Physics Course

Hello parents,

Thank you for your interest in my high school physics course! I thoroughly enjoyed teaching chemistry to some of the students last year. I hope they learned a lot. I know I did! Much of what I learned is how to handle a course of this type (meeting just once a week and requiring the remaining student work at home). Last year’s students had the misfortune of being guinea pigs, and I thank them for that!

Schedule

Classes will roughly follow the EMCC academic calendar, meeting on Wednesdays from 11:45-1:45.  We will follow the dates indicated below. On (rare) occasion, I may have to go out of town to do some technology training. If that does occur, that week's class will be held on Friday at the same time and possibly one other time if some students are unable to make the Friday time.

August 21 - classes begin
November 27 - Thanksgiving break
December 4 - last class of first semester
January 8 - second semester begins
March 19 - spring break
April 23 - last class of second semester
April 30 - final exam

Cost

$125 per semester includes fifteen sessions, textbook, and lab materials.

Materials

Text

We will be using Paul Hewitt’s Conceptual Physics as our instructional text. (More about this author and his approach to physics instruction later.) I think that by using an older version of the text, we can get quite a good deal on the textbooks. And after all, the physics we will be studying hasn’t changed much since the days of Newton, so a ten year old text won’t be too bad. With the difficulties of finding the right version of older texts because of inaccurate or incomplete seller listings, I think it will probably be easier if I just buy the textbooks instead of sending you all on a wild goose chase. I have found several online for less than $10, so I will just cover that out of the tuition cost for the course

Calculator

Students will need a scientific calculator. It does not have to be an enormous, expensive graphing calculator, but it will need to do sin, cos, tan and scientific notation.

Lab Materials

I love to do lab activities with every day materials. I may send out some requests for items that you may have lying around your house as we finalize our numbers, so keep an eye out for e-mail messages from me.

Instructional Methodology

The author of our textbook approaches physics instruction using the methods of “concepts before computation.” In this, students are introduced to the concepts first and then use math to support and prove those concepts. This is an excellent approach for a multi-age group with varied math skills, such as we will have in our group. 

Since the students will have a wide range of math proficiency because of different ages/grade levels/math courses taken, I plan to provide "leveled" instruction and assessment. I will talk with parents of individual students to determine what level to use for each.

Students will complete text readings, sample problems, and online quizzes during the week, so that we will be able to spend our time in class focused on lab activities and math.

Anticipated Work Load

In a traditional classroom, students would participate in:
180 days x 45 minute class period = 135 hours

In our class, we have 30 class meetings per year:

30 weeks x 2 hours = 60 hours

Our students should expect to do approximately 2.5 hours of work at home each week.

30 weeks x 2 hours = 60 hours, 75 hours at home = 135 hours

Prerequisite Math Skills

We will be covering these in class, but this list will help you know if your student is likely to need additional math help during the year.

Solving Linear Equations (solving for a single unknown variable)

Pythagorean theorem (including sin, cos, tan)

Scientific notation

Metrics

Conversions in one dimension (factor label method)

Conversions in two and three dimensions (factor label method – not quite as critical as one dimension)

A good place to start is physicsphenomena.com/PhysicsMathReview.htm – except for the section on dimensional analysis/factor label. I don't love their instruction on that... Kahn Academy also has many math videos that you can use to lean these skills or simply brush up on them before class begins.

Registration

To register for this course, go to this link and fill out the requested information:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dFY1ZXB1R1NzR3hJRVo4UlVrLUk0Mnc6MQ#gid=0

I can't wait to see you in a couple of weeks!

Thanks,

Melanie Jennings

True Confessions Time

Disclaimer: Not a science post or a technology post. Sorry. It's my blog, and I'll do what I want! ;-)

Tell the truth: When taking a picture of your kids, do you scan the room to find the least cluttered background before snapping the shutter? After all, who wants to preserve the pile of books and papers on the sideboard for posterity, right?

I have to admit that I have a problem with clutter, and I constantly work to fight back the clutter monster.

However, I had a moment of nostalgia over our clutter today. I took a picture of my kids painting watercolors at the picnic table today. This is the picnic table that I long to see covered in a delightful weather-friendly table cloth topped with a perfectly watered and fertilized geranium like I see in all the pictures on Pinterest... Dreamy sigh...

