Day 15: SOS Diagrams, Ramp Lab, & Density Representations

September 24, 2018September 24, 2018 / Marta R. Stoeckel / Leave a comment

AP Physics 1: SOS Diagrams

I took a few minutes to introduce SOS diagrams for momentum and impulse, then had students whiteboard some problems. The biggest challenge was thinking through what are useful snapshots to use but, once students wrapped their heads around that, things seemed to go very smoothly.

Physics: Ramp Lab

Students started collecting data to make position vs. time graphs for a cart on a ramp. This was their first time using the tracks and their first time using LabQuests, so it was a lot to take in. Several groups commented the first data point was the hardest to get, but, once they knew what they were doing, the data collection was quick and easy.

ramp lab.jpg

Chemistry Essentials: Density Representations

Today was the density quiz, so we started by using whiteboards to review some different ways to represent density. Most students seem pretty solid on the particle diagrams, but mass vs. volume graphs are challenging for a lot of them. In general, graphs have been challenging for a lot of my chemistry students this year, largely because I overestimated their prior knowledge and haven’t adapted as well as I’d like.

density particle.jpg

Day 14: Board Meeting, Dueling Buggies, & Density Challenge

September 21, 2018 / Marta R. Stoeckel / Leave a comment

AP Physics 1: Board Meeting

We had a board meeting on the impulse lab students have been working on. There were a few groups with really nice results, but this is a very tough one to get consistently accurate slopes, which made the discussion tough, even though my students did a nice job. It was a little tricky getting to the formula we’ll be using for impulse since the lab had a non-constant force, but the equation assumes a constant one. Next year, I might switch to the half-Atwood machine, rather than saving it for unbalanced forces.

Physics: Dueling Buggies

Students finished up the dueling buggies lab practical. I saw a much wider range of approaches than in my AP classes this year; most of my AP students are in the same math classes, which I think encourages them to think about problems in similar ways. My regular classes, meanwhile, have a much wider range of students, so there was a lot of great discussion about different ways to think about this problem.

Chemistry Essentials: Density Challenge

I am receiving access to Pivot Interactives this year in exchange for piloting some of their chemistry activities.

Students used Pivot Interactives to make mass vs. volume graphs to identify unknown liquids by their density. A lot of students had some trouble getting started, but, once I pointed out the similarities to the density of water lab we’d done, they were very successful. The videos don’t zero the balance so that the graph will end up with an intercept; this was the first graph with a non-zero intercept they’ve seen in this class, so it was challenging, but we were able to work through it. I think just about every group picked gallium as their unknown liquid, which is fitting, since it would be the hardest to do in the classroom.

Day 13: Impulse, Dueling Buggies, & Mistakes Whiteboarding

September 20, 2018 / Marta R. Stoeckel / Leave a comment

AP Physics 1: Impulse

Students finished up their data collection for the impulse lab. Some groups have really nice looking data, while other groups have graphs where the pattern is much less clear. I need to spend some time trouble-shooting this lab to see about getting more consistent results. Most of the groups did a nice job of taking turns operating the LabQuest, even without me explicitly directing them to.

Physics: Dueling Buggies

Students wrapped up yesterday’s mistakes whiteboarding, then started work predicting where two buggies would collide. My classes, especially my 1st hour, are taking very quickly to mistakes whiteboarding, so the conversations were much better than I usually expect at this time of year.

Chemistry: Density Mistakes Whiteboarding

We only got through one problem yesterday, so we finished doing mistakes whiteboarding for some density problems. Yesterday, it was very tough to get students to speak up, so today I had students spend a minute or two talking to a neighbor about each whiteboard before we shifted to whole class discussion, which helped a little. The biggest factor was a few students who were gone yesterday were very eager to participate and, once they asked some questions, other students seemed more comfortable speaking up.

Day 12: Impulse & Mistakes Whiteboarding

September 19, 2018 / Marta R. Stoeckel / 2 Comments

AP Physics 1: Impulse

We started by discussing the idea that both the magnitude of a force and the amount of time its applied seem to matter for changes in momentum to get to the idea that we could compare the area of a force vs. time graph to the change in velocity. Students used elastic strings to connect carts to force sensors and started collecting data. This was the first lab where students used the dynamics track and where they collected quantitative data from the LabQuests, but students seemed to get comfortable with the equipment pretty quickly.

