[Phys-L] Re: First Day Activities or Demos

[kowalskil at MAIL.MONTCLAIR.EDU (Ludwik Kowalski)]

I agree with Joe's observations below. What is OK on the first day of
school is one thing and conducting regular student-centered activities
is another. The advantage of the dramatic demo (described earlier) is
that it offers a chance of introducing the concept of energy on the
first day. How to deal with it, on the first day, depends on the level
of teaching. I would not talk about the m*v^2/2 and h*g*h on the first
day of an first science course. Saying that "two kinds of energy are
involved and we will learn about them in this course" would probably be
sufficient.

Ludwik Kowalski
Let the perfect not be the enemy of the good.

On Wednesday, Aug 10, 2005, at 10:59 America/New_York, jbellina wrote:

> Before we talk about content, I'd like to suggest the process that you
> might use...its related to the interactive lecture demonstration (ild)
> work, and the think, pair, share method.
>
> Show them something, and talk about what you are going to do.
> Ask them to think about what will happen and why they think that
> for a few minutes. Then ask them to discuss their ideas with a
> neighbor or their group if they are in groups. Then have a brief
> whole class discussion.  You can summarize ideas on the board.
> Then do it...and it is best if it is something that will surprise them.
>
> For example, drop two small objects of significantly different
> weights. You will get a mix of predictions...you may have to repeat
> the experiment several times Then drop two sets of paper plates,
> with 1 plate in one set and 10 in the other. So sometimes heavier
> objects do fall faster. Then a pingpong ball and a pingpong ball
> wrapped in al foil...use something to the ball sticks to the tape.
> the wrapped ball is heavier, but the fall the same. Then open the
> foil up and drop the two again. Now the heavier object falls slower!!!
>
> I don't like the faith in physics examples because it begins a pattern
> of the teacher knows and students have to find out, rather than we all
> work together to make sense of our experience.  The former is a
> teacher centered activity, and latter is a student centered activity.