Overview
of TOPS activities

TOPS consists of an eight-person team of students who work closely with two lead teachers. The team is broken into two four-person groups that develop and teach material on one of the TOPS themes of energy and light.

In the first few days participants learn about teaching strategies and explore the resources available to them. During the first two weeks they prepare and rehearse material to teach to middle school students at the Museum of Science, Boston. Participants generally work from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the TOPS Teaching Workshop at MIT, Monday through Friday, and then a little more during the evenings and weekends.

Following this two-week period of preparation, TOPS students spend one week at the Boston Museum of Science putting their ideas into practice by teaching middle school students.. The following week is spent back at the TOPS Teaching Workshop revamping the material to teach at the high school level.

The fifth and sixth weeks are devoted to teaching high school students at MIT in a TOPS program for local students. Participants interact with the high school students for the full day, and each one teaches a 1.5 hr class every other day. One participant observed “The days you teach are generally much longer than the off days when you merely prep for your classes and observe other teachers.”

Other TOPS activities include visits to the laboratories of the Center for Ultracold Atoms and talks by some of the investigators and graduate students. Two weekend social activities are planned and there is lots to do around the Boston/Cambridge area.

TOPS '08

Preliminary Schedule

Sunday, June 22, 7 p.m. Reception, room 26-214

First Day: Monday, June 23

Holiday: Friday, July 4

Final Day: Tuesday, August 5

Week 1: June 23– June 27

Form teams; start course design; teaching seminars

Week 2: July 30 – 3

Course development and preparation; practice teaching

Week 3: July 7 – 11

One week of middle-school teaching at the Boston Museum of Science

Week 4: July 14– 18

More development and preparation for high school sessions; practice teaching

Weeks 5 and 6: July 21– 25; July 28 – August 1

This will be a two-week program for HS students at MIT. Each TOPS participant will be involved in teaching two 1.5 hr classes a day, twice a week during these two weeks

August 4 – 5