PhysicsChemistryBiology: A Logical and Effective Sequence

1
Physics-Chemistry-BiologyA Logical and
Effective Sequence

• Rex P. Rice
• Clayton High School
• Clayton, Missouri

2
Physics First Not a New Idea

• Physics and the High School Sophomore (Hamilton,
  TPT, 1970)
• Physics in the Tenth Grade (Sousanis, TPT, 1971)
• The Illogic of Teaching Bio Before Chem and
  Physics (Palombi, TPT, 1971)
• Take Physics to Ninth Graders With Budget Savers
  (TPT, 1974)
• High School Physics Should be Taught Before
  Chemistry and Biology (Haber-Schaim, TPT, 1984)
• Physics Before Chemistry (Bolton,TPT, 1987)
• A Case for a Better High School Science Sequence
  in the 21st Century (Myers, TPT, 1987)
• Freshman Physics (Hickman, The Science Teacher,
  1990)

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Haber-Schaim Article

• Average of 23 Chemistry Prerequisites in Biology
  Textbooks
• Average of 31 Physics Prerequisites in Chemistry
  Textbooks
• No Biology Prerequisites in Physics Textbooks
• Average of 2 Chemistry Prerequisites in Physics
  Textbooks

4
Committee of TenNational Education
Association1892Recommendations Regarding
Physics

• The study of chemistry should precede the study
  of physics.
• The study of physics should be pursued the last
  year of high school.

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Reasons for Traditional Biology-Chemistry-Physics
Sequence at Turn of Century

• Start with biology because
• Relied mostly on memorization
• Required almost no mathematics

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Reasons for Traditional Biology-Chemistry-Physics
Sequence at Turn of Century

• Follow with chemistry because
• Relied mostly on memorization and detailed
  experimental procedures
• Required only modest amounts of mathematics

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Reasons for Traditional Biology-Chemistry-Physics
Sequence at Turn of Century

• Make physics last because
• Required greater mathematical fluency
• Relied heavily on problem solving, analysis, and
  critical thinking

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Advantages of TeachingPhysics to Freshmen
(Hickman, 1990)

• Algebra is still fresh in students minds
• Freshmen are enthusiastic and motivated
• Most students who start with physics complete the
  science sequence
• Increased interest in math courses
• Enrollment in senior physics course increases
• AP Biology can be the first biology course if
  physics and chemistry have been studied

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Disadvantages of TeachingPhysics to Freshmen
(Hickman, 1990)

• Shortage of qualified physics teachers
• Opposition to change from proven sequence by
  parents, teachers, administrators, school boards
• Freshmen are more active, noisier, less
  coordinated
• Measurement and estimation skills are not good
• Trigonometry has not been studied
• Problems of transition of from middle school to
  high school level course
• Lack of problem solving and test taking skills

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Clayton High SchoolClayton, Missouri

• One high school in district
• About 800 students in grades 9-12
• Fairly affluent suburban school district
• About 20 of students are African American
  students from neighboring city of Saint Louis

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Physics First at Clayton High School

• Quantitative Science in place since early 60s
• Other course thought of as dummy course
• Best students already followed the
  Physics-Chemistry-Biology sequence
• Algebra taken by all students in Eighth Grade

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Physics First at Clayton High School

• Presented Inverted Sequence idea to curriculum
  committee in Spring of 1991
• Full inversion considered too radical a change
• Two courses, Honors Freshman Physics and Freshman
  Physics, proposed
• School Board approved change for the start of
  1991-92 school year

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Freshman Physics 91/92Text Conceptual
Physics-Hewitt

• Light
• Waves and Sound
• Kinematics
• Newtons Laws
• Work, Energy, Power
• Circular Motion and Gravitation
• Properties of Matter
• Heat
• Electricity and Magnetism

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Honors Freshman Physics 91/92Based on
Quantitative Science

• Geometric Optics
• Plane Mirrors
• Pinholes
• Curved Mirrors
• Refraction
• Lenses

