AP Physics 1: Coulomb’s Law

We did a lab in Pivot Interactives to find Coulomb’s Law. I debate every year whether I want to take the time for doing a lab, but I’m always glad when I do. In previous courses, students have simply taken it on faith that like charges repel and opposite charges attract, so it’s really powerful for students to make observations that support that rule. My students in AP Chem have also learned Coulomb’s Law is an inverse-square rule and get excited when the realize their physics lab backs up what they learned in chemistry.

Physics: Energy Pie Charts

We did a lot of work this week on what energy is and practice sketching energy pie charts. One of the best activities we did was “Representations Jeopardy”, where each group whiteboarded a set of energy pie charts. Then, they gave their whiteboard to another group who had to come up with a scenario or story to fit the pie charts. In a class where I usually struggle to get students talking to each other, it was great to hear all the noise, laughter, and engagement. During both phases of the activity, students were genuinely having fun coming up with wild stories to fit the pie charts.

Students were also very vocal this week that mistakes whiteboarding is one of the most useful activities we do and is when they feel like the material really clicks. I’ve been thinking about doing less mistakes whiteboarding since I’m really struggling to get kids to speak up during those discussions this year, so those student comments were a good reminder I should be thinking about how to help them speak up more, instead.