Dance of the Changes: ∆p vs. ∆K

Once momentum p and kinetic energy K were derived and the connection between them was established, our task as a class was to find any connections, if any, between ∆p & ∆K. The derivations shown below were conducted in class with the participation of everyone using what I call "Stand/Sit Participation Method". This ensures that every student is active in the derivation process from beginning to end with emphasis on understanding all along.

Students were asked to compare and contrast the two relationships that were derived and only then did the following slide show up.

This, my friends, led to the Free Body Diagrams (FBD) challenges activity that eventually  led to the formulation of Newton's 2nd Law of Motion (N2L.)

A simple harmonic oscillator (SHO) attached to a force probe with a motion detector set below the mass that is attached to the spring provided the conformation of N2L.

The above derivation is aimed at achieving three goals.

1) To help students realize that Physix concepts are not disconnected islands, rather they are individual cells within the organism of Physix knowledge.

2) To establish the emergence of acceleration as a quintessential aspect of any changes in the state of motion of particles.

3) To overemphasize the complementarity between between space and time that relativity asserted and Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle alluded to in Quantum Mechanics.

Thank you for reading this post and I look forward reading your valuable comments.   

Dedicated to the memory of my beloved father (RA).

Physix Curriculum Map a la Mr. Le Nadj!

Students love Modern Physics topics. Unfortunately, most introductory Physics courses eschew Special Theory of Relativity (STR), General Theory of Relativity (GTR), and Quantum Mechanics (QM) because of their perceived difficulty.

For the past four years, I have been introducing more and more of STR early on in the year/semester. But, this year I used STR as a means of introducing classical Physics concepts such as kinetic energy. The mind map below summarizes the gist of this approach. It is important to mention that the Modeling Approach serves as the backbone and the glue that holds this teaching method together. Thus, the use of many abbreviations that only modelers would know.

Physix a la Mr. Le Nadj! Curriculum Map

In future posts, I shall address each of the branches. I shall also give samples of presentations material, examples of students reactions/reflections, and typical artifacts that assist in making the case for such a pedagogical approach.

Please, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments area so that readers like you would benefit from them personally or their students indirectly. Thank you

Dedicated to the memory of my beloved father (RA).

Physix in Images 2013-2014

First: I apologize for the lack of activity in my blog.

Second: There were precious moments in Physics (3 sections) & Astronomy (new section) and I thought instead of blabbering about them I should just let some pictures convey the extent of the fun as well as learning.

The Smiles of Pride! :-)

Tip of the Hat to Sir Isaac Newton!

When Physix meets Art; only Coolism ensues! :-)
A Cool Student PhysArt Project

Nothing beats the connectedness between Physix concepts!
Mechanical Systems (spring/mass) in Series/Parallel to contrast with Electrical Systems In Series/Parallel

Students love it when Experts present their work!
Dr. Brian McNamara discusses his work on Supermassive Black Holes & Exploding Galaxies!

Star Gazing Extravaganza wraps up a Cool First Year of Astronomy, look at the wide smiles! :-)

Optics meets Art! Backyard of our classroom with the Physix room acting as a Camera Obscura!

iPad used to generate Motion Diagrams. How cool is that?

Physix of Motion meets Art! iPad used to generate the corresponding Motion Diagram.

Testing Hypotheses about Combinations of Human Electric Generators (Take I)

Testing Hypotheses about Combinations of Human Electric Generators (Take II)

Taking the concept of Combinations of Human Electric Generators to its Ultimate Finale!

Students getting close & personal with Optics, Lens Equation Lab!

Physix meets Art, slide from a student's project presentation!

Physix meets Art (refer to previous image!)

Astronomy Lab on Plasma & Light Spectra, Sweet! :-)

Astronomy class experiencing Motion Diagrams (look closely to see the blue dots!)

Third: I hope the above excite you to share your own cool images from last year of Physics or Astronomy.

Thank you for taking the time to view/read the post and I hope you would be kind to leave some comments.

Thank you and take great care! :-)

Cool Physix & Astronomy Apps to Consider

I thought starting the academic semester/year with a bunch of Physix Apps and strategies for acquiring them might be the best gift I give my fellow Physix teachers and instructors the world over.

So, within this PDF file I listed all the Apps I currently own, which I hope you can acquire as many of them as possible to make your educational experience with your students a richer experience at least as far as mobile devices technology is concerned.

Please, keep in mind that most of the apps were free when I first got them but some either were removed from the App store or a price was added to them.

Mr. Le Nadj! suggestions regarding app acquirement:

1) Check the app store every two weeks or so and search for new apps dealing with specific topics you are interested in.

2) Sift through the junk by setting the search criteria to be Free & the display to be based on Ratings so that you get the free apps that got the best ratings.

3) Download the chosen app(s) even if you may not think you would need it right away because they may either disappear or become pricy. You still can delete them if need be.

Happy Educational App Year! :-)

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