Back to reality. As I looked at the picture before posting to Facebook, I cringed at the collection of random objects that were visible on the side of the table. For an instant, I was tempted to bring the kids back outside and stage a re-take before posting for all my Facebook world to see. But as I looked at those objects, I noticed that each item represented a good and wholesome activity that my kids had recently done (or are currently in the process of doing). There were garden trowels for their continual failed attempts to get something to grow. What perseverance those kids demonstrate! Then there was the jar full of driveway rocks - junk to me, but a priceless collection to one of my children. The sprinkler represents hours of fun running and jumping through the sprays of water. The bag for a kid-sized folding chair - well, I don't have any idea why that's there...

This is our world. Our real world, where kids play and learn and have fun and make messes. Our real world, where with some prodding, they usually clean up most of those messes. Our real world where nothing ever looks like a magazine cover or a Pinterest Home Decor pin. Our real world that I wouldn't trade for anything in the whole world!

Google Squared in the Science Classroom

I've been enjoying playing with the little Google experiment, Google Squared! I don't know how best to describe this tool. It takes lists of items, parts of a whole, types of things, and allows you to create a table containing a variety of information on each item in your list. Confusing? See, I told you I didn't know how to describe the tool.

I guess the best way is to show you. We'll start with one that Google suggested. In a second, go to the link below, but don't forget to come back here! I have some additional ideas about how this tool can be used in the classroom.

Go to Google Squared (http://www.google.com/squared/) and type in "Types of clouds." The click Square It.

You'll see a list of items that Google thinks are types of clouds. You may also find some information that you don't need. Now, think of the critical thinking skills your students will be honing as they decide that "Cloud Computing" isn't one of the types of clouds that you want them to learn in science class and that "Tornado" is more of a wind event than a cloud type. These entries can simply be removed by clicking the X.

The columns can also be adjusted. For instance, it is not critical that most K12 students need to know the classification of these cloud types. I would delete that column. However, I might add a few more of my own. Click in the "Add columns" blank at the top of the next column. Several suggestions appear. Let's try "Precipitation" and "Appearance."

You'll note that some cells are still blank. These might require the student to do some additional leg work to locate the information to be included in those blank cells. Type the new data right into the cell.

The columns can also be sorted in much the same way as a spreadsheet could be sorted. Just make sure that, with numerical items, all of the values are in the same units! In numerical columns, Google Squared offers to "Convert Units," but I have found that to be a bit glitchy. And what science student doesn't need just a little more practice converting units? Let them do the conversions by hand if needed.

Now that you've got your Square complete, you can Share it (must be logged in to Google to do this), save it, or even export to .csv file or Google Docs.

I promised more ideas! Here they are:

• Look up "muscles." In my Human Anatomy & Physiology class, I might have students also add columns for Antagonist and Action.
• Look up "planets." A great way to organize planet information for young students to find all in one place.
• And finally, the coup de grace, my taxonomy study tool. Start with an empty square. Columns for Item Name, Image, and Description are the default starting points. Add columns for Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species. You now have your very own classification tool! Now enter any organism you want to classify and watch the taxonomy groups populate automatically! [One oddity: for some reason, the Order column remains empty... Guess that'll be something our students will have to research on their own!] Be sure to save this Square while it is blank for future use! Click the image at the top of this post to see a larger view of the completed Square.

Comment with your ideas for using Google Squared in YOUR classroom!

Been a While...

Well, I knew I wasn't a blogger in the truest sense of the word even before I began this blog. I knew I wouldn't be posting daily or even weekly. I saw this as an extension of my thought process, a place where I could edit my thoughts until they congealed into a functioning idea. And that doesn't necessarily lend itself to regular posting. But I never thought I'd abandon it this long...

Anyway, I just returned from the Mississippi Educational Computing Association's annual conference. It always leaves me rejuvenated, fired up and wired up to head back into the classroom with new tools and skills to benefit my students.

Over the coming weeks, I hope to catalog some of my experiences exploring these new ideas as I prepare to implement them in my instruction.

Assessing Skill Mastery

This post doesn't address either science or technology... I'm just doing some reading, and I'm mulling this...

