Month: February 2014

Dr. Brett Moudling, who was a contribution to the Framework for K-12 Science Education, which is the foundation for Next Generation Science Standards, was the keynote speaker at today’s county-wide institute day. I liked how he groups the cross-cutting concepts into three related categories:

He also categorized the science and engineering practices into three categories: Gathering, Reasoning, and Communicating.

I also attended a break-out session led by Dr. Moudling. Part of the session was to make observations and build explanations for the observed phenomenon of ice cubes in isopropanol. It was a fascinating activity as so many different phenomena were observed. My group focused on density effects, index of refraction, and melting characteristics. The entire session had a long discussion about where the ice cube floats between the alcohol and water boundary. I quickly calculated the buoyancy and I’m fairly confident that 40% of the cube would be in the alcohol and 60% in the water. I don’t think I convinced the session of this as we had contradicting observations. After the session, my group added more ice and we’re pretty sure of the 40/60 split. Maybe that was confirmation bias, however. I think this would be a great activity for AP Physics 2 next year.

The final session was by Dr. Pete Ludovice from Georgia Tech. He is a chemical engineering professor and a stand-up comedian. His topic was “Making Science Fun – Humor in the Classroom.” It was a very entertaining session and a great way to end the day.

  ##ngss ##buoyancy  

I took two teams of four students to the 20th Annual DeVry University Java Programming Competition. The students did fantastic; Team 0 placed first and Team 1 placed second! Unfortunately, the team that won last year was unable to make it due to the weather. We look forward to competing again next year!

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For simple harmonic motion, I like to split the introduction into two labs. The first is qualitative and focuses on graphical relationships. The second quantitative and focuses on the mathematical models for those graphical relationships. Today, we started the Oscillating Particle Model (OPM) with the first lab. I have three types of simple harmonic oscillators: a horizontal spring oscillator, a vertical spring oscillator, and a pendulum. I assign two groups to each type and have them answer the following questions and investigate how changing either the mass or amplitude (for springs) or mass or length (for pendulums) affects their answers.

We started to share our results on whiteboards. The chain of reasoning and discussion that resulted was fantastic. One group led the class through the thought process that the maximum potential energy of the system doesn’t change when the mass of the horizontal oscillator is changed while the amplitude is constant. From that they jumped to the conclusion that the maximum kinetic energy of the system must also not change. Then, on-the-fly, they reversed their original statement based on limited data that increasing the mass of the oscillator decreased the velocity in a linear fashion. Now analyzing the system from an energy perspective, they realized that as the mass increase the square of the velocity must decrease. Great stuff!

  ##paradigmlab ##opm ##whiteboarding  

In plenty of time for our regional competition, we received our 2013-2014 Science Olympiad t-shirts today. A student designs a new shirt each year. This year’s seems fitting as “insanity” sounds about right this year.

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Today we continued our investigation of diffraction and interference. The lab focused first on qualitative observations of single slits, double slits, and diffraction gradings of various widths and with red and green lasers. The final part of the lab was to make the necessary measurements and then calculate the wavelength of the He-Ne laser. Even just using the classroom meter sticks, students were within 10 nm of the actual wavelength. I think they are starting to appreciate how this phenomenon can be used to create an incredible precise measuring instrument!

  ##physicaloptics ##practicumlab  

Today was another meeting of the district-wide Science Curriculum Team. Today we started unpacking the Life Science standards. I found it very interesting since Life Sciences is not my strength and I learned a lot about how we currently teach biology in middle school and high school and how it will be different in the future. My group didn’t come up with anything too revolutionary, but at least one of the other groups did. I’ll have to check out their idea!

(I forgot to take a photo; so, I”m stealing @anna_kraftson‘s

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Today we started physical optics. This is the first truly new unit to all students this semester. The lesson was a series of a proposed scenario; prediction based on current understanding of light; demonstration of the scenario; and finally conceptual, geometric, and mathematical explanations. One lab stand and a laser was all that was needed for the demonstrations. I love have the laser incident on the thin wire and illustrating diffraction on the wall, and students are amazed by the results.

Two excellent questions were asked for which I didn’t have answers. One: when light is destructively interfering and forming a minimum on the wall, where did that energy go? Two: while we observe that light diffracts, as do other waves, why do they diffract? Please feel free to pass along any answers and save me some research (especially, a conceptual explanation of the second question)!

  ##physicaloptics  

I wasn’t at school today which was unfortunate since Chris Herren visited our school and shared his message with our students and staff. Everyone I’ve talked to said he is a powerful speaker. My high school experience seems so simple compared to what students face today….

(photo from @NNathletics)

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Today is the infamous bag-and-tag day for the FIRST Robotics Competition. For the past six weeks and three days, students have been obsessed with designing, building, and testing this year’s robot, Annie, for the Aerial Assist game. By midnight, the robot must be sealed in a large plastic bag and secured with a security tag. Despite having Annie bagged, we will continue to work just as hard over the next two weeks until our first competition at the Lake Superior Regional in Duluth, MN. I’ll share more details of Annie later as the media team is busy working on the photos and videos. The bag was sealed at 11:57 pm!

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My colleague has arranged for a special project for our Honors Physics classes. Over the next couple of months, they will have the opportunity to craft a ceramic piece and have it fired in the Raku process. To introduce the project we shared several examples made by a student in a previous year. I have three students in my class who have taken ceramics which will make it easier to manage this project since I know little. Really looking forward to this practical application of rotational motion!

  ##rotationalmotion ##practicumlab