Science Teaching tips from Lee Trampleasure

October 5, 2021

Instantaneous change in direction

A member of a physics teacher ed group asked the following question: First time physics teacher here with a graphing question- What would a velocity vs time graph look like if a car was to change direction without slowing down? I got this question and was not able to answer it. Thanks for your help!

Physics

November 12, 2020

Cardstock paper bridge competition

In my physics classes at Menlo-Atherton High School, we used a homemade bridge breaker to test the strength of student bridges. Students created bridges out of manila folder paper and hot glue. Maximum height are provided, and the distance between the two landing is specified, but in the end the winners are the groups that can create the best load-to-mass...

Physics Comments: 0

September 1, 2020

Videos for buggy lab from home

With COVID-19 requiring many of us to do remote teaching this fall, I wanted to provide videos that students could use at home. I shot these videos with a cell phone gimbal to stabilize the video.

Physics Comments: 3

April 6, 2020

Zoom + Whiteboard = almost in the classroom

As we move forward with online learning due to the COVID-19, I’m offering Zoom-based office hours. There are high-tech ways of sharing screens, etc, but I decided to use a low-tech solution to share drawings with my students.

Education and schools/Science Education Comments: 0

April 3, 2020

Learning in the era of Pass/No pass

In light of the COVID-19 crisis, more K-12 schools and school districts are moving to Pass/No pass (P/NP) instead of traditional A-F grading. Rather than thinking of this as a loss, I suggest we use this as an opportunity. I have been a high school teacher for 26 years. During that time, I, and many of my colleagues, are continually...

Education and schools/Grading/Science Education Comments: 0