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Re: [Phys-l] Traditional Labs and Online Simulations

A lot depends on the level of your students. With some groups, the difficulty they have even reading a meter can keep them from being able to reach any understanding of the underlying physics. I am getting ready to teach series and parallel circuits in just a couple of weeks. I like to make my students build and measure these circuits, and then add another resistor to each of them to see what changes and what doesn't. But I don't have enough digital meters and my students do not seem to be able to reliably read an analog meter. (Not sure if they can read an analog clock!) So while I still, stubbornly, do the experiment, first we simulate it using a website called the Ohmzone. It's a simple on-line circuit board. This way, while we are still just learning the "rules", at least the measurements come out "right".

Then, for stronger groups, working with real batteries, you can present a challenge: why didn't the lab turn out the way the book says it should?

-----Original Message-----
From: phys-l-bounces@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu [mailto:phys-l-
bounces@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu] On Behalf Of ludwik kowalski
Sent: Friday, February 10, 2012 1:17 PM
To: Forum for Physics Educators
Subject: Re: [Phys-l] Traditional Labs and Online Simulations

One way to simulate a lab is to perform a classroom demonstration, for
example, lasting 30 minutes. Individual students would be called to
read instruments and to write results on the blackboard. All students
would be required to write traditional laboratory reports, as if they
did everything personally. This is probably better than an online
computer simulation.

Ludwik
==============================================================




On Feb 10, 2012, at 12:18 PM, Sean Grealis wrote:

At my school, I teach 3 different levels of physics (Introduction,
Honors,
and AP C). For my AP classes, our students come to school early two
days a
week to give us extra time to do labs due to the rigorous nature of
the
curriculum. For my other two levels, however, I do not have
dedicated lab
time. I do not get a double period during the week to do labs, and
have to
make do with 40 minute periods. Because of this, there are times
when I
have used online simulations rather than full-blown labs simply out
of time
constraints. I would much prefer not to do this, but the students
seem to
really enjoy most of the simulations that I find for them. I have
thought
about incorporating them as a pre-lab activity, where students would
go
through a simulation and answer some questions before coming into
the lab
and having the hands-on experience. My main concern with this is
that the
simulation will "give away the answers" as it were. I always view my
labs
as a way for students to investigate and explore natural phenomena,
and I
fear that the simulations may take away from that experience .Does
anyone
else have experience incorporating simulations into traditional lab
experiences? Thank you.


--Sean Grealis
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Forum for Physics Educators
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=======================================================================
Ludwik Kowalski, whose profile is at:

http://pages.csam.montclair.edu/~kowalski/my_profile.html






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Forum for Physics Educators
Phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu
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