PAUL J. WENDEL
Physical Science Teacher Developer

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A native Ohioan, Dr. Paul J. Wendel began his physics teaching career in 1988 persuaded that discovery teaching methods were superior to traditional approaches.  He continued to work closely with science teachers and to pilot new teaching techniques during his subsequent 18 years of teaching high school physics and mathematics in his home state.  In 2004, Paul was recognized as his district’s high school teacher of the year.

Paul holds a BS in physics from Kent State University.  He earned an MS in science education in 1998 and an MA in physics with an emphasis in physics education from Kent State University in 2003 and a PhD in curriculum & instruction with an emphasis in science education from Kent State University in 2008.  From 2008 to 2011, Paul was an assistant professor of physics and science education specialist at Mansfield University in Pennsylvania, where he organized a series of physics and chemistry modeling workshops for secondary teachers.

Paul is the recipient of several grants to address introductory teaching and learning and is an author of a number of articles including “Adding value to force diagrams:   Representing relative force magnitudes” (The Physics Teacher, 2011).  He has presented physics teaching techniques at numerous state and local conferences and has served as a referee for Science Education and Science & Education.

Paul is a member of the Association for Science Teacher Education and a lifetime member of the American Association of Physics Teachers.  Formerly the director of Mansfield University’s Planetarium, he is the co-founder and former chair of the Mansfield Growers Market.