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Re: Cool Demo for Newton's First Law?



In his Phys-L post of 23 Jun 2004 20:12:32-0500 titled "Re: Cool Demo
for Newton's First Law?", Brian Whatcott made 2 points to which I
shall respond:

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1. "Taking in the words of wisdom I have been reading on the list
about making every effort to engage the student body in delivering
their own enlightenment, the idea about enlisting a student's
cooperation in demonstrating N1 seems good. But that's ONE student.
How could one invoke the participation of every student, I wonder?"

The recently reported research of Crouch et al. (2004) is consistent
with previous work in suggesting the need for ALL students to be
actively engaged if demonstrations are to increase the overall
learning of a class. Crouch et al. write: "We find that students who
passively observe demonstrations understand the underlying concepts
no better than students who do not see the demonstration at all, in
agreement with previous studies. Learning is enhanced, however, by
increasing student engagement . . ."

Aside from simply varying the mode of presentation as discussed by
Crouch et al., one way to increase student engagement (for ALL
students) is to make use of the "Interactive Lecture Demonstrations"
of David Sokoloff & Ron Thornton (1997).

Another method, overlooked by Crouch et al. and most other physics
teachers, is to get the students into the lab and let them do the
demonstrations as EXPERIMENTS in a Socratic Dialogue Inducing (SDI)
manner [Hake (1987; 1991; 1992; 2002a; 2004a,b); Tobias & Hake
(1988); Hake & Wakeland (1997). SDI labs emphasize hands- and
heads-on experience with simple mechanics experiments and facilitate
interactive engagement of students with course material. They are
designed to promote students' mental construction of concepts
through: (a) conceptual conflict; (b) kinesthetic involvement; (c)
extensive verbal, written, pictorial, diagrammatic, graphical, and
mathematical analysis of concrete Newtonian experiments; (d) repeated
exposure to experiments at increasing levels of sophistication; (e)
collaborative peer instruction; and (f) Socratic dialogue with
instructors. SDI labs were inspired [Hake (1991)] by the astute
empirical observations of Arnold Arons (1990, 1997) [for a review see
Hake (2004c)], who had the uncommon sense to "shut up and listen to
what students say" in response to probing Socratic questions.

Although appreciated by the perceptive Phys-L'er Jack Uretsky (1993),
SDI labs are generally ignored by the physics community [e.g., McCray
et al. (2003), Redish (2003), Mestre (2003)]. Furthermore, many fail
to understand the "Socratic method," beliving that it's the same as
that of the CLASSIC Socrates of Plato's "Meno," who put words in the
slave boy's mouth [Moorse (1994)], rather than that of the HISTORICAL
Socrates as researched by the late great classics scholar Gregory
Vlastos (1990, 1991, 1994). I have discussed this misunderstanding of
the Socratic method in the rejected Hake (1998b, footnote 39) and in
Hake (2002b, 2004c).

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2. "Importing an ice chest with dry-ice pucks seems to have student
appeal too."

Such would be a literally "Cool Demo for Newton's First Law." But
should instructors seek "student appeal" or student learning? As
indicated above, research stongly suggests that the latter will NOT
be induced by a "Cool Demo," either literative or figurative. In his
chapter "Elementary Dynamics," Arons (1990, 1997) wrote:

"The most effective, albeit fairly expensive physical situation I
have been able to use to such purpose [leading the majority of
students to understand N1] is one in which a 50-lb block of dry ice .
. . [expensive ??, at Indiana University I used to purchase 50-lb
blocks of dry ice for only $7.50 per block}. . . with its base
smoothed to some degree, is placed on a large glass plate. . . [4 x 8
ft sheets of window glass are relatively cheap as lab equipment goes]
. . . leveled up on a laboratory table. Students are then invited to
perform literally 'hands-on' experiments (using gloves, of course) .
. . . [anathema to direct instructionists (Hake 2004d), even if the
hands are encased in gloves] . . . A large array of very basic,
vitally important, ideas can be developed Socratically in this
context."

