Amy Robertson

Professional Title
Visiting Assistant Professor of Physics
Organization/Institution
About Me (Bio)
Amy Robertson is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Physics at Seattle Pacific University. She recently completed her Ph.D. with the Physics Education Group at the University of Washington, where she studied student and teacher reasoning about topics related to the particulate nature of matter. She currently coordinates the Learning Assistant Program at SPU and is working to develop new ways of assessing K-12 teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge, attention to the disciplinary substance of student ideas, and perceptions of science and of self as a member of the scientific community. This research is part of the broader effort of the Energy Project to provide quality teacher preparation and growth in proximal formative assessment skills for instruction on the topic of energy. Amy also has a particular interest in the theory and methodology of quantitative and qualitative research in the physics education research community.
Keywords
Rutgers University (RU)
09/01/2012

This project develops an instrument to measure the content knowledge that teachers need to teach about energy in high school classroom instruction that focuses on mechanical energy. The project uses a framework that includes tasks based on instructional practices in the classroom that can identify the extent to which the teacher understands both the disciplinary knowledge and the appropriate teaching processes that support student learning.

Seattle Pacific University (SPU)
09/01/2014

This project will develop and investigate the opportunities and limitations of Focus on Energy, a professional development (PD) system for elementary teachers (grades 3-5). The PD will contain: resources that will help teachers to interpret, evaluate and cultivate students' ideas about energy; classroom activities to help them to identify, track and represent energy forms and flows; and supports to help them in engaging students in these activities.

Seattle Pacific University (SPU)
09/01/2008

This project is developing a science teacher education model focused on the establishment of a diagnostic learning environment through formative assessment as a powerful instructional practice for promoting learning of all students (grades 5–12) on the topic of energy with the goal of increasing the understanding of the processes through which teachers develop the requisite knowledge, skills, and dispositions for effective deployment of a formative assessment instructional cycle.

Seattle Pacific University (SPU)
07/01/2019

This project will research and develop instructional materials and conduct professional development for teachers to help students understand energy flow. The project will create a model for secondary science teacher professional development that integrates science concepts with equity education. This model promotes a key epistemological issue: that science concepts are not culture-free or socially neutral ideas, but rather are concepts created and sustained by people in specific times and places for the purposes of addressing specific social needs and empowering people or groups of people.