Physics for Educators (MPED)

Current physics teachers find WPI’s Master of Science in Physics for Educators program is just what they need to advance their careers, deepen their content knowledge, reignite their passion for their field, and encourage their students to discover the joys of physics.

Designed to meet the time constraints and content needs of middle school, high school, and community college educators, the program helps teachers improve course offerings, assessment tools, and approaches to lessons with strategies they will use immediately in their current classrooms. You’ll also become part of an extensive, supportive network of physicists. This program is an excellent choice for earning the advanced degree necessary for professional licensure in Massachusetts.

Graduate Admissions

Curriculum

With a blend of physics and classroom technique course work, this flexible program delivers on-target information in a timely and efficient manner that makes the advanced physics topics easily accessible to educators and the students they teach.

Course work in education theory and physics content includes topics like modern physics, methods in physics, and physics for citizens and leaders. A self-designed major project in a STEM area is also part of this program. Many teachers solve a problem or design a better solution to something in their own classrooms for the major project, giving them a chance to both design and test a theory.

Graduate Catalog

Similar Degrees

Mathematics for Educators (MME)

Mathematics for Educators degree student discussion

Physics (MS)

Mathematics for Educators (MS) (MMEd)

Research

The culminating self-designed major project helps you merge the theory and practice of this degree program with research in your field. The project is not a thesis nor an exam, but instead an activity designed to help you in the classroom.

Composed of three parts—proposal, implementation, and assessment—your research questions are based on education, not industry or academia. We want your project to be enriching and useful and to help you teach more effectively.

Recent MPED research projects include:

Reorganizing and restructuring an entire teaching portfolio from classroom notes and lectures to activities
Building a recurring project for students involving windmills
Developing modules to a smart learning system
Creating a comic book physics textbook

Explore Our Research

Our state-of-the-art labs provide opportunities for you to work closely with expert faculty who are passionate about physics. You’ll have access to the latest equipment and instruments, like fiber optical tweezers and atomic force microscopy, and to WPI’s physics labs, such as the IPG Photonics Laboratory, the Atomic Force Microscopy Laboratory, the Soft Matter Laboratory, and the Center for Computational Nanoscience.

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Faculty Profiles

Frank A. Dick

Associate Teaching Professor

Physics

Ask Professor Frank Dick, "What is teaching?" and he will tell you: "Teaching is show time! People love a good show. Make the show entertaining from start to finish, and students will remember what you say and do forever.

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Germano S. Iannacchione

Professor

Physics

After my physics undergraduate and graduate education, I was fortunate to hold postdoctoral fellowship appointments in physics at Kent State University from 1994 to 1996 and in chemistry at MIT from 1996 to 1998, which gave me a broad perspective on interdisciplinary research. I joined WPI as an assistant professor of Physics in August 1998, in addition to maintaining a research affiliate appointment in the Center for Materials Science and Engineering at MIT from 1998 to 1999, where this perspective both broadened and deepened.

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Izabela Stroe

Associate Teaching Professor

Physics

For me, Physics is like a sandbox. It gives me the opportunity to play and discover, test, be creative, learn something new. At the same time, I am passionate about passing the thrill of discovery to my students. Teaching is a two-way street in which both parties get enriched from each other. I welcome and embrace the partnership. I also believe that college is the biggest and best opportunity in one's life to discover one's calling and do something about it and I invite students to take full advantage of it.

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Getting Involved

As a graduate student here, you’ll have the opportunity to get involved in many campus activities. But physics students often gather for colloquiums and discussions as they become part of a growing and supportive network of area physicists.

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Students walking around the fountain in the springtime

After Graduation

A Master of Science in Physics for Educators degree from WPI transforms your current classroom approach, elevates your professional standing, and makes you eligible for professional licensure in Massachusetts. Depending on your district’s rules, the degree may upgrade your pay status, as well.

Career Outlook

Physics Department