Arons' 50-lb dry-ice block experiments (and a few others - such as
the PSSC classic of a flea pulling a dry-ice puck) are included in
SDI Lab #1, "Newton's First and Third Laws," Sect. VI. "Forces on a
massive block of 'dry ice' floating on glass." And for the SDI-Lab
treatment of the old (a) "Tablecloth-Slip-Out Demo" (often mistakenly
thought to be a demonstration of N1 rather than N2), and (b)
"Spin-the-Bucket-of-Water-Over-the-Head Demo" see, SDI Lab #3
"Circular Motion and Frictional Forces,"and its Teacher's Guide,
online at the Galileo site as indicated above. All SDI Lab manuals
are freely downloadable at <http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~sdi>.

Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
24245 Hatteras Street, Woodland Hills, CA 91367
<rrhake@earthlink.net>
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake>
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~sdi>


REFERENCES
Arons, A.B. 1990. "A Guide to Introductory Physics Teaching." Wiley;
reprinted with minor updates in Arons (1997).

Arons, A.B. 1997. Teaching Introductory Physics. Wiley. Contains a
slightly updated version of Arons (1990), plus Homework and Test
Questions for Introductory Physics Teaching (Arons 1994), plus a new
monograph "Introduction to Classical Conservation Laws."

Crouch, C.H., A.P. Fagen, P. Callen, E. Mazur, 2004. "Classroom
Demonstrations: Learning Tools or Entertainment?" Am. J. Phys. 72:
835-838; online as a 50 kB pdf at
<http://mazur-www.harvard.edu/publications.php>.

Hake, R.R. 1987. "Promoting student crossover to the Newtonian
world." Am J. Phys. 55(10): 878-884.

Hake, R.R. 1991. "My Conversion To The Arons-Advocated Method Of
Science Education," Teaching Education 3(2): 109-111; online
as ref. 8 at <http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake>.

Hake, R.R. 1992. "Socratic pedagogy in the introductory physics lab."
Phys. Teach. 30: 546-552; updated version (4/27/98) online as ref. 23
at
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake>.

Hake R.R. & R. Wakeland. 1997. " 'What's F? What's m? What's a?': A
Non-Circular SDI-TST- Lab Treatment of Newton's Second Law" in
Conference on the Introductory Physics Course, Jack Wilson, ed.
Wiley. pp. 277-283. [See SDI Lab #6 "Newton's Second Law Revisited,"
online at <http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~sdi>.]

Hake, R.R. 1998a. "Interactive-engagement vs traditional methods: A
six-thousand-student survey of mechanics test data for introductory
physics courses," Am. J. Phys. 66: 64-74; online as ref. 24 at
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake>.

Hake, R.R. 1998b. "Interactive-engagement methods in introductory
mechanics courses," online as ref. 25 at
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake>. Submitted on 6/19/98 to the
Physics Education Research Supplement to AJP (PERS)." In this sadly
unpublished (Physics Education Research has no archival journal!)
crucial companion paper to Hake (1998a): average pre/post test
scores, standard deviations, instructional methods, materials used,
institutions, and instructors for each of the survey courses of Hake
(1998a) are tabulated and referenced. In addition the paper includes:
(a) case histories for the seven IE courses of Hake (1998a) whose
effectiveness as gauged by pre-to-post test gains was close to those
of T courses, (b) advice for implementing IE methods, and (c)
suggestions for further research.

Hake, R.R. 2002a. "Socratic Dialogue Inducing Laboratory Workshop,"
Proceedings of the UNESCO-ASPEN Workshop on Active Learning in
Physics, Univ. of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, 2-4 Dec. 2002; also online
as ref. 28 at
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake/>.

Hake, R.R. 2002b. "Re: Socratic Method,"
PhysLrnR/Phys-L/Physhare/AP-Physics post of 14 Nov 2002
14:32:54-0800; online at
<http://lists.nau.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0211&L=phys-l&F=&S=&P=15118>.

