May 20, 2019 Penny Diffusion Lab Using penny mint marks to model gas diffusion. Categories Chemistry/Modeling/Science Education Comments: 0
August 31, 2017 Back to School Night – Menlo-Atherton HS, 2017 OK, maybe I’m in the minority, but I really like Back to School Nights. Categories Education and schools/Modeling/Physics/Science Education Comments: 0
January 26, 2017 Modeling Instruction and NGSS: Energy as a Crosscutting Concept Notes from a talk on Modeling Instruction and energy as a Crosscutting Concept. Categories Chemistry/Modeling/Physics/Science Education Comments: 0
October 24, 2015 Introduction to Modeling Workshops at NSTA in Reno A brief description and photos of my workshops introducing Modeling Instruction at the NSTA Area Conference in Reno, NV on October 23, 2015 Categories Modeling/Physics Comments: 0
September 22, 2015 180: Day 21: Final suggestions/tips for buggy collision challenge. Last blocks with buggies: Here’s another close up of the target sheets I use with my students. The complete the top, then find where on the row of four metersticks they need to place their prediction. I give not help at this point, and often ask “Are you sure it’s in the right place?” (even when it is). I try... Categories 180/Modeling/Physics Comments: 0
September 21, 2015 180: Day 20: “One train leave a station at 2:30, and another train leaves… Here’s a classic physics problem: One train leaves a station at 2:30 at a speed of 40 m/s, and a second train leaves another station at 50 m/s. The stations are 40 km apart, and the trains are heading toward each other. At what time and position will the trains collide? These days, many teachers use this as a chance... Categories 180/Modeling/Physics Comment: 1
September 18, 2015 180: Day 18-19: Introducing Motion Maps OK, I’m cheating a bit, but I do teach the same classes on Thursday/Friday this week. I tried a new technique this year for introducing motion maps. I stood at the board and asked a student to call off every second. I started a car moving at the base of the boards (my new classroom has floor-to-ceiling whiteboards), then draw... Categories 180/Modeling/Physics Comments: 0
September 11, 2015 180: Day 14: Evaluating data from all classes I’m a big one on looking at large quantities of data. In each of my physics classes, I have seven to nine groups. In the Buggy Lab, that provides enough data that whiteboard sessions go fairly well, with: at 3-4 groups going in each direction two groups starting at extreme positive or negative locations three to four starting at medium... Categories 180/Modeling/Physics Comments: 0
September 9, 2015 180: Day 12: Mini whiteboards for sketching during group lab design; combining high- and low- tech This year I’m having my students use shared Google docs for their lab write ups (developing their procedures, recording their data, etc.). One student starts the document and shares it with the others, so everyone is working on the same document.The problem with Google Docs is most of us can’t draw on a computer (while touch screen devices may offer... Categories 180/Modeling Comments: 0
September 8, 2015 180: Day 11: Unit summaries online There has been debate in the Modeling Instruction community over how to handle “summaries” at the end of labs/units. We like summaries because they provide our students a place to go to see conclusions that are agreed to as a class–but we worry about them because students may not be as engaged in the labs/discussions if they know the “answers”... Categories 180/Modeling Comments: 0