Physics: CVPM Mistakes Whiteboarding

Students did mistakes whiteboarding with yesterday’s quantitative CVPM problems. In my 1st hour, a lot of groups were very vocal about picking a mistake one of them had made, and I love the way this places a value on their mistakes and gives them the opportunity to conquer the mistake.

phys mistake.jpg

Chemistry Essentials: Density Mistakes Whiteboarding

This was my chemistry class’s first experience with mistakes whiteboarding. I started the hour with a short vocabulary review that seemed to help cement the key concepts we’re working with. The class was very quiet during the whiteboard presentations, so we only go through one. I think tomorrow I’ll have them do some talking to a neighbor about each board before we shift to whole class.

chem mistake.jpg

Day 11: Uncertainty, Problems, & More Problems

September 18, 2018 / Marta R. Stoeckel / Leave a comment

AP Physics 1: Uncertainty

We did a quick preview of tomorrow’s lab on impulse, then talked about the challenges of finding the uncertainty of measurements given the tools we have so far. This lead into Brad Wysocki’s measurement lab to take a look at uncertainty caused primarily by your measuring tool. In my 2nd hour, I asked groups to find the area of some index cards using each ruler, but the size of the cards lined up too nicely with the rulers and the main points weren’t as clear as I’d like. In my 4th hour, I switched to Post-Its and the uncertainty was much clearer.

Physics: CVPM Problems

Students started working problems using CVPM. The problem set started with several descriptions of motion and students had to determine which statements CVPM could apply to. That was a more challenging task than I expected, largely because a lot of students were not clear about what I meant by CVPM, so I need to work on keeping that language clear. I also found my 1st hour, that mostly worked individually on the last problems, very easily shifted to working in groups today while a had a lot of students in my 6th hour opting to work alone, even though most of them went into groups on their own last time.

Chemistry Essentials: Density Problems

We started by discussing the results of yesterday’s lab. I ended up projecting some data I collected rather than making whiteboards. When we were talking about whether measuring a bigger dowel would give a different density, student comments revealed some of the class was interpreting data points on my graph as dots in a particle diagram. I’m really excited that my students are looking for connections between the different representations and are willing to share their thinking, even if we have some work to do on distinguishing between those representations.

Afterward, students worked on some problems relating particle diagrams, mass vs. volume graphs, and density. A lot of students had trouble getting started because they were struggling with the vocabulary; I pretty quickly wished I’d put together a short vocabulary activity to reinforce terms before we got to work.

Day 10: p-t Graphs, Groupwork Reflection, & Density

September 17, 2018September 17, 2018 / Marta R. Stoeckel / 1 Comment

AP Physics: p-t Graphs

Students sketched momentum vs. time graphs for bowling balls hit with various combinations of taps, then we got out billiard balls and motion detectors to transition to true momentum vs. time graphs. It was a little tricky for students to predict what the graph would look like when the billiard ball reversed direction, but we got there by the end of the hour.

Physics: Groupwork Reflection

Today we had a few whiteboards to finish from Friday and a quiz to take. One of my goals this year is to improve the quality of the collaboration in my classroom, so we also took a few minutes to talk about some of the different abilities students needed to complete the problems and mistakes whiteboarding, then I asked students to complete a short reflection based on a list of things effective groups do I got from Scot Hovan at a modeling workshop. I haven’t had a chance to read the reflections yet, but it looked like students were giving it some good thought and I overheard several students showing their reflection to a peer they’d used as a positive example.

Chemistry Essentials: Density

We got out the metal dowels from last week’s volume lab to find their density. I asked groups to design their own experiment, and wished I’d taken the time for a little more discussion on what makes a good experiment. The worksheet I used started with questions about what variables they needed and how to measure those variables, but a lot of students had trouble with articulating how they would get a variety of values for the data table.

Day 9: Momentum, Mistakes Whiteboarding, & Board Meeting

September 14, 2018 / Marta R. Stoeckel / 1 Comment

AP Physics 1: Momentum

We discussed what students saw in yesterday’s bowling ball lab to get to a rule for how taps affect motion. Yesterday, a lot of groups started having conversations about how the size of the tap and the mass of the bowling ball plays into how much the motion changes, so I took advantage of that to introduce the definition of momentum, which lead smoothly into framing Newton’s 1st Law in terms of changes in momentum.

Physics: Mistakes Whiteboarding

I introduced mistakes whiteboarding today with some photos from the first time I made fried mozzarella with nectarines and balsamic glaze so we could have some discussion about which photo did more for my learning. Students then whiteboarded yesterday’s problems and had some great discussion about the problems.

halfbakedharvest.com

It was still tasty

Chemistry Essentials: Board Meeting Continued

Today, we picked up discussing yesterdays lab on density. Since we’d made a good list of observations about the graphs yesterday, today I had students whiteboard “for every” statements describing their slopes, which, along with particle diagrams, lead nicely into a definition of slope. For next time, I’d love to find a second liquid that gives a pretty nice slope so students can contrast the two.

