MODELING INSTRUCTION in HIGH SCHOOL PHYSICS

PHS 530 Course Description and Syllabus (2008 version 2)

The Modeling Workshop in mechanics is an intensive 3-week course with these goals:

1. educate teachers in use of a model-centered, guided inquiry method of teaching high school physics.

2. help participants integrate computer courseware effectively into the physics curriculum.

3. help teachers make better use of national resources for physics education.

4. establish electronic network support and a learning community among participants.

5. strengthen local institutional support for participants as school leaders in disseminating standards-based reform in science education.

Syllabus/Agenda

Week 1

Mon Day 1	(am) Welcome. Introduce participants, schedules, workshop description, goals, FCI overview, FCI pre-test (pm) Unit I: Scientific Thinking in Experimental Settings Pendulum lab, graphical methods, lab report format, grading of lab notebook Readings: 1)Hestenes, “Force Concept Inventory,” (on website) 2)Hestenes "Wherefore a science of teaching.” (on website)
Tue Day 2	(am) Discuss readings, clarify Unit I lab. lab write-ups, worksheets/test unit 1, (pm) whiteboarding, presentation criteria, discuss unit materials Unit II: Particle with Constant Velocity. Battery-powered vehicle lab, post-lab discussion, motion maps, deployment. Take MBT pre-test. Readings: McDermott, "Guest Comment: How we teach…" Arons, ch 1 (special attn: sections 8, 9, 11, 12)
Wed Day 3	(am) Discuss readings, problems, worksheets/presentations, Intro to Body modeling, Sonic Rangers (pm) Unit II lesson plan, Whiteboard WS and test. Intro. Unit III: Uniformly Accelerating Particle Model Readings: Hake, "Socratic Pedagogy in the...", Arons 2.1-2.6
Thu Day 4	(am) Discuss readings, Timer software, ball-on-rail lab, whiteboard results (pm) Sonic Rangers, post-lab extension: instantaneous velocity, acceleration, motion maps, deployment worksheet/whiteboard Reading: Mestre, "Learning and Instruction in Pre-College..."
Fri Day 5	(am) Discuss readings, Intro to Graphs and Tracks, instructional comments, descriptive particle models, more deployment exercises. wrap up unit III materials, test, free fall w/ picket fence Reading: Arons 2.7-19. Minstrell, "Explaining the 'at rest' condition…" Turn in notebooks for grading

Week 2

Mon Day 6	(am) Discuss reading, Unit IV: Free Particle Model-inertia & interactions inertia demo (Newton 1), the force concept, force diagrams, statics lab, normal force demo questioning strategies (pm) deployment worksheets/whiteboard, force probes, paired forces, Newton 3 wrap up unit IV, critique activities, test Reading: Introduction & chapter 1, Preconceptions in Mechanics, Camp/Clement Reading: Beichner: Tug-K article and TUG-K2 test
Tues Day 7	(am) Discuss reading, more deployment exercises. wrap up unit IV materials, test, test (turn in lab books) (pm) Unit V: CDP Model-force and acceleration, weight vs mass lab, modified Atwood's machine lab (compare different equipment) Reading: Arons 3.1-4. Hestenes, Wells: "A Modeling Method For High School...
Wed Day 8	(am) Discuss reading, whiteboard results of previous day’s labs, post-lab extension: derivation of Newton 2, lab write-up (pm) deployment worksheets/whiteboard, Unit V test Reading: Arons 3.5-9
Thu Day 9	(am) Discuss reading, friction lab: pre lab and data collection, whiteboard. (pm) Unit VI: Particle Models in Two Dimensions, combinations of FP and CDP models, deployment Reading: Arons 3.15-24. Rex Rice: Role of lab practica.
Fri Day 10	(am) Discuss reading; worksheets/whiteboard, projectile motion lab, explore video technology, Reading: "Making Work Work,” by Gregg Swackhamer (on website) Turn in notebooks for grading

Week 3

Mon Day 11	(am) Discuss reading. Unit VII: Work, Energy, & Power, Stretched spring lab, work on lab notebooks, graph, whiteboard prep & practice critiques. (pm) Gravitational potential energy, work-kinetic energy theorem, Reading: Arons 4.1-5, 8, 9. Hestenes: Modeling Methodology for Physics"
Tue Day 12	(am) Discuss readings, Further discussion of working/heating as means of changing internal energy of system. Energy practicum (pm) Unit VIII: Central Force Model, uniform circular motion lab, collect/analyze data; further use of spreadsheets Reading: Arons 5:1-6. Hestenes: Modeling Methodology for Physics" (re-read)
Wed Day 13	am) Discuss readings, circular motion lab practicum. Alternative tests and testing. (pm) Unit IX: Impulsive Force Model, conservation of linear momentum lab,, collect data, plot rfinal Vs rinitial . Submission of lesson plans for those contracting for an A grade
Thu Day 14	(am) deployment worksheets, worksheets/tests, instructional comments, test (pm) a look at second semester materials w/ modeling approach. Notebooks. Take FCI posttest Turn in notebooks for grading
Fri Day 15	(am) Take MBT posttest. w/b presentations, more deployment exercises, worksheets, closing remarks

Supplemental readings, recommended by Kathy Harper, Ph.D., a physics education researcher and Modeling Workshop leader at the Ohio State University (April 2008)

Trowbridge, D. E. & McDermott, L. C., "Investigation of Student Understanding of the Concept of Velocity in One Dimension," AJP 48,1020-1028 (1980).

Maloney, D. P., "Rule-governed Approaches to Physics - Newton's Third Law," Phys. Ed. 19, 37-42 (1984).

Van Heuvelen, A., "Learning to Think Like a Physicist: A Review of Research-based instructional Strategies," AJP 59, 891-897 (1991).

Van Heuvelen, A. & Zou, X., "Multiple Representations of Work-Energy Processes," AJP 69, 184-194 (2001).

Comments:

The Trowbridge and McDermott article shows concrete examples of student misconceptions in a way that's tough to argue with.

The Maloney article addresses common student difficulties with Newton’s third law; and it shows a systematic way of looking at how a series of questions can probe for a consistently used wrong idea.

The Van Heuvelen article presents a slightly different take on the same basic ideas of the workshop, and it provides a nice platform to inform teachers about the ALPS kits.

The Van Heuvelen and Zou article helps to sell teachers on work-energy bar charts. (highly recommended article!)