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Honors Freshman Physics 91/92Based on
Quantitative Science

• Mechanics
• Uniform Motion
• Uniform Acceleration
• Newtons Laws
• Work, Power, Energy

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Honors Freshman Physics 91/92Based on
Quantitative Science

• Electricity and Magnetism
• Electrostatics
• D.C. Circuits
• Magnetism

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Transition toPhysics-Chemistry-Biology

• Chemistry teachers initially resisted moving
  chemistry to 10th grade
• Initial resistance to inversion faded with
  departmental discussion
• Complete inversion led by biology teachers
• Period of one year where chemistry was offered to
  sophomores and juniors
• Inversion completed by 1995/96 school year

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Reactions /Results

• Chemistry teachers found that sophomores did fine
  with chemistry
• Biology teachers were elated with their ability
  to upgrade the biology program
• A.P. Physics worked as a one-year course since
  students entered with a physics background.
• More students took two or more A.P. science
  courses since many were able to take A.P. Biology
  as a first-year course

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Shift to Modeling Methods

• In summer, 1995 I attended the first of three
  years of training in Modeling Methods in High
  School Physics at Arizona State University
• In 1995-96 I started using Modeling in all of my
  physics courses, including freshman physics
• Since then, four of five physics teachers have
  been trained in Modeling and are using it in
  Freshman Physics.

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How Has Modeling Changed OurFreshman Physics
Program?

• In regular Freshman Physics, breadth has been
  sacrificed for depth
• The teaching has become much more student
  centered and less teacher centered
• Students leave the course with better thinking
  skills, analysis skills, and ownership of the
  concepts they have studied in physics
• In Honors Freshman Physics, the depth of study
  has been significantly increased.

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Why a Different Approachto Physics Instruction?

• Research shows that after conventional
  instruction, students cannot fully explain even
  the simplest of physics concepts.
• Worse yet, conscientious conventional instruction
  delivered by talented (and even award-winning
  teachers) does not remedy the situation
  significantly

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What has NOT made a difference in student
understanding?

• Lucid, enthusiastic explanations and examples
• Dramatic demonstrations
• Intensive use of technology
• Textbooks
• Lots of problem solving and worksheets

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Why modeling?!

• To make students classroom experience closer to
  the scientific practice of physicists.
• To make the coherence of scientific knowledge
  more evident to students by making it more
  explicit.
• Construction and testing of mathematical models
  is a central activity of research physicists.
• Models and Systems are explicitly recognized as
  major unifying ideas for all the sciences by the
  AAAS Project 2061 for the reform of US science
  education.

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What is a Model?

• with explicit statements of the relationships
  between these representations

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Multiple Representations

• with explicit statements describing relationships

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How is it Different fromConventional Instruction?

• constructivist vs transmissionist
• cooperative inquiry vs
  lecture/demonstration
• student-centered vs teacher-centered
• active engagement vs passive reception
• student activity vs
  teacher demonstration
• student articulation vs teacher
  presentation
• lab-based vs textbook-based

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How does Modeling change the responsibilities of
the instructor?

• Designer of experimental environments
• Designer of problems and activities
• Critical listener to student presentations,
  focusing on what makes good arguments in science
• Must establish a trusting, open, OK to make a
  mistake classroom atmosphere
• Less visibility

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The Modeling ProcessMaking Models

• 1) Construction
• Identify system and relevant properties
  represent properties with appropriate variables
  depict variables and their associations
  mathematically.
• 2) Analysis
• Investigate structure or implications of model.
• 3) Validation (reality check!)
• Compare model to real system it describes
  adequacy depends on fidelity to structure and
  behavior.

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The Modeling ProcessUsing Models

• 4) Deployment (or application)
• Use of a given model to achieve some goal.
• Describe, explain, predict, control or even
  design new physical situation related to
  original.
• Infer conclusions from the outcomes of the
  model.
• Extrapolate model for studying situations outside
  original domain.
• Examine and refine ones own knowledge in terms
  of the new modeling experience.

