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The Online Curriculum
End of session reflection
The ideas for this lesson have been mulling around in mind for several years! I have never found a good way to teach that introductory unit in physics~ what is Physics? How do you measure in Physics? What are Sig Figs and how do you use them? etc.
Finally, I think I have a unit that will help students see the relevance of Physics and help eliminate that age old question "how many decimal places should I go out?"
The idea behind this lesson is to give students choice in how they learn about the branches of physics, and how to measure in physics. Students have a difficult time understanding why significant figures (sig figs) matter, and having them create a tutorial (that I can hopefully share with future classes) will give them a much deeper understanding of the topic. This will also be a fun way to jump into the new school year.
Week seven required that I go back to this lesson and add assessment tools (one exit/entrance ticket, one formative assessment, and one summative assessment). I really struggled coming up with the summative. The two formative were relatively easy...I used Padlet to have students share information about one branch of physics, for the second formative assessment, I used two different on line Sig Fig quizzes, and I created one for Edmodo (a tool I have not used, but like how it grades on line assessments, so have been thinking about trying Edmodo).
However, for the summative assessment, I was drawing a blank. The summative assessment for the unit was completed when I planned the lesson: a student generated tutorial on sig figs. I wasn't sure what to do?! Thank you Dr. McGregor for giving me the suggestion of a checklist. I see that having the checklist makes the unit much more cohesive, and will guide the students as they create the tutorial. Prior to the checklist, it was just too open ended without any scaffolding. The checklist addresses the need for scaffolding.
The ideas for this lesson have been mulling around in mind for several years! I have never found a good way to teach that introductory unit in physics~ what is Physics? How do you measure in Physics? What are Sig Figs and how do you use them? etc.
Finally, I think I have a unit that will help students see the relevance of Physics and help eliminate that age old question "how many decimal places should I go out?"
The idea behind this lesson is to give students choice in how they learn about the branches of physics, and how to measure in physics. Students have a difficult time understanding why significant figures (sig figs) matter, and having them create a tutorial (that I can hopefully share with future classes) will give them a much deeper understanding of the topic. This will also be a fun way to jump into the new school year.
Week seven required that I go back to this lesson and add assessment tools (one exit/entrance ticket, one formative assessment, and one summative assessment). I really struggled coming up with the summative. The two formative were relatively easy...I used Padlet to have students share information about one branch of physics, for the second formative assessment, I used two different on line Sig Fig quizzes, and I created one for Edmodo (a tool I have not used, but like how it grades on line assessments, so have been thinking about trying Edmodo).
However, for the summative assessment, I was drawing a blank. The summative assessment for the unit was completed when I planned the lesson: a student generated tutorial on sig figs. I wasn't sure what to do?! Thank you Dr. McGregor for giving me the suggestion of a checklist. I see that having the checklist makes the unit much more cohesive, and will guide the students as they create the tutorial. Prior to the checklist, it was just too open ended without any scaffolding. The checklist addresses the need for scaffolding.
WEEK 5 aSSIGNMENT: cREATE A dIGITAL LEARNING eXPERIENCE
This week's Assignment:
Create a Digital Learning Experience (DLE) for the online or blended classroom.
Background for this week's lesson idea...
Every year, when I start the school year, I always try some way to get my students excited about Physics. This can be challenging because most traditional textbooks start with "What is Physics?", "How do you measure in Physics?" "What are Significant Figures (sig figs) and how do you use them?" , and "What units are typically used in Physics?" . While important topics, they tend to be a little "dry", so I usually skip the first chapter, and teach the skills as needed in the course.
This year, our school is going to a new schedule, so I am taking the opportunity to redesign my curriculum for CP Physics to be a blended classroom within a traditional bricks and mortar school. I have often thought about having students create some sort of introductory project. For this year, I plan to have students research information, complete some lab investigations, and create electronic media to display either on our class webpage or on the student's own webpage. Please click on the link below to visit the Introduction to CP Physics lesson plan.
Create a Digital Learning Experience (DLE) for the online or blended classroom.
Background for this week's lesson idea...
Every year, when I start the school year, I always try some way to get my students excited about Physics. This can be challenging because most traditional textbooks start with "What is Physics?", "How do you measure in Physics?" "What are Significant Figures (sig figs) and how do you use them?" , and "What units are typically used in Physics?" . While important topics, they tend to be a little "dry", so I usually skip the first chapter, and teach the skills as needed in the course.
This year, our school is going to a new schedule, so I am taking the opportunity to redesign my curriculum for CP Physics to be a blended classroom within a traditional bricks and mortar school. I have often thought about having students create some sort of introductory project. For this year, I plan to have students research information, complete some lab investigations, and create electronic media to display either on our class webpage or on the student's own webpage. Please click on the link below to visit the Introduction to CP Physics lesson plan.