Giving the Physics Bug to Elementary Education Students

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Giving the Physics Bug to Elementary Education
Students

• Mats Selen, UIUC

Inga Karliner, Sheila Ashbrook, Barbara Hug,
Steve Zoerb, Lauren Denofrio, Jeff Condis,
Dept. of Physics, Women In Engineering
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Why ?

• Many (most) elementary school teachers are not
  confident in their knowledge of math science,
  in particular physics.
• This cant help but rub off on their students.
• This is particularly bad for girls since most
  elementary school teachers are women.

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So, what counts as a Physical Science ??
In addition to the obvious (Physics, Astronomy,
and Chemistry), these do
Elementary Ed students typically take Food
Science and Nutrition and Geography (or Geology)
to satisfy their PS requirement
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Contrast this with the National
Standardswww.nap.edu/readingroom/books/nses/html
/6c.html
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Some details of these requirements
Q Where will the teachers learn this stuff ?
A Not here ?
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What about their education courses?

• These are methods classes.
• Focus should on how to teach, not on content.
• The if students dont know content coming into
  these classes the instructor must take some class
  time to cover very basic content before
  discussing methods.
• This is a problem !
• Seriously takes away from the real purpose of
  class.
• All sciences are covered (physics, chemistry,
  biology) which means that any meaningful content
  cant be adequately taught anyway.

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Our Idea

• Create a class that will give students confidence
  in their ability to understand physics concepts.
• Should come out with a positive I can do this
  attitude.
• When their own students ask them a science
  question their response should be one of two
  things
• Great question. Let me explain the answer
• Great question. I dont know the answer, but I
  know we can find out what it is
• Considerations
• Students must be attracted to the class.
• Methods used in this class should be consistent
  with the way they will ultimately teach their own
  classes.
• No point making it if no-ones takes it.
• Must have appropriate scope.
• Cant cover all of the materials in the national
  standards.
• Must give students appreciation for concepts
  without math.

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Who are the students?

• Mostly women (all 24 this semester, in fact)
• Almost all had physics in high school.
• Most liked their high school physics class !
• They are all very smart but lack confidence.
• Especially true in math physics.
• They socialize extremely well and enjoy working
  in groups.
• Took me a while to really appreciate how nice
  this is.
• Not true for all physics and engineering majors
• They love getting their hands on stuff and
  playing.
• They love to learn.

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Students must be attracted to the class.

• The simple things we can do
• Make the class count toward Physical Science
  requirement.
• Make class count toward Lab requirement.
• Schedule it not to conflict with required ED
  classes.
• The things that require more thought
• Make it fun (more on this).
• Make it relevant.
• Use methods similar to ones they will use.
• Hands on guided inquiry lab.
• Give them materials ideas to use in their own
  classroom.
• The Tub.
• Important to have appropriate scope.
• Challenge them to produce their own lesson plans.
• This is where some of the topics not discussed in
  class can be covered.

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Methods used in this class should be consistent
with the way they will ultimately teach their
own classes.

• Hands on labs inquiry based activities
• Hard Core inquiry is not quite appropriate.
• Very good but very slow
• Would not cover enough materials to make class
  attractive
• We are trying what you might call guided
  inquiry
• Dont demand that they have to discover every
  last detail from scratch.
• Give help when appropriate to move things along.
• Have them use materials and do activities that
  they can replicate in their own classrooms.
• Inexpensive equipment
• Washers from Farm Fleet (1.09/lb),
• Cheap thermometers, stopwatches etc
• Show heat capacity demo

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Student projects
Appropriate Scope

• There are 11 full 3 hour labs in a semester (14
  weeks 3 special).
• We can cover at most 11 topics.
• We need to choose the right ones
• 1. Uncertainty and the Nature of Science
• 2. Atoms and the States of Matter
• 3. Heat and Temperature
• 4. Mass, Weight and Balance
• 5. Volume, Density, Floating, Sinking
• 6. Measuring and Graphing Motion
• 7. Simple Forces Newton's Laws
• 8. Investigating Gravity
• 9. Simple Machines
• 10. Simple Circuits
• 11. Magnets Motors

Our picks
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Class Structure

• A different topic is covered each week.
• Each week has the following structure
• All required materials are given to students each
  week in the Monday lab.
• The web based homework and preflights probes
  conceptual understanding
• Homework is used as part of each students grade.
• Preflights provide feedback for designing
  Wednesdays lecture.

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Class Structure

• Grading
• Class Participation (Lab and Discussion) 40
• Web Based Homework Preflights 25
• Final Quiz (copied from Homework Labs) 10
• Final Project (includes write-up
  presentation) 25
• Final Project
• Students work in groups of 4 to create a 30
  minute hands on lab
• Just like the ones they did in class all
  semester.
• The need to provide
• Lab materials (paid for by me)
• Lab write-up.
• Lesson plan.
• These labs are taught to their fellow Physics
  123 students during the last 2 lab periods of the
  semester.

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Appreciation for concepts without math.

• Hands on labs
• Let them live the math whenever possible
• Example F ma (actually, they learn a F/m)
• Skateboards, ropes spring scales (demo).
• Turns out that a little math is actually OK as
  long as its in the context of some concept they
  understand.
• Balance (i.e. torque) demo

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What about the Fun part?

• Students work in groups doing hands-on projects.
• Encourage competition between groups.
• Prizes
• Make projects interesting unusual
• i.e. egg drop, clay boat, magnets, motors etc
• Halftime
• Take a 10 minute break in the middle of 3 hr lab
  to have a snack and do something different.
• Get to know the others, share stories etc
• Share hobbies (origami, crocheting)
• Music
• Let the students guide what happens in the
  lecture/discussion.
• Use Preflights to probe their understanding.
• Answer their I always wondered why type
  science questions.
• Do as many cool demos as possible.

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Preflight Example
Lets look at answers to this one (we did not
specifically discuss this in class at all)
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We got this idea about half way through the
semester
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This question always gets very interesting
results
Click here to see web page
This is a great opportunity to show students how
to figure outthe answer to questions they will
get from their class some day.
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DirectFeedback
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DirectFeedback
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DirectFeedback
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Lessons Learned

• Overall I am delighted with the way the course is
  going.
• We have covered quite a bit of physics !
• The students like it and I know they are saying
  good things about it to their friends. This is
  really very important.
• Expect big enrollment in Spring/05.
• There are details of every lab that were good
  bad.
• These will be tuned for next spring.
• Need to create bonus activities to keep faster
  groups from getting bored when waiting for slower
  groups to finish.
• The students are simply wonderful.
• Most fun class I have ever taught.