Sometimes I think teachers might feel overwhelmed by the numerous reports of doomsday in the news media and almost countless organizations all proclaiming more and more is needed out of our K- 12 students and teachers. If anyone bothers to look back through time, they will find that nothing is new. When I first started teaching there was considerable clamor then, as there is today, that our students are failing and more was needed of our teaches. From time to time some new teaching strategy was going to be the answer. The answer usually turned out to be more of a fad than the answer. If the magical single answer existed, someone would have found it by now. The magical answer is the classroom teacher must use a broad set of teaching strategies, lots of tools in the toolbag. Many interesting strategies that can be easily adapted by any teacher into the classroom were studied in this course and they can be added to the toolbag.
Problem based learning (PBL) and the QuickQuest were interesting tools to study and consider adding to the toolbag. Problem based learning is a significant component in the study of physics, but it was interesting to see how PBL is thought of and used outside the arena of physics. Everyone tends to agree that real world problems are good. I agree, but with a note of caution. Real world problems in physics tend to be very, very difficult. If this is true in physics, then it is true in other areas of study, and it is very easy to overwhelm students. The design of the QuickQuest was new and interesting. It’s a nice way to intertwine the latest technology with meaningful classroom activities. Students gain experience searching the Internet for information and learning how to assess the validity of the information, a nice lifelong skill.
A note of caution:
As I worked my way through this course I noticed new layers of expectations (or expectations reformulated) placed over the K - 12 students and teachers. There is nothing wrong with the expectations, in fact they are very reasonable and necessary, but only if they are put into perspective. A given level of competence for a defined 21st Century skill means something different in sixth grade verses eleventh grade. It is plausible that many 21st Century skill development activities are now occurring in the classroom and thoughtful judgment should be applied when considering an increase in activities aimed at 21st Century skill development. Time is finite, when a new activity is added in the classroom, something else must go. Can it be verified that the new is better than the old?
Monday, March 31, 2008
Monday, March 24, 2008
Developing the QuickQuest
Creative Process:
The starting point of the creative process was thinking about a topic that could be taught in another way. A topic that needed a change in the teaching strategy is how basic optics applies to three common atmosphere phenomena. To upgrade the teaching strategy for this topic I began perusing the many strategies discussed in this course and selecting those that seemed most applicable. I tried to visualize how I could combine several strategies into a single effective learning experience for the students. I started with an obvious strategy for me, problem based learning. I than did a little brainstorming to develop a selection of different types of problems and I selected a problem that had the best chance of incorporating several teaching strategies. After working on a general outline of the problem I discovered the teaching strategies that could be incorporated are problem based learning, the Big6, a real world application, an internet search that requires several sources including an assessment of the validity of the sources, and an end product that is ill defined and requires creativity. Once I had this ambitious set of strategies, I began putting together the general structure in Mod 5. In Mod 7 I recognized this was a good problem to adapt to a QuickQuest. Frankly some of the QuickQuests I reviewed looked a little to cook bookish to me.
I decided to approach the writing of the QuickQuest as though I were writing a story as a way to try and capture the interest of the students. I had a general outline of the first section in mind and starting writing. As I was writing the first section I discovered I could incorporate important pieces of information as part of the story similar to a detective story. Some of the information is extraneous and the students must pick between what is and is not important. The darkened glasses, the time of day and the cold weather are all important pieces of information. At this stage I discovered I could construct the problem to include a mystery: Why did only one person see the green flash? The second part of the QuickQuest is basically an outline of the expectations and requirements to solve the problem. Nothing fancy here but it did take some work to make it fit with the overall story line.
I plan to use the problem after all the necessary background basic optical properties are covered. The QuickQuest will be assigned as a group project and time will be given in class for the students to get started. I am opposed to the concept of a group grade for a group project, thus each student will turn in their own work, but they are free to collaborate as needed.
I have several outcomes in mind:
1. The students recognize that a good foundation of basic properties can be used to understand everyday physical phenomena.
