Project Accelerate provides an accredited College Board AP Physics 1 program to students at schools where this opportunity does not exist. All students enrolled in Project Accelerate are required to engage in a robust hands-on laboratory experience. Students working “near” a University replication site are required to attend hands-on explorations at the University replication site. The laboratory experience is facilitated by a trained undergraduate physics major Learning Assistant (LA). Partner high schools “distant” from any University replication site, are provided other options in support of an “equivalent” hands-on experience at the partner school’s home site.
A group shot of a typical laboratory group with their Learning Assistant. The LA is the person on the extreme right as you look at the picture.Greenman, the Project Accelerate director, is standing in for one of the regular Learning Assistants who returned home during the Boston University extended intersession. Each exploration starts with a “research question.” Students, through guided inquiry, develop a plan, gathers evidence and arrive at claims supported by their evidence addressing the research question(s). The Learning Assistant is trained to engage students in discourse, often hinting and asking more questions than providing answers as the LA supports student active intellectual engagement in “discovery.” Project Accelerate student participating on an edX Global Forum panel. The Project Accelerate graduate, responding to a moderator prompt: “It was incredible every time I was stumped on a problem and I requested a hint, it was like the authors could read my mind and knew exactly what I might need to continue with the problem.”Four students from various local Boston public schools investigating wave harmonics.Simple Harmonic Motion (SHM) and a “draft” report. While conducting the investigation, students write up a “draft” report that is submitted at the end of the class. Following the investigation, all groups report out their claims and supporting evidence. At the end of these Learning Assistant facilitated discussions, each student writes a “final” report which is saved as part of the student’s Laboratory Portfolio.A pair of students writing up their “final” report. The final report is saved in their individual Laboratory Portfolio. Students maintain ownership of their Laboratory Portfolio. The program team keep the “draft” reports. The “draft” reports are reviewed by program staff to look at student thinking as they are actively engaged in the exploration process.