Seven Practices for Effective Learning - from Educational Leadership
Jay McTighe and Ken O'Connor
http://www.edtechleaders.org/documents/seven_practices.pdf

The one that struck me was Practice number 7: Allow New Evidence of Achievement to Replace Old Achievement. The analogy is given of a student taking his driver's test. He doesn't pass on the first go-round, but on a second attempt, he demonstrates mastery. He is given a passing grade - just as "passing" as if he'd passed it on the first attempt. He is not given a grade which averages the two attempts.

"New evidence of achievement should replace old evidence. Classroom assessments and grading should focus on how well—not on when—the student mastered the designated knowledge and skill." This makes sense. If a student masters a concept, it doesn't matter if she masters it on the first day of class or fails every assessment on that concept but passes the test on the last day of school. Why do we do it differently in school?

From a teacher's sanity standpoint, I can think of a few reasons... The primary reason is logistics. With a classroom full of students, a teacher has to set a pace to cover the required objectives in a set period of time. Allowing every student unlimited attempts to master a concept represents an assessment nightmare! Add to that the instructional challenges that are represented - each student is at a different point on all of the different course objectives that are to be taught during the course of the term. How can a teacher do it???

The second problem is the age old problem of motivating students to do their work. Teachers often find themselves grading an activity for the sole reason that the students won't take it seriously unless they are "getting a grade for it." And if that grade can be replaced by future work, what is the motivation to do the work???

This is so reasonable to me, but I can't figure out how to overcome these two obstacles... At least in the traditional classroom...

I teach online for my state's virtual high school, and I see this idea played out fairly well. Students are allowed to progress at their own pace through the content. For "dropbox" items, students are generally allowed multiple attempts to submit their work, each one with detailed feedback from the teacher on how to improve. I hated this idea at first (and I hate grading assignments over and over), but I think I see the value now. Quizzes and tests "count" the first time around with no opportunities to replace the old evidence of achievement with new, but I see the dropboxes working pretty well with this concept. What is the motivation for students to take their work seriously? In my online classroom, the motivation to do it right the first time is that it is a considerable bother to redo and resubmit assignments. Plus, once the student completes his work, he's DONE. There is no sitting around in a classroom while everyone else catches up.

...So for the traditional classroom... hmmm... I think it's going to take a complete shift in thinking about the way school is done if we are to implement this technique. I read a little book about this once - can't remember the title at the moment. At the time, it seemed a little granola and a LOT far-fetched, but the idea is growing on me. School would have to be a place where students come to learn - not to be taught. The teacher would have to recognize her students as 20 separate learners on 20 separate paces. It would challenge the very core of the way instruction is presented. In my face-to-face classroom, we cover content on a schedule that is based on how much lecture I can get done in the class period. This method confines all students to a single pace - and makes this idea of new evidence replacing old impossible. And yet, I'm not ready to throw lectures out the window. It is an extremely efficient method for conveying information. And let's face it - there is not enough time in the world for every student to learn every thing by "discovery learning."

I'm thinking that this is where my technology comes in... Here's what I'd like to try: Treat my face-to-face class like an online class. Post assignments online for self-paced study. Post lectures for students to listen to/watch at the appropriate time in their course of study. Then spend my time in class serving as one-on-one tutor or identifying groups of students working at the same pace and offering mini-lectures or guided practice sessions in a small-group setting.

Hmmm... worth a try...

Now, the issue of technology availability to do all this...

Professional Development Personality Profiles

Just a bit of silliness about Online Professional Development:

Online Learning: For those who have never taken an online course before, I'd like to begin with a brief sales pitch about the benefits of online learning. For those who've taken online courses in the past and have returned to this format on your own volition, just skim this part as you nod in agreement.

As educators, most of you know all about Learning Styles. I wish to introduce you to the much less famous Professional Development Personality Profiles. PDPP, as it is affectionately known (by me only…) came about as a result of years of experience and totally unscientific research in the field of Professional Development. :-) It is somewhat analogous to Learning Styles, but for teachers in professional development sessions instead of students in the classroom. As you read these profiles, you will most likely be able to identify yourself in one of the categories, and you will definitely be able to identify some of your colleagues in these roles!

Chatty Cathy – Cathy loves to learn and loves to share even more. She's the first to arrive at professional development sessions and the last to leave. She talks almost incessantly, but the topics of discussion are always pertinent. There is never enough time in a workshop to discuss all of the things that Cathy would like to discuss.

