continue reading →

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Two research-based perspectives on teacher certification and teacher preparation: the negative impact of some certification requirements on teacher quality; and, math and science teacher prep programs that really add value.

Posted on January 17, 2019 by Paul Cottle

Teacher certification is on the agenda for next week’s meeting of the PreK-12 Quality Subcommittee of the Florida House.  To provide my readers (both of them) a chance to prepare for that discussion, I am recommending two papers posted by … Continue reading →

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Florida’s 2019-20 Critical Teacher Shortage Areas: Even elementary education graduates are in shortage now

Posted on January 12, 2019 by Paul Cottle

This week, Florida’s State Board of Education will adopt its 2019-20 list of Critical Teacher Shortage Areas.  Among other things, the report includes the number of students who completed the state’s approved college- and university-based teacher preparation programs in 2016-17 … Continue reading →

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FSU Police once had an unarmed standoff with a disturbed student in my classroom. If the student had been carrying a firearm, it likely would have turned out very differently.

Posted on January 5, 2019 by Paul Cottle

Years ago, I called FSU’s campus police to my classroom because of an outburst by a disturbed student that was so violent that it scared the other students in the room. In response, a group of campus police officers entered … Continue reading →

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The power of architecture in a classroom and the influence of the SCALE-UP studio-style classroom design on students

Posted on January 1, 2019 by Paul Cottle

“Architecture provides a stage to engender certain behaviors by curating one’s experiences.” – Allison Peitz, Overland Partners My first real lesson about the power of architecture came fairly late in life – in 2008 – when FSU’s first SCALE-UP studio-style … Continue reading →

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