Initial Forays Into the World of Modeling in Physics Instruction

Introduction: I was fortunate to be accepted to participate in the Modeling Workshop that was conducted by the North Central region of Michigan via COOR ISD this summer. 

Goal: Since I was teaching a summer course at the same time that the workshop has been conducted, I thought I would put some of what I have learned to the test immediately to gain more hands-on experience with the modeling approach to instructing Physix before the following academic year begins.

Philosophy: I think one's success with new approaches to instruction would have higher chances of success if one allows the new methods (Modeling approach in my case) to seamlessly blend with her/his way of doing things. In other words, one has to own her/his Modeling way.

The Nadj! Approach Constant Velocity Particle Model: 

1) I like starting my Physix units by having students analyze art pieces and extract preliminary Physix concepts out of them. In this case, the students were shown a visual art piece (see image below) & a video that shows the Berlin philharmonic under the directorship of maestro Herbert Von Karajan conducting playing the last movement of Beethoven's 9th symphony. Students were to compare & contrast the two art pieces Physix-wise, a class discussion ensued, and the idea of motion and movement emerged naturally from the experience.

2) Couple of Clickerims were given to prep the students for the Constant Velocity Particle Model lab.

3) Following is a sequence of pictures that shows some aspects of the modeling process.

Task Board that explains to students what their respective boards must contain.

One of the group's set up for the CVPM lab (notice the little tabs for time calls.)

   

Student sets her iPhone to videotape the motion of her group's buggy.

CVPM lab run of one of the groups.

Boards set for whiteboarding sessions! :-)

4) The students' engagement, the ideas they had to generate, the details they had to wrestle with, the whiteboarding session that ensued, and the levee of understanding reached were all a marvel thing to witness.

This is just a snapshot of what had transpired this summer and hopefully more Coolisms will emerge as I become more familiar with the method and the wonderful outcomes it seems to readily yield.

Thank you for reading this blog post and I encourage you to comment about similar experiences you had, suggestions you may offer, or pedagogical ideas this may have triggered in your mind. Please, commit your thoughts to the comments area. 

Model away, Model all the way! :-)    

Physics Reading Quizzes that Tap into Students' Creative Power & Show & Tell

Believing in the importance of reading in physics and science in general and in the vitality of writing creatively and clearly, I devised a few reading quizzes that enable my students to (a) demonstrate that they have indeed read some of their assigned chapters and (b) allow them to express themselves creatively within a physics context. 

Following are samples of students' creative outputs in such reading quizzes.

Sample 01: Notice the citations

Sample 02: Use of Dialogue

Sample 03: Notice the depth of thinking even prior to coverage of the topics at hand!

Considering the fact that these are reading quizzes that preceded the eventual coverage of the featured physics concepts, the students have done such a superb job with the concepts and I am very proud of them for their creativity, their reading effort, and above all their willingness to move their learning process to such unchartered territories!

Please, share similar assessment tools or activities you employ in your physics curriculum to foster the reading and writing skills of your students on one hand and enable them to express themselves creatively on the other hand. Thank you

Repurposing

In a talk that Punya Mishra gave at Interlochen Arts Academy back in April of this year, he stated "Only repurposing makes technology educational." I fell in love with the word repurposing for I think it allows the use of technology to be malleable enough to fit each educator's pedagogical immediate objectives and long term goals.

Here is an example of repurposing in action [Note: I used this repurposing scheme long before Dr. Mishra's presentation and this is why the terminology resonated with me.]

Eye Chart Pro for iPad on the iTunes App Store is a cool app that eye doctors may use and so would laymen as a an eye chart for what it was set for. But, here is how I used it in my Physix classes. 

Students doubt that the image of an object is behind a plan mirror at a distance equal to the distance of the object from the mirror. So, I fire the app, ask volunteers to read the chart that is set at the same level as the mirror and keep moving away until a certain line of letters is barely discernible to the volunteer. I then set the iPad next to the volunteer's face and turn the iPad to face the mirror, randomize the letters (a nifty function of the said app), engage the mirror mode of the app (cool feature also), and then ask the volunteer who is still standing at the same distance away from the mirror to read the most recent and barely discernible row of letters displayed by the app. The reaction has always been cool to say the least. Repurposing in this case made a medical app a Physix app! How cool is that?

Share your repurposing Coolisms in the comments. Thank you