Lee – Page 7 – Science Teaching tips from Lee Trampleasure

September 14, 2014

Correlations and Scatter Plots

After a couple of hand-graphs, my students use their TI 83/84 calculator for graphing. We set the calculators so they give an “R squared” correlation, which we often use to help determine which regression type (linear, quadratic, power) fits the data the best. Many of my students have a hard time understanding the nature of the correlation, and I have...

Modeling/Science Education Comments: 0

March 27, 2014

If a nucleus is full of positively charged protons, why doesn’t it fly apart?

In my physical science class this week, I realized the textbook was introducing the structure of the atom and positive and negative charges, but not answering addressing the clear question that follows the presented information is “what the heck keeps all those protons together in the nucleus?” The book does get around to the nuclear forces, but not until many...

Chemistry/Physics/Science Education Comments: 0

November 3, 2013

A radical idea: Treat teachers like plumbers…

This weekend, while attending a Model United Nations convention with my MUN students, I got to talking with a few colleagues and discussing how people become teachers. Here are the basic steps to becoming certified as a teacher in California: Pay lots of money to get a BA/BS at your favorite university. If you want to be an elementary teacher,...

Science Education Comments: 0

January 11, 2013

Next Generation Science Standards, second draft published

The second draft of the Next Generation Science Standards were released this week. You can find them all here: www.nextgenscience.org/next-generation-science-standards You can search them here: www.nextgenscience.org/search-standards-dci I have exported pages containing all DCI Arranged Standards – Public Release High School only.

Modeling/Physics/Science Education Comments: 0

December 3, 2012

Results of online grading survey

Last week I posted a survey of online grading practices. I announced the survey through several email lists I participate in [1], as well as on my Facebook “wall”. The survey was open for five days, and resulted in 164 responses. I make no attempt to pass this survey off as statistically accurate representation of all teachers/schools–the respondents come from...

Grading software/Science Education Comments: 3

November 28, 2012

Survey of teacher use of online grading systems and their implementation

If you teach at a middle school or high school, please take a couple minutes to answer this survey. I will post results here in mid-December 2012. (Apologies for the multiple scroll bars.) I’ve reached the capacity of the free Survey Monkey site (100 responses!), so I’m making a copy of it. If the survey don’t appear below, it means...

Grading software/Science Education Comments: 3

September 10, 2012

How to assocaite .cls (class) files with GradeMachine in Windows 7

If you are installing GradeMachine in newer versions of Windows (7 for sure, I’m not sure about XP), the program will not automatically “associate” the .cls (class) files with GradeMachine — the result is you cannot double-click on a .cls file and have GradeMachine open for you. The following steps, in Windows 7, will correct this problem, and let you...

Grading software Comment: 1

May 18, 2012

Grading labs: A faster method using pre-printed return address labels.

Grading tends to be the biggest time consuming task for teachers. For those teachers who want students to complete lab write-ups that truly reflect discover and learning, providing feedback on labs can be an even more daunting task. This year I started using a system that has significantly sped up grading the mechanics of the lab, allowing me to spend...

Modeling/Physics/Science Education Comments: 3

April 21, 2012

Newton’s Laws and shopping carts falling out of truck

Watch the following video, the try to answer the questions below it: What is happening to the truck and the carts when the carts start following off the truck? What causes the carts to fall off the truck? While the truck is moving, the left row of carts doesn’t fall off the truck. Can you explain why they don’t? At...

Physics/Science Education Comments: 0

March 15, 2012

Modeling Instruction: Review of acceleration lab

I’ve been using Modeling Instruction in my physics class for the past five years, and keep wondering how to handle the problem of students who miss the whiteboard sessions (where students share their results and we reach class conclusions). These sessions are critical for student growth, as this is where they are challenged to look for patterns in their data,...