Professor of Physics, Seattle Pacific University

Personal Biography and Vision for Science Education in Washington State:

Stamatis Vokos, Professor of Physics at Seattle Pacific University, has directed several projects on the learning and teaching of physics and has contributed to local and national science reform efforts in grades K-20. In particular, he has provided leadership to teacher education and enhancement programs in Washington State, in which nearly two thousand preservice and inservice educators have participated.

Vokos received his Ph.D. in theoretical physics from UC Berkeley in 1990 and was a postdoc at Argonne National Laboratory for two years. During his next postdoc (at the University of Washington), he discovered the existence of and became enamored with the field of physics education research. From 1995 until he joined SPU in 2002, he contributed extensively to the research and curriculum development efforts of the Physics Education Group. In particular, Vokos played a leadership role in the research of student understanding of advanced topics, such as relativity and quantum mechanics.

At SPU, Vokos and his colleagues in physics and science education are involved in research and development projects on undergraduate course reform, as well as teacher education and enhancement. Funding from the National Science Foundation, the Boeing Co., the SPU Science Initiative, and the PhysTEC project of the American Physical Society, the American Association of Physics Teachers, and the American Institute of Physics has enabled a multi-year collaboration with FACET Innovations LLC to improve the effectiveness of the teaching of physics and physical science K-20 at a systemic level.

Vokos is chair of the National Task Force on Teacher Education in Physics, member of the Executive Committee of the APS Forum on Education, and member of the AAPT Committee on Teacher Preparation. He has also served as a member and two-term chair of the AAPT Committee on Research in Physics Education.

As should be clear from my personal statement, my efforts cannot be placed in their proper perspective except in the context of others' efforts.  Although more than 2000 pre-service and inservice educators have participated in the professional preparation and development experiences in which I have had a leadership role, my work would have been impossible without the intellectual input and unwavering support of many other state leaders.

My former colleagues in the Physics Education Group at the University of Washington taught me the technical skills of research on the learning and teaching of physics and helped me discover that working with teachers in systemic ways is indeed my calling.  Published results of some of my efforts illustrate the powerful effect that discipline-specific educational research can have on deepening student understanding.

My colleagues at Seattle Pacific University--both in the Physics Department and the School of Education--and my colleagues at FACET Innovations, LLC, are indispensable day-to-day and strategic partners in multiple initiatives, including two large, multi-year National Science Foundation-funded projects that seek to enhance the diagnostic skills of teachers, better prepare new teachers, and enhance the professional milieu of science teaching.  Research findings have already informed changes in SPU programs and have elevated the University to the position as the focal institution that supports systemic teacher professional preparation in physics and physical science in Puget Sound.

My colleagues in Seattle Public Schools, Bellevue School District, and Spokane School District have allowed me to lead long-term, coherent professional development programs for teachers.  This work has given rise to significant system-wide student learning improvements, with some partnerships stretching unbroken over a dozen years.  In addition, collaborations with lead teachers and science coaches have increased the capacity of both school and university systems.

My colleagues at the center for Inquiry Science in the Institute for Systems Biology, Everett School District, Issaquah School District, ESD 105, and ESD 112 have long been involved in ambitious local and regional reform efforts, to which I am pleased to contribute.

At the statewide level colleagues at Western Washington University, the UW College of Education, WA State LASER, ESD 112, ESD 189, North Sound and South Sound LASER Alliances, and Partnership for Learning have grounded my thinking in the real needs of real teachers in real classrooms.  At the national level, my colleagues an the American Physical Society, the American Association of Physics Teachers, and the American Institute of Physics have entrusted me with the chairmanship of the National Task Force on Teacher Education in Physics, the results of which will be unveiled in Washington, DC, in February 2010 and will be disseminated to all departments of physics and education in the nation.  Task Force findings and recommendations are likely to drive significant nationwide policy change.