Here’s the prompt: Figure out where to hold the top of the spring so that when you release the mass, it just barely touches the floor at the bottom of the bounce. Once you have your plan started on a whiteboard, I will give tell you the spring constant and mass for your group. It’s the end of our energy transfer packet, so we started … Continue reading Day 31: 9th Grade Energy Lab Practicum
This blog can easily turn into 180 days of whiteboarding. But the whiteboarding never really gets old. So here we go. Here are some 9th graders getting ready for discussions about the final set of quantitative energy problems in our energy transfer packet. One highlight of this set of discussions was a student exclaiming that he had thought he’d understood it, but now he was thinking back through the … Continue reading Day 24: 9th Graders Whiteboarding
Our last class together involved a lot of quantitative work—the first of that kind that the 9th graders had seen. We needed to do a bit more of that to finish out the unit, but I also didn’t want to overwhelm them with two days in a row filled with numerical problem solving. So we started today by gathering around one of the lab tables … Continue reading Day 23: Tic Tac Bounce with 9th Graders
Yesterday, we took our first test in Physics 9. Today, we started off class by using random.org to make new groups (big hit with this class for some reason!). Then I gave each table one blank copy of the test (they hadn’t seen their own tests and didn’t know their scores yet). They worked through it together. Then they whiteboarded those problems. I like this activity because … Continue reading Day 19: What to do after the test
Today was our third class of Physics 9, and our first day of whiteboarding. They had spent some time working on their first qualitative LOL diagrams, so now they were ready to discuss some of the trickier points together. I let them sign up for problems and we talked about making good mistakes. A few groups checked their mistakes with me, and they were overall … Continue reading Day 10: First Whiteboarding Session with Physics 9
YAY! At long last, classes are finally happening! I love these first days. My relativity class got started with a buggy investigation this morning. The groups spread out around the school wherever they could find space since our class doesn’t meet in the physics lab. Really eager, lively group, and I’m excited to get to the really confusing stuff soon. We’re spending the first two … Continue reading Day 7: First Day of Classes!
The homework for this week in every class was to find a time to meet with me so they could look over their corrected exams (and after looking them over/chatting about them, get their semester grades). The back of the exam always has a chance to draw a physics comic or write a physics joke. (Bonus fun, though not bonus points of course since there … Continue reading Day 4: Reflecting on Exams and Physics Comics
O'Shea Physics 180 