AP Physics: Bar Charts

We discussed the results of yesterday’s lab in order to define kinetic energy, then I showed them the derivation for elastic potential energy. Since we’d already defined change in potential energy as the area of a force vs. displacement graph, I think I could have put that derivation on students. Afterward, I introduced students to LOL diagrams and set them to work sketching bar charts.

Physics: Mistakes Game

I love Kelly O’Shea’s mistakes game, but I’ve been having trouble getting my physics students comfortable talking as a whole class, so I decided to try lowering the stakes. I had them prep whiteboards as usual, but then they presented to another group, rather than the whole class. There were a lot of great conversations between groups and students were much more comfortable speaking up. Afterward, I gave students time to do a gallery walk of the post-discussion boards.

Chemistry Essentials: Burning

Students burned steel wool on a balance to observe the change in mass. Afterward, we used Post-It notes to make histograms of the change in mass from both yesterday’s labs and the burning. Last trimester, I skipped the class histograms, but I think the helped this group to meaningfully interpret their results. I also got excited when a student brought up conservation of mass before I did, which I don’t manage as often as I’d like in this course.