Word-in-edgewise Wendy – Wendy always has a few questions and even pertinent comments to share during a professional development session, but never gets a chance because Chatty over there hasn't taken a breath since she walked in the door.

Should-a-said Sarah – Sarah realizes that she had an urgent question to ask, but she doesn't realize it until she is in the car half-way home after the workshop!

Disengaged Dan – Dan is a master of the well-timed nod and occasional "mm-hmm" to give the appearance of rapt attention. Dan's not being disrespectful; he just has other things on his plate with a higher priority than this workshop.

Bored Burt – Burt is beyond disengaged, although the result is much the same. He'd be a better participant if only there was something in this session that he could get interested in. The presenter said something that was of vague interest about 30 minutes ago but quickly left that topic for others.

Shy Sharon – In 20 years of teaching, Sharon has never said a word in a professional development session. She's an expert teacher with lots of great experience to share, but her insides go to goo when she thinks of speaking in front of a group of her peers.

All six of these PDPPs are alive and well in your school, and probably in this group! Let's take a minute to think about how online learning meets each of their professional development needs.

Chatty Cathy needs to talk – a lot. She derives much of her learning from the verbal interchange with others. Online learning, with its discussion boards, allows Cathy to talk as much as she needs. And chances are, she'll find a few other Chattys out there who can match her word for word!

Since online learning is often asynchronous (students are not necessarily online at the same time) in nature, there's no time pressure for an instructor to get through a topic in, say, a two-hour time period. So, even if Chatty Cathy talks for hours on end, there's still time for Word-in-edgewise Wendy to have her say.

In our course, we have a whole week for each topic – and even more, if participants wish to revisit a topic at a later time in the discussion boards. This gives Should-a-said Sarah all the time she needs to decide what she'd like to say and post it.

Disengaged Dan - is out of luck here. His pretenses of attention won't fly in an online environment, where all participants are required to post thoughtful discussion topics and responses. But here's the secret, Dan will find that once he decides to engage in the conversation, he will learn more than he ever thought possible.

Bored Burt now has the chance to go back and discuss in depth that topic that the presenter only mentioned in passing. In fact, he can spend the lion's share of his online time researching and discussing only those topics which are of particular interest to him. He'll give the others a cursory glance and glean what is helpful to him, but in online learning, he can focus his efforts on those topics which most closely match his own professional learning goals.

Ahh, sweet Shy Sharon – we may really see her blossom in the online environment. She never has to stand up in front of a group to share her thoughts (although she has been standing up in front of students for the better part of two decades!). The asynchronous nature of the discussion boards allows Sharon to compose her posts carefully and methodically – no extemporaneous speaking here!

Virtual Science Fair is a GO!!!

I mentioned this earlier as a twinkle in my mind's eye, but the Virtual Science Fair is now officially on! I'm in the development process as we speak with full implementation this spring!

This is where I'll detail my development progress, so maybe others will be able to benefit from my experiences (and mistakes!).

Our home base will be Wetpaint. Each student will have his or her own wiki linked from the main site. The student wikis will be password-protected in order to remain private until judging time. When judging takes place, the student wiki will be made available to the judging team.

What I'm working on now:

1. Template for student wikis. This will be customizable by each student. Students may also link to other online resources and student-created media. The wiki will serve as a central repository for the written version of the main project components, but students will be encouraged to add images, video, audio, presentations, etc.
2. Permission forms. Parents will have to give consent for the student to participate, including allowing the project to be revealed publicly after judging (maybe just the winners??? still thinking on that...). Parents should also sign a copy of the rules/procedures. These will be standard science fair fare, with the exception of some online-specific issues. Students should not reveal names or location (will be identified by number). Images should not include shots of faces (for safety AND because judges may know some of the students - don't want the appearance of favoritism)
3. Sign-up procedures and forms.
4. How-to documents.

I'm planning a first-run with my community college students serving as my guinea pigs. Hopefully, I'll have this ready for them to access in January. I'm thinking of having them do a lab report in the virtual science fair wiki and getting their feedback on the process. Hopefully that will help me work out the kinks before we go live.

Wish me luck! Feedback encouraged!