Dr. John L. Hubisz began teaching as a teenager and some 45 years later he hasn't stopped yet. His enthusiasm for teaching and passion for physics have guided an extraordinary career dedicated to seeking out the best in students and teaching them to critically observe and analyze the world in which they live. 
Dr. Hubisz earned a bachelor's degree in physics and mathematics from St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. A mere six weeks into his freshman year, the university gave the 17-year-old credit for his first year, made him a sophomore, and assigned him to teach a laboratory that just a few weeks before he had been taking as a student. While on leave from St. F.X. from the fall of 1963 to the fall of 1965 he finished his master's degree at UT. He had come to Knoxville at the invitation of Physics Professor Roger Rusk, whom he had met at an American Association of Physics Teachers meeting.
"We had common interests in bringing physics to those who were trying to avoid it," Dr. Hubisz said. "He was teaching a non-math, non-prerequisite physics course and I was interested in introducing something similar. The master's program was simply a way to get in."
He went on to earn a Ph.D. in physics and space science from York University in Toronto. In 1971 he began a 22-year run teaching at the College of the Mainland in Texas City, Texas, where he is now professor emeritus. In 1993 he joined the North Carolina State University Physics Department as a visiting professor.
After nearly five decades of teaching, does he think the fundamental challenges remain the same or change with each generation of students?
"They change all the time," Dr. Hubisz said, "and that is what makes teaching so interesting."
One particular hurdle is that students often come to campus with a "wide distribution of preparation," he said.
To make his classroom a dynamic learning environment, Dr. Hubisz gives his students credit for helping each other and encourages them to work in groups, a concept he adopted during his own high school days. As he said in a guest editorial in The Physics Teacher (February 2001), "trying to teach someone else increases my own understanding."
His own love for physics has inspired him to devote much of his professional life to improving physics education, largely through his involvement with AAPT. He won the Robert N. Little Award for Outstanding Contributions to Physics in Higher Education from the AAPT Texas section in 1987. From 1991 to 1994 he was an at-large member of the national association's executive board. He is also finishing a term as AAPT president.
"I was elected for four years," he explained. "Vice-president, president-elect, president, and past president. My presidential year ends at the end of January, 2002."
Dr. Hubisz took his belief in the organization's importance to his new home, organizing a new AAPT section for North Carolina after he moved there. In 1999, the North Carolina section he had worked so hard to create established the John L. Hubisz Award to recognize his service. Dr. Hubisz was the first recipient.
As science education begins long before a student sets foot on a college campus, Dr. Hubisz recently completed a review of textbooks to see how what students are learning at the middle school level. Sponsored by a $64,000 grant from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, he assembled a group of reviewers to critique physical science textbooks used for middle school students in terms of their scientific accuracy, consistent scientific approach, and appropriateness for grade level. What they found was that most of the books were plagued by errors. Hydrogen was listed twice on a periodic table. Teacher's editions had incorrect answers. Chapter questions and problems were impossible to solve with the information provided. The text was peppered with incorrect or inappropriate illustrations and photographs.
In light of the study's findings, Dr. Hubisz said all but one of the publishers have contacted him.
"Most wanted recommendations of people to help improve their next offerings," he said.
As an AAPT officer and a physics teacher, he is committed to using his experience and resources to substantially enrich science education at all levels.
"I want to see middle school teachers taking physical science courses that are appropriate to the courses that they will be required to teach when they get into the classroom," he said. "The courses must have a hands-on component and provide prospective teachers with material that they can use immediately in the classroom."
He cited AAPT's Powerful Ideas in Physical Science program as one means to reach that goal.
Dr. Hubisz believes the single most important quality of a good teacher is "love of the subject that is readily carried over to the students." And after 45 years in the classroom, his love affair with teaching physics shows no signs of abating.
Some Links of Interest:Dr. Hubisz's Middle School Textbook Report: http://www.psrc-online.org/curriculum/book.html AAPT Web Site: http://www.aapt.org (includes information on Powerful Ideas in Physical Science) Cross Sections, Fall/Winter 2001 Issue, Contents Page UT Physics News & Notes Page UT Physics Home Page This page was last updated on December 21, 2001. Please send comments to cal@utk.edu. |