This idea has been percolating for a while, ever since reading Sophie’s post back in September. When we came back from Christmas Vacation and needed to start flexing all of those now-unpracticed skills that we gained in the fall, the time seemed right to try out this crazy new idea. Instructions for Starting the Date… Read More Whiteboard Speed Dating
I wrote earlier about not assigning specific homework in my classes, a move that I made starting in the 2nd semester last year. I was so happy about how it went last year that I basically continued the policy this year. On my course evaluations two weeks ago, I asked a couple of questions that… Read More Student views on No Physics Homework
This is my second year using this different grading paradigm (if you aren’t familiar with my flavor of grading, read: Conjunctive Standards-Based Grading). I’ve made some tweaks from my first run last year, and it feels like an established system that just happens in physics here (rather than a crazy new experiment). I’m hoping/planning to… Read More Student views on SBG (January 2012 edition)
Before we can start building the Balanced Force Particle Model, we have to overcome some language problems. As was frequently said at the Modeling Workshop that I attended (and is repeated frequently in my classroom), “Physics is a foreign language that sounds just like English.” The word force is a prime offender, so we need to… Read More Common Types of Forces (BFPM Cheat Sheet)
aka How to kill . Now that we’re pros (Wheaties box, here we come) at drawing velocity-vs-time graphs, we need to be able to turn those graphs into equations if we want to use them as tools for solving problems. One big stumbling block in solving constant acceleration (CAPM) problems is that, very very often,… Read More Velocity Graphs into Equations
This question, “What do you think is the essential toolkit for a first time SBG implementer?” was posted in the comments on my last post. So after rambling a bit myself, I threw it over to Twitter to see what other people had to say. Here’s what I got. A lot of good advice! Know… Read More The essential toolkit for a first time SBG implementer?
After a recent Global Physics Department meeting about Standards-Based Grading (SBG), I got to thinking about how I would adapt my grading scheme if I taught more than 40 or 50 students per year (which many of the teachers at the meeting were/are doing). One idea that I had was about doing more of the… Read More Choose Your Test Flavor
Disclaimer: I most certainly did not come up with this type of diagram, though the name (IF charts) is probably unique to my classes since it’s based on the way one of my first Modeling Physics students drew her bar charts. This post is meant to be a how-to and a why-to guide for the… Read More Momentum Bar Charts (IF Charts, IFF Charts)
Hey guys, bring a pencil and a whiteboard next door. I want to show you something cool. [Wave them over to the lab. At the front table, there are two tracks set up to make one long track (half of which is a ramp). Two carts and some extra masses (blocks) are at the ready.]… Read More Building the Momentum Transfer Model
Hey guys, I want to show you something cool. Bring your new packet and a pencil and come next door. Make sure the stools are out of the way or someone’s going to get themselves killed in this experiment. Stand on the other side of the table. Don’t stand at the end there; you’re going… Read More Building the Unbalanced Force Particle Model
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