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Re: unexpected obstacles



I have had the same problems with students and it is getting worse.
IMHO the source of the problem is that few students have been exposed
to failure. To protect their self esteem, any product is complemented.
Students are rarely told - 'this is wrong, do it again' (the short
version of the sci method). This has lead to a fascinating and sudden
change in student culture. When I was a student ( only 17 yrs ago), we
had factions in the school, jocks, brains, druggies, kikkers, etc). The
jocks were stereotypically non-academic. No more - my best students are
now called scholar- athletes. These kids can manage all of their school
work and sports. Why? Sports is now the last place a teacher can say to
a child 'You lost, your performance was terrible - you will practice
harder or sit on the bench' and be absolute. Parents will accept this
behavior from coaches, but not from teachers. Students in band can
_sometimes_ still get the same treatment - 'you cannot play this well
enough, practice and then you can march in the band'. This experience
of failure is traumatic, but essential. These kids are now the few who
know that it takes work to succeed - and that carries over to the
classroom. The other kids, with inflated self-esteems, view success as
a lucky event - often discussions with these kids reveal them to be
very fatalistic. They also feel that a grade is a judgment - of
themselves as person, not their work. Doesn't make sense, but that's
what I get from discussions.

What have I been doing? I have found the outcome based labs are very
effective with both groups. These are labs such as the classic
'calculate where to place the cup so the projectile lands in it'. There
is a definite, concrete standard of success. No opinions or personal
judgments. Any lab can be made outcome based. When I do Hook's Law, the
group that predicts the unknown mass does not have to write the report,
groups outside their predicted percent error range much repeat. (The
unexpected obstacle would be I have them wind their own spring and
construct a mech. for reading its displacement) When I build bridges,
any bridge that does not hold the minimum weight must be rebuilt. The
successful are heavily rewarded; the failures sent to try again.

The point is the outcome of the lab should have a concrete standard on
which the student is judged. The teacher's _opinion_ is suspect (after
all they have been told they are wonderful no matter what they
accomplished by teachers all along - who am I to disagree!), but the
physical outcome can be real. For many, an outcome based lab becomes
one of the first real failures they encounter and, like the score at
the end of a game, it is absolute. It is often hard to convince them
the outcome was not fate or bad luck, but the result of poor quality
work. For some, it takes several after school sessions. I go through a
lab with them step by step re-checking their measurements until they
realize they were not particularly careful. Once they realize that
they control the outcome, they become very hard working students (or on
occasion drop the class, complaining that lab is too stressful and they
have felt bad knowing they could have to do it over if they fail).
Hopefully this will transfer over to other topics and areas of learning
- so far it seems to. I get many positive emails back from many of my
students, but usually after the first semester or two of college.
Physics enrollment is up from 1.5 classes to 6 in about 5 years.

I would like discuss and share what outcome-based lab others are using.
Everyone has a favorite twist.

Scott

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Scott Goelzer
Physics Teacher
Coe-Brown Northwood Academy
Northwood NH 03261
603-942-5531e43
sgoelzer@coebrownacademy.com
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