Day 86: Standing Waves, Energy Conservation, & Quiz

January 26, 2018 / Marta R. Stoeckel / Leave a comment

I was home sick, so no photos today.

AP Physics: Standing Waves

Students worked on a lab in Pivot Interactives to find a relationship between frequency and the wavelength of a standing wave.

Physics: Energy Conservation

Students worked on some problems using energy conservation. I’ve had some issues with students not attempting problems when there is a sub, so I spent some time yesterday on strategies for making progress on energy problems.

Chemistry Essentials: Quiz

Students too their quiz on energy and phase change.

Day 85: Whiteboards Galore

January 25, 2018 / Marta R. Stoeckel / Leave a comment

AP Physics: SHM Whiteboarding

Students did some whiteboarding to discuss yesterday’s trio of simple harmonic motion. There was some good discussion about whether the net force on each object is constant or changing for each object. In one section, I asked students for free-body diagrams and vector-addition diagrams to resolve that debate and in the other section, I asked them to sketch velocity vs. time graphs. The velocity vs. time graphs were much more effective for resolving the disagreement.

Physics: Kinetic Energy Board Meeting

Students whiteboarded their results for the kinetic energy lab. This time, I didn’t specifically prompt them to linearize their graphs and only some groups tried plotting change in height vs. velocity squared, which made for a nice discussion.

Chemistry Essentials: Freezing Lauric Acid

Students finished making their graphs, then we discussed the results of the lauric acid lab. A lot of students had trouble with a question about whether you can add energy to a system without changing the temperature, which reinforces my impression that many of those students are having trouble making sense of what the representations we’re using mean. I also forgot I wanted to have my students move before we shifted to whole group discussion and didn’t think of it until after class. Enough groups had trouble shifting to whole class mode that I need to make a note for next time.

Day 84: SHM Trio, Kinetic Energy, & Lauric Acid Take 2

January 24, 2018 / Marta R. Stoeckel / 2 Comments

Yesterday was a snow day.

AP Physics: SHM Trio

Students analyzed a video from Pivot Interactives of a pendulum, a spring, and a rotating disk in synchronized simple harmonic motion. I overheard some really good conversations about differences between the x-position vs. time and y-position vs. time graphs for the pendulum; a few students relate it back to the projectile Pivot Interactive we’d done and tried to imagine a camera that just showed the vertical motion of the pendulum.

Physics: Kinetic Energy

Students started collecting data to find a relationship between the change in height of a cart on a ramp and the velocity at the bottom. On the elastic potential energy lab, a lot of students just measured the height of the cart, rather than the change in height, so I spent some extra time on the pre-lab discussion to make sure students saw why the change is important.

Chemistry Essentials: Lauric Acid Take 2

We took another shot at finding the freezing point of lauric acid since the weather on Monday cut us short. A few students who’d collected some data were frustrated that they had to start fresh, rather than picking up where they left off. It will probably be worth spending some time tomorrow on why they had to start fresh, especially since it connects to what the graph physically means.

Day 83: Inertial vs. Gravitational Mass, Board Meeting, & Freezing Lauric Acid

January 22, 2018January 23, 2018 / Marta R. Stoeckel / 1 Comment

Several nearby districts had snow days today, so most of my classes were a little more off-task than usual today.

AP Physics: Inertial vs. Gravitational Mass

Students finished collecting data and making graphs for the period of a spring lab. We didn’t have enough time for a board meeting, but every group had decided mass is what matters so we took a few minutes to decide whether it is gravitational or inertial mass by comparing the period of a cart on a spring at different angles. This is the first year I’ve used the Pasco equal length springs, and several groups were able to get some pretty nice data for period and spring constant.

Physics: Board Meeting

Students whiteboarded their results from last week’s lab. I gave different groups different springs, and the slopes reflected that variation nicely which lead smoothly into fitting k into the formula. I had conversations with some groups about whether their results were “right” that reinforced just how uncomfortable some of my students still are with being even partially wrong. Talking to them, I think they don’t see this fear of being wrong as an obstacle to learning physics.

Chemistry Essentials: Freezing Lauric Acid

We worked on a lab to find the freezing point of lauric acid by melting it in a hot water bath, then making a temperature vs. time graph as it cools in a cool water bath. This is the last class of the day and we ended up getting released 13 minutes early due to a snowstorm, so only one group was able to get data. Especially since a third of the class was gone by 6th hour, I’m thinking about just repeating the lab tomorrow.

Day 82: Springs, Linearization, & Whiteboarding

January 19, 2018 / Marta R. Stoeckel / 1 Comment

AP Physics: Springs

Students started collecting data for variables that affect the period of a spring. I found it interesting that students were quick to suggest stretching the spring farther to change the period after seeing angle doesn’t matter for a pendulum; I suspect they just aren’t making the connection yet. A lot of groups used motion detectors to measure the period, and one student found the graphs so satisfying she snapped a photo of the LabQuest to show off.

Physics: Linearization

Students were pretty quick to treat yesterday’s data on the compression of a spring launcher vs. a cart’s change in height as linear, probably because we haven’t linearized any graphs in a while. We spent some time today talking about what intercept would make sense and why before a quick review of linearization. Afterwards, groups worked on making linearized graphs of their data.