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Modeling Cycle

• Development begins with paradigm experiment.
• Experiment itself is not remarkable.
• Instructor sets the context.
• Instructor guides students to
• identify system of interest and relevant
  variables.
• discuss essential elements of experimental design.

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I - Model Development

• Post-lab analysis

• whiteboard presentation of student findings

• multiple representations
• verbal
• diagrammatic
• graphical
• algebraic

• justification of conclusions

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II - Model Deployment

• In deployment activities, students

• learn to apply model to variety of related
  situations.
• identify system composition
• accurately represent its structure

• articulate their understanding in oral
  presentations.

• are guided by instructor's questions
• Why did you do that?
• How do you know that?

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II - Model Deployment

• Objectives
• to improve the quality of scientific discourse.
• move toward progressive deepening of student
  understanding of models and modeling with each
  pass through the modeling cycle.
• get students to see models everywhere!

• Ultimate Objective
• autonomous scientific thinkers fluent in all
  aspects of conceptual and mathematical modeling.

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Adjustments to CurriculumFreshman Physics

• Start with CASTLE electricity
• Introduces modeling with minimal math
• Last unit bridges to mathematical modeling
• Uniform Motion
• Uniform Acceleration
• Forces and Newtons Laws
• Electrostatics
• Energy
• Mechanical Waves

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Adjustments to CurriculumHonors Freshman Physics

• Uniform Motion
• Uniform Acceleration
• Newtons Laws
• Energy
• Electrostatics
• DC Circuits
• Mechanical Waves

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How are the Courses Different?

• Expected fluency with algebra
• Amount of mathematical problem solving
• Required studentship skills
• Depth of coverage

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Placement Which Students in Which Course?

• Eighth Grade Teacher Recommendation
• Ninth Grade Math Placement
• Results of Science Reasoning Test
• Results of EXPLORE test

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Placement Results

• Typically about 25 of the students end up in
  Honors Freshman Physics
• About 68 take Freshman Physics
• The remaining 7 take Algebra/Physics, and
  integrated math/science course.

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Who Teaches the Course?

• Value good teacher of freshman over physics
  content specialist
• Chemistry and Biology specialists have taught the
  course
• Difficult to teach using Modeling Method without
  formal training
• Insist on Modeling Training as a condition of
  hiring

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Does it Replace Physics in theJunior or Senior
Year?

• No! This was not our goal.
• Physics at the Freshman year is the foundation of
  our Science curriculum
• Physics in the Senior year is improved and can
  now explore a broader range of topics.
• Physics enrollment in the Senior year has
  remained fairly steady, averaging about 20 to 25
  of the student body
• All students get some physics!

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Are Students Successful?

• Low failure rate
• FCI scores for regular freshmen comparable to
  those from traditional senior level physics
  courses.
• FCI scores for Honors freshmen are significantly
  above those from traditional senior level courses
  and even above those for most modeling courses.
• FCI scores for seniors entering do not diminish
  (and even increase) between grades 9 and 12
• FCI scores for seniors at completion are at the
  top
• Students scoring above state average on MAP

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Are Students Successful?

• Winners of Division 2 in Region 12 of Physics
  Bowl four times
• Top ten finish in TEAMS competition every year
  since 1993
• Six national championships in TEAMS competition
• Twice finished first and second in nation in
  TEAMS competition
• First Place in Saint Louis University High School
  Physics competition eight of last nine years
• 85 five rate on A.P. Physics exam

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Conclusions

• Freshman physics makes chemistry more
  meaningful/understandable
• Biology teachers are ecstatic about the changes
  they have been able to make in the curriculum
• 100 enrollment in Physics
• Nearly 100 enrollment in four years of science
  despite two-year state requirement for graduation
• Students, Teachers, Parents, and School Board are
  happy with the change.

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Physics First at Clayton High School

• Rex Rice
• Clayton High School
• 1 Mark Twain Circle
• Clayton, MO 63105
• rex_rice_at_clayton.k12.mo.us