Mr Francesco Paul Neal Noschese (2023)

Mr Francesco Paul Neal-Noschese (2023)

AST’s 31st Outstanding Educator-in-Consultancy (OEIC) Programme

Mr Francesco Paul Neal-Noschese (Frank Noschese) is a New York State Master Teacher Emeritus and is passionate in leading students construct their own understanding of science concepts. With over 24 years of experience in the teaching of Physics in John Jay High School, he was a recipient of the Paul W. Zitzewitz Excellence in K-12 Teaching Award from the American Association of Physics Teachers in 2018 as well as the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching in 2011.

Prior to his engagement as the Outstanding Educator for AST’s OEIC (from 10 April to 21 April 2023), Mr Noschese collaborated closely with our Master Teacher/Physics, Mr Jensen Ong, in co-designing and co-developing engagements for our educators. These discussions rich and delved deep into pedagogical practices associated with inquiry-based learning, and how the local contexts can be considered for the application of teaching strategies. Mr Noschese also collaborated with our local Teacher Collaborator, Mr Lawrence Tang (Lead Teacher/Physics, Zhonghua Secondary School), to apply his strategies in inquiry-based learning to enhance the learning of the concept of stability in a Secondary Three classroom in Zhonghua Secondary School.

Overview of the Onsite Workshops (Part 1) [17 April to 20 April 2023]

During each of the four zonal workshops, Mr Noschese modelled pedagogical leadership via hands-on activities for workshop participants. He also drew reference from his lesson demonstration in Zhonghua Secondary School to deepen participants’ understanding of one of the learning strategies employed, namely the ‘Observe, Predict and Apply’ model and how variables in teaching and learning can be considered when designing and enacting lessons.

For example, teacher participants were posed with the trigger question: “How high will a ball bounce?” Participants were then tasked to consider patterns between the height that a ball was dropped, and the height of its bounce. They then applied the critical thinking of prediction to assess the height the ball should be dropped for it to bounce to reach the height of a given chair. Through this activity, Mr Noschese also engaged participants to think about how to leverage the ‘Observe, Predict and Apply’ model to infuse inquiry-based learning into lesson designs by encouraging their students to think about diverse variables and possible relationships across scientific concepts.

Through feedback given by teacher participants on the four workshops, participants expressed appreciation the strategies shared and model by Mr Noschese. They recognised that it takes small shifts in mindsets to transform teaching practices that can bring about the development of critical and inventive thinking in students.

Overview of Online Workshop (Part 2) [16 August 2023]

More information on the online workshop will be made available in Semester 2.