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.

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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

Day 76: Projectile Practical, Pie Charts, & Whiteboarding

January 10, 2018 / Marta R. Stoeckel / Leave a comment

AP Physics: Projectile Practical

Students did a lab practical to predict where a horizontal projectile will hit the ground. Once they succeeded, I asked them to predict where a lighter marble would land without any new measurements aside from mass. Some groups had an easier time than others explaining their prediction, so I need to keep embedding these opportunities in labs and holding students accountable for thorough explanations.

Retired referral forms work well as carbon paper

Physics: Pie Charts

Students worked on sketching energy pie charts. I added defining the system today; during forces, we almost always ended up with systems that had a single object, so a few students were bothered by including multiple objects. I also worked very hard to avoid telling students whether they were right or wrong, which drove a few of them nuts, but pushed them to justify their answers to their groups.

Chemistry Essentials: Whiteboarding

Groups whiteboarded yesterday’s problems. I decided to have all groups whiteboard the same problem without any intentional mistakes, then have a consensus-building discussion for each problem. Students were pretty engaged; a lot of students who checked out yesterday felt like they had some extra accountability, which in turn pushed them to ask more questions and have some good discussions.

chem wb.jpg

Day 75: Projectile Whiteboarding, Pie Charts, & Gas Laws

January 9, 2018January 10, 2018 / Marta R. Stoeckel / Leave a comment

AP Physics: Projectile Whiteboarding

Around half of my students were on a field trip today. We did some mistakes whiteboarding with the problems from yesterday, followed by some practice writing good explanations for “explain your reasoning” problems using CER.

Physics: Pie Charts

A lot of Physics students were also on the field trip, so my classes were pretty thin. After discussing yesterdays’ lab and introducing the “flavors” of energy, students worked on drawing energy pie charts. I usually skip this representation, but we decided to see if it helps with the struggles students have had this year with conceptual understanding.

Chemistry Essentials: Gas Laws

We went over the results of yesterdays’ simulation to derive the gas laws. Just like last trimester, I’m introducing them as proportions, rather than equations, and am pleased with how that’s working so far. I skipped spending a day on temperature and particle movement this tri, but I ended up missing that a lot today.

Day 74: Projectiles, Energy Transfer, & Quantitative Gas Laws

January 8, 2018 / Marta R. Stoeckel / 1 Comment

AP Physics: Projectiles

Students worked on some problems for projectile motion. I overheard a lot of students talking about the labs and demos from last week (which Brian Frank’s post on labs had me listening for!). They could use some more practice justifying answers with physics principles, along with lab results, but that will come.

Physics: Energy Transfer

I used a lab I got from Twitter (I wish I could remember who; if its you, I’m happy to give you credit!). To introduce energy, I had students measure the force and displacement required to pull a cart up ramps with different angles. Then, they sketched force vs. displacement graphs and found the areas.

Chemistry Essentials: Quantitative Gas Laws

Students used PhET’s Gas Properties simulation to get quantitative relationships between temperature and pressure as well as volume and pressure. There were a lot of great observations about the movement of the particles and one student even pointed out the temperature skyrockets when you add gravity, which should feed nicely into tomorrows discussion.

Day 73: Multiple Choice, Forces, & Gas Laws

January 5, 2018 / Marta R. Stoeckel / 1 Comment

AP Physics: Multiple Choice

After a quiz on projectile motion graphs, we spent some time using Plickers to practice multiple choice on energy and projectiles. One of my classes pretty openly started guessing, rather than thinking about the problems, so I think we may be doing multiple choice a little too regularly. I may start either alternating each week between relevant multiple choice and free response or just use quiz days for explicit AP practice less often.

Physics: Forces

Before today’s quiz, students whiteboarded their diagrams for the problems earlier this week. Pretty consistently at this point, the students who take the time to get their diagrams right do fine on the calculations, which is not surprising. Getting students to put units in their work is still a challenge, but I saw a lot more confidence from my students today than I have in a while.

forces wb.jpg

Chemistry Essentials: Gas Laws

Before today’s quiz, we did a quick debrief of yesterday’s lab on the gas laws. Since the ice water didn’t work well yesterday, I tried putting them outside (the air temperature was -10 degrees F today!), but still didn’t see much change, so I think the syringes I have just don’t seal well enough. We’ll finish the post-lab discussion on Monday.

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

Day 72: Projectiles, Forces Practical, & Qualitative Gas Laws

January 4, 2018January 4, 2018 / Marta R. Stoeckel / Leave a comment

AP Physics: Projectiles

We worked through some problems I got from Michael Lerner where students apply other models from this year so far to an object dropped straight down and I was pleased with the connections students were making. I also asked students to predict what should happen to the time if the object were heavier and if it were launched horizontally, and got some great discussion. We wrapped up by trying each and checking the results with slow-motion video.

Physics: Forces Practical

Students wrapped up the forces practical from yesterday. I scaffolded the practical more than usual by breaking it into small steps, asking students for each representation and several calculations along the way. Several students commented that was very helpful when they took another look at the problems from earlier this week.

Chemistry Essentials: Qualitative Gas Laws

I got out the syringes for students to make some qualitative observations about the ideal gas laws. The ice water baths didn’t produce much change for the groups I was able to talk to today. With this class, I’m spending more time redirecting students or dealing with groups damaging lab equipment than I am talking to students about chemistry, so I need to think about how to shift that. There is a para who is going to work on helping to keep students on task. I also need to remember the instructional coaches have offered to help manage things on lab days.

Classroom Display

Earlier this week, I put up a “Scientists can be…” display inspired by Liz Mastalio. Its been a lot of fun listening to students react to it; some are looking for which ones they don’t know while others are clearly drawn to specific identities. My AP students have been telling me who they’d like to see up there, so I want to open the door for them to submit a poster with a label. That could help me get some identities I missed that matter to my students.

Day 71: Board Meeting, Practical, & Density Again

January 4, 2018January 4, 2018 / Marta R. Stoeckel / Leave a comment

AP Physics: Board Meeting

Students whiteboarded their graphs from yesterday’s video. Once I had my 2nd hour find a class average for the slopes of their vertical velocity vs. time graphs, everything fell beautifully into place and there were even gasps when one student sketched a free-body diagram. In my other hour, a lot of groups skipped the directions for making the v-t graph and tried to take shortcuts that didn’t work, so I had to step in a little more. This reinforces my thoughts yesterday that I should have spent some time discussing the midpoint method.

pm graphs.jpg

Physics: Unbalanced Forces Practical

Students started a practical to predict the time it will take a cart to roll down a ramp given the cart’s mass and the ramp angle. For the first time, I had several students ask if I could just do a diagram or calculation for them, so I left the pen I usually carry at my desk and kept my hands in my pockets to avoid encouraging that.

ramp prac.jpg

Chemistry Essentials: Density Misconceptions

Today, I have students blocks of the same material, but different volume, and asked them to determine whether volume affects density. A lot of groups had trouble funding the volume with a ruler, rather than later displacement, so I should have spent a little more time on a pre-lab discussion connecting yesterday’s volume measurements to today’s.

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