Workshop Leadership
      CPU workshops are being offered throughout the United States by twenty-five CPU Leadership Teams. Each team consists of three members, including at least one university faculty member and one high school physics teacher. To prepare themselves for giving their workshops, teams attended two 15 day CPU training sessions in San Diego in Summers 1996 and 1997, trial tested materials in their own classrooms, and attend a 3 day follow up meeting in Summer 1998.

Workshop Information
      Leadership Teams are committed to give three workshops with an anticipated enrollment of twenty teachers in each workshop. Partial support for the workshops is provided by CPU. The CPU Project requires that each workshop is the equivalent of fifteen working days, but workshops can be scheduled to best meet the needs of local teachers. For instance, a workshop may be scheduled to meet for ten days during a summer, then have five additional days during an academic year. Many teams have arranged for stipends, academic credit, professional growth points or small equipment kits for workshop participants. People interested in attending a CPU workshop should see the list of scheduled workshops and contact the appropriate Leadership Team.

Content Workshops
      These workshops focus on content, with perhaps some time allocated for teachers to plan how their new knowledge might benefit their students. They are ideal for elementary teachers and some middle school teachers who want to develop a better understanding of various physics concepts. A possible scenario is to work through some of the CPU materials during the initial sessions of a workshop, then on follow-up days during the academic year teachers could share questions about their district's instructional materials and use their CPU experience to understand those materials better.
      Teachers could also share how they were able to more effectively facilitate their students' understanding as a result of participating in the CPU workshop. Hence, the discussion on these follow up days would focus on content and pedagogy with a view towards classroom practice. Alternatively, follow up days could be planned in which teachers work through additional CPU materials rather than reflect on classroom practice.

Implementation Workshops
     These workshops focus on how to implement the pedagogy, materials and software in secondary school classrooms. They are designed primarily for high school teachers and may be appropriate for some middle school teachers. These teachers spend less time working through the content of the units than teachers attending the content workshops, and spend more time being trained in the CPU pedagogy and software. A possible scenario for the initial sessions of the workshop is to overview two or three CPU units, and concentrate on pedagogy and the software. Academic year follow up days may focus on the teachers' experiences with implementing the materials in the classroom, and workshop leaders would provide input for continued successful implementation.

Further Workshop Information
      Every workshop is a little different! Leadership Teams design workshops and choose content units in response to the needs of their local teachers. If you are interested in attending a local CPU Workshop, check the Workshop Schedule on this site, and contact the appropriate Leadership Team member.