Day 8: Bowling Balls, Motion Maps, & Density

September 13, 2018September 13, 2018 / Marta R. Stoeckel / 3 Comments

AP Physics 1: Bowling Balls

Students worked on a bowling ball and mallet lab based on Frank Noschese’s version. There was some good debate about whether a bowling ball needs to be tapped to roll at a constant speed, so we used the Motion Shot app to make a motion map we could use to check.

Physics: Motion Maps

To introduce motion maps, I drove a fridge rover across my whiteboard and marked the position at regular time intervals. Motion maps also linked nicely back to the buggy lab, since I forced students to use time as the independent variable. Students then worked on problems; in my 1st hour, most of my students chose to work at desks mostly independently, which I think made the problems more challenging for both my students and for me. In my 6th hour, I started by letting students know the problems were designed to be done in groups and talked about the advantages of completing the task in a group. I’m also wondering if it would help if I made more use of a strategy I got from Designing Groupwork: Strategies for Heterogeneous Classrooms where we take time for some explicit class discussions about what skills are needed for a task to emphasize the value of multiple abilities.

Chemistry Essentials: Density of Water

Students did a lab to find the density of water, then we had a short board meeting with the results. We kept the board meeting pretty simple and I was very pleased with how it went; my favorite observation is a student who noticed that different groups had data points at different masses, but every group still got the same slope.

Day 7: Dueling Buggies, Board Meeting, & Volume

September 12, 2018 / Marta R. Stoeckel / 7 Comments

AP Physics 1: Dueling Buggies

Students predicted where two buggies would collide based on their starting points and speeds. It was interesting to see how different sections approached this problem; most of the groups in my 2nd hour used motion maps while almost all of my 4th hour used position vs. time graphs. When my 4th hour discussed the buggy paradigm lab, students brought up the fact that some of the graphs intersected, with one even bringing up that position vs. time graphs can be used to elegantly solve the classic two trains problem.

Physics: Board Meeting

Students wrapped up the buggy lab and we had our board meeting. Before the board meeting, I once again had students do a gallery walk and jot some notes down on their lab sheet, which lead to some really good conversation during the board meeting. The downside is students are using the gallery walk to ask questions I’d normally hope to hear during the whole-class board meeting, like asking about what a group was doing when they collected data that gave a negative slope, but students bringing up those points during the whole-class phase, so it doesn’t feel like a big downside.

buggy lab

Chemistry Essentials: Volume

Today, students found a relationship between the amount of water displaced and a solid’s volume in cubic centimeters to get at the equivalence of milliLiters and cubic centimeters. I haven’t had great results with the Modeling Instruction volume lab, so this year I cut some rods from the metals teacher into short sections so that students only needed to find the volume of cylinders. I like that the lab I did today uses the same version of water displacement they’ll use later on, but the math was a struggle for a lot of students. About half of my groups finished data collection and the other half only got one data point because they were caught up calculating the volume. I need to keep working on how to make this lab accessible to all of my students.

volume lab

Day 6: Mistakes, Buggies, & Mass of Gas

September 11, 2018September 11, 2018 / Marta R. Stoeckel / Leave a comment

AP Physics 1: Mistakes Whiteboarding

Students did mistakes whiteboarding, where groups include intentional mistakes in their solution, then the rest of the class asks questions to try to understand the mistake. I had a lot of groups pick mistakes they’d made working on the problems, which is perfect. In my big class, some students started turning to talk to their peers, which I let go at first since there were good conversations, but it quickly got hard to follow the main conversation and it was hard to shut the side conversations down once I let them start. Next time, I might try having some designated times for talking to a peer vs. talking as a whole class.

Physics: Buggy Lab

Students collected data for the buggy lab. I’ve found students are often very resistant to adjusting their procedure once they have any data written down, even if its only one point, so on the lab template we’re using, I have a step for students to test their procedure without recording any data. This time did exactly what I wanted today and I saw a lot of groups trying multiple approaches before settling on their steps.

Chemistry Essentials: Does Gas Have Mass?

Students dropped Alka Seltzer into water, then measured the change in mass with and without a balloon on the test tube. This year, even though I had an approach in mind, we had some pre-lab discussion about possible strategies, and students had some neat ideas. There were a few things students came up with that provided a nice seque into this lab.