Hake, R.R. 2004a. "Socratic Dialogue Inducing (SDI) Labs website
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~sdi>. Contains a brief description
of SDI Labs with pertinent references and 9 SDI Lab Manuals that may
be freely downloaded.

Hake, R.R. 2004b. "SDI Labs," at the Harvard Galileo site
<http://galileo.harvard.edu/>. The Galileo site is a leading resource
for online teaching materials. Under "Teaching Materials" click on
"Socratic Dialogue Inducing Labs" to bring up sections on: "What is
SDI?", "Who Can Use SDI?", "More About SDI", "What Are the
Requirements?" [the #4 phrase "available to be downloaded" link has
rotted - it should be <http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~sdi>,
"Benefits," and "Resources for SDI." In addition, Teacher's Guides
for SDI Labs #0.2 "Introduction to Kinematics" and #3 "Circular
Motion and Frictional Forces" are at <http://galileo.harvard.edu/> /
"Socratic Dialogue Inducing Labs" /"Resources for SDI" / "Teacher's
Guides", where "/" means "click on." I hope to add Teacher's Guides
for SDI Labs #1 and #2 on or before December 2004.

Hake, R.R. 2004c. "The Arons Advocated Method," submitted to the
"American Journal of Physics" on 24 April 2004; online as reference
31 at
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake>, or download directly as a 144
kB pdf by clicking on
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake/AronsAdvMeth-8.pdf>.

Hake, R.R. 2004d. "Direct Science Instruction Suffers a Setback in
California - Or Does It?" 11 April, contributed to the 129th National
AAPT meeting in Sacramento, CA, 1-5 August 2004; online as reference
33 at <http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake>, or download directly as
a 420kB pdf by clicking on
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake/DirInstSetback-041104f.pdf>
[about 160 references and 180 hot-linked URL's].

Hilborn, R.C., R.H. Howes, & K.S. Krane. 2003 "Strategic Programs for
Innovations in Undergraduate Physics: 2003. Project Report," online
at
<http://www.aapt.org/Projects/loader.cfm?url=/commonspot/security/getfile.cfm&PageID=4495>
(a 568kB pdf).

McCray, R.A., R.L. DeHaan, J.A. Schuck, eds. 2003. "Improving
Undergraduate Instruction in Science, Technology, Engineering, and
Mathematics: Report of a Workshop," Committee on Undergraduate STEM
Instruction," National Research Council, National Academy Press;
online at <http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10711.html>.

Mestre, J. 2003. Appendix I. "Physics Education Resources" pp. 56-64
of Hilborn et al. (2003). Mestre also ignores the ASU Modeling
Program <http://modeling.asu.edu/R&E/Research.html>.

Morse, R. 1994. "The Classic Method of Mrs. Socrates," Phys. Teach.
32: 276-277.

Redish, E.F. 2003 "Teaching Physics With the Physics Suite." John Wiley.

Sokoloff, D.R. & R.K. Thornton. 1997. "Using Interactive Lecture
Demonstrations to Create an Active Learning Environment", Phys.
Teach. 35: 340-347.

Tobias S. & R.R. Hake. 1988. "Professors as physics students: What
can they teach us?" Am. J. Phys. 56: 786-794.

Uretsky, J.L. 1993. "Using 'Dialogue Labs' in a Community-College
Physics Course," Phys. Teach. 31: 478-481.

Vlastos, G. 1990. Private communication to R.R. Hake, September 17:
"Though Socrates was not engaged in physical inquiry, your program .
. .[SDI Labs]. . . is entirely in his spirit."

Vlastos, G. 1991. "Socrates, Ironist and Moral Philosopher." Cornell
Univ. Press, esp. Chap. 2, "Socrates contra Socrates in Plato."

Vlastos, G. 1994. "Socratic Studies". Cambridge University Press.