Chemistry Essentials: Whiteboarding

Students did some whiteboarding the problems from yesterday. I had all groups whiteboard the same problem, when we shifted to whole group discussion. The physical space in my room lends itself pretty well to having whole group discussions with students at the lab tables, but a lot of students were having trouble with the transition to whole group discussion. Next time, I think I will have students physically move to give a clearer cue that we are changing the kind of activity.

Day 81: Board Meeting, Energy Transfer, & LOL Diagrams

January 18, 2018 / Marta R. Stoeckel / 2 Comments

AP Physics: Board Meeting

Students whiteboarded the graphs for the pendulum lab. It usually feels a little hand-wavy getting from the lines of best fit to the full equation; I had one group a couple of years ago that reasoned out gravity should be involved, and connected the dots from there. I’d like to work on scaffolding strategies next time to give students the opportunity to take those steps themselves.

pendulum wb.jpg

Physics: Energy Transfer

We revisited the previous energy transfer lab to come up with a formula for gravitational potential energy, then started a lab to find a relationship between the compression of a spring and the amount of gravitational potential energy transferred to a cart. Students were pretty quick to accept a linear fit to their data, so I want to make sure we spend some time tomorrow on the intercept of the graph.

epe to gpe.jpg

Chemistry Essentials: LOL Diagrams

I introduced students to LOL diagrams and they used them to represent some phase change problems. Students took to the diagrams pretty easily, which was great to see.

Day 80: Big Pendulum, Mistakes Game, & Phase Change

January 17, 2018 / Marta R. Stoeckel / Leave a comment

Classes were short today so we could work with our homerooms on registration for next year.

AP Physics: Big Pendulum

After a quiz, we went to the front entrance to measure the period of a 5 m long pendulum so students could see how well their model so far fits the result before tomorrow’s board meeting. I’m hoping the period of this pendulum will push students to try linearizing their data.

Physics: Mistakes Game

We did some mistakes whiteboarding with energy bar charts. One of my AVID students commented that it reminds her of AVID tutorials, which is spot on. I also had a group tell the class “If you need a hint, you should read the problem”, and I took the opportunity to point out that is always good advice.

Chemistry Essentials: Phase Change

Students graphed their data and we started talking about the results of the phase change lab. Last tri, when I let students have one group member put the data into Desmos, I found that the rest of the group would typically ignore the graph, so I had every student graph by hand today. while students paid more attention to the shape of their graph, it was pretty laborious so I want to keep thinking about how to approach the graph for this lab.

Day 79: Pendulums, LOLs, & Phase Change

January 16, 2018 / Marta R. Stoeckel / Leave a comment

AP Physics: Pendulums

Students continued data collection and analysis for their pendulum lab. Today, I added that they need to predict the period of a roughly 5 m long pendulum we can hang in the front entrance, which drove some groups to get the longest pendulums they could at their lab tables. I had some groups try to use their formula sheets to calculate the period, rather than extrapolate from their data, but struggled to differentiate between the three formulas for period listed.

One solution for measuring angle

Physics: LOL Diagrams

Students whiteboarded the first part of the problems from Friday. In the section that had a sub, the majority of students did not attempt the problems and said it was because they were too confusing. I’m planning to spend some time tomorrow discussing general strategies for moving forward on a confusing problem.

Chemistry Essentials: Phase Change

Students collected temperature vs. time data for heating up ice to boiling. Glancing at the numbers, I think most students will have pretty good results. Several groups called me over to say it wasn’t working since they didn’t have much temperature change at the beginning.

phase change.jpg

Day 78: Pendulums, Bar Charts, & Quiz

January 12, 2018 / Marta R. Stoeckel / Leave a comment

AP Physics: Pendulums

Students collected data for what variables affect the period of a pendulum. When we discussed what might be worth testing, one class was very quick to dismiss mass on the grounds that “mass never matters in physics”, which has me really excited for the period of a spring lab.

Physics: Bar Charts

Students worked on representing energy with bar charts and switching between different systems. I had a sub for one section, but the section I was here was able to make the leap pretty independently, which was great to see.

Chemistry Essentials: Quiz

Students took their quiz on gas laws with a sub. This year, I framed the gas laws as proportional rules, rather than equations, and I’ve been pleased with how that’s impacted the math. I’m looking forward to see how that shows up on the quiz.

Day 77: CER, Mistakes Game, & Particle Diagrams

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

AP Physics: CER

Students have been struggling to explain their reasoning effectively, so we took a day to do some TIPERs problems on projectiles and energy using the CER framework. Most groups started with their claim, so I think next time, I will give some time for students to draw and interpret diagrams before I ask them for an answer. Its tempting to see what would happen with a goal-less TIPERs problem.

Physics: Mistakes Game

We played the mistakes game with yesterday’s pie chart problems. This is the first time I’ve done it this trimester, and I was surprised at how many students were very nervous about the prospect of presenting a board with unintentional mistakes, even after some discussion about whether anyone would know whether or a not a mistake was intentional. I need to keep working on building a sense of community and safety in this course.

Chemistry Essentials: Particle Diagrams

I showed students some examples of thermal expansion and had students whiteboard particle diagrams to explain what was happening. A few students made some great connections to the labs we’ve done.

Maker:S,Date:2017-10-21,Ver:6,Lens:Kan03,Act:Lar02,E-ve