No physics teacher is no problem at Brandywine High School

BY CHRIS CASQUEJO, WSBT-TV Reporter

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Brandywine High School students taking online physics course

Three Brandywine High School students, and 16 other students across Michigan, are taking an online physics course through Michigan Virtual High School. (WSBT photo)

By WSBT News1

Story Created: Sep 23, 2008 at 4:59 PM EST

Story Updated: Sep 24, 2008 at 10:14 PM EST

NILES — No teacher, no problem for some local high school students. A shortage of science teachers forced Brandywine High School to find a new way to teach.

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Three students at Brandywine take physics, but their teacher is miles away. For them learning is as simple as logging onto the nearest computer.

“It’s way different," said Brandywine senior Andrew Wycoff of his daily physics class.

Different because his actual teacher is miles away. Andrew and his classmates log onto the Michigan Virtual High School’s website. They can look at videos of lab experiments and check their lesson of the day.

“It’s a lot less than I thought it was going to be,” Wycoff said. “It’s only a few assignments a week and sometimes it’s just a video and then you’ve got a couple of questions and that’s it.”

But Andrew says the work isn’t easy. Sixteen students across Michigan are taking the same online class. Brandywine School leaders view the class as a short-term fix.

“Any kind of learning is better when you have face-to-face interaction with people, you have somebody right there to help you,” said Superintendent John Jarpe.

But Brandywine can’t hire a physics teacher until next year. And Andrew Wycoff believes learning without one in front of him will help him in college and beyond.

“Because this is all on your own. You've got to take the initiative to do it,” Wycoff added.

Andrew and his classmates can’t slack off. They take the state assessment test at the end of the semester.

Brandywine looked into sending their physics students to another school, but it would have cost too much.

They hired someone for the job. But that person backed out right before school started, leaving the district in a bind.

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