2. Real world scenarios as related by lay people are messy and require careful sifting and winnowing of information.
3. The Internet can be reliably used to gain new information and knowledge in physics.
4. The information on the Internet must be assessed for relevance and accuracy.
5. The students can explain sundogs, sun columns, and the green flash using ordinary optical properties.
The starting point of the creative process was thinking about a topic that could be taught in another way. A topic that needed a change in the teaching strategy is how basic optics applies to three common atmosphere phenomena. To upgrade the teaching strategy for this topic I began perusing the many strategies discussed in this course and selecting those that seemed most applicable. I tried to visualize how I could combine several strategies into a single effective learning experience for the students. I started with an obvious strategy for me, problem based learning. I than did a little brainstorming to develop a selection of different types of problems and I selected a problem that had the best chance of incorporating several teaching strategies. After working on a general outline of the problem I discovered the teaching strategies that could be incorporated are problem based learning, the Big6, a real world application, an internet search that requires several sources including an assessment of the validity of the sources, and an end product that is ill defined and requires creativity. Once I had this ambitious set of strategies, I began putting together the general structure in Mod 5. In Mod 7 I recognized this was a good problem to adapt to a QuickQuest. Frankly some of the QuickQuests I reviewed looked a little to cook bookish to me.
I decided to approach the writing of the QuickQuest as though I were writing a story as a way to try and capture the interest of the students. I had a general outline of the first section in mind and starting writing. As I was writing the first section I discovered I could incorporate important pieces of information as part of the story similar to a detective story. Some of the information is extraneous and the students must pick between what is and is not important. The darkened glasses, the time of day and the cold weather are all important pieces of information. At this stage I discovered I could construct the problem to include a mystery: Why did only one person see the green flash? The second part of the QuickQuest is basically an outline of the expectations and requirements to solve the problem. Nothing fancy here but it did take some work to make it fit with the overall story line.
I plan to use the problem after all the necessary background basic optical properties are covered. The QuickQuest will be assigned as a group project and time will be given in class for the students to get started. I am opposed to the concept of a group grade for a group project, thus each student will turn in their own work, but they are free to collaborate as needed.
I have several outcomes in mind:
1. The students recognize that a good foundation of basic properties can be used to understand everyday physical phenomena.
2. Real world scenarios as related by lay people are messy and require careful sifting and winnowing of information.
3. The Internet can be reliably used to gain new information and knowledge in physics.
4. The information on the Internet must be assessed for relevance and accuracy.
5. The students can explain sundogs, sun columns, and the green flash using ordinary optical properties.
Strange Sightings - QuickQuest
Strange Sightings
Opening Scene:
Your team of three reporters work for a venerable newspaper called the City Times and the team has just received shocking news. The City Times has been purchased by a competing local paper called Big City News and the new owners have decided that the City Times will cease printing a daily paper and the current City News wed site will be enhanced to replace the paper. Everyone who works for the City Times paper is concerned about their jobs. No doubt people are going to loose their jobs, certainly the first to go are those people who run the printing presses. The new owners are certain to examine the need of everyone, and decide who to keep and who to go. The unusual cold and snowy winter and especially the bitter cold winter day just seem to add to the gloom of everyone.
Then just after 10 A.M., the editor appears at her office door and waves at your team. It is a summons to go to her office. This seems to be an ordinary summons but everyone is a little edgy and move with a quicker step than usual to the office. Lost in the din of the news of the sale was the excited movement of a group of citizens of the city through the newsroom to the editor’s office. Upon entering the packed office your team notices the group is a good representative cross section of the population of the city. And your team notices that everyone is starting to unbundle their heavy coats and two people have removed their darkened photogray glasses. How did so many people get into the office without being noticed? Regardless they are here and they all appear to be very excited. They were all seeing some unusual effects on or near the sun earlier today but their descriptions were had to follow. And they made it clear; they wanted to know what they saw.
A comparison of notes after the citizens left revealed the following:
Phenomenon 1 - Two bright spots on each side of the sun.
Phenomenon 2 – Early in morning a bright glow appeared to be sitting on top of the sun in the shape close to a tall thin rectangle.
Phenomenon 3 – As the sun raised above the horizon its color was reddish-orange, suddenly it turns green momentarily, then back to reddish-orange.
Everyone in the group claims to have seen 1 and 2, but only one person claims to have seen number 3.
The Deadline:
Everyone is feeling the pressure in the editor’s office. The citizens are gone but not silenced. They will go around the city and tell everyone about reporting their sightings to the newspaper. Soon people will be calling City News or checking the web site to get information about the strange sightings.
The editor assigns to your team the task of identifying and explaining how each phenomenon occurs using basic physics properties, and to solve the mystery. Why did only one person report seeing phenomenon 3? And of course pictures are always good.
The editor is very experienced and will not tolerate sloppy reporting and directs the team to use a problem solving strategy called the Big6TM to ensure reliable conclusions. The editor insists that each step of the Big6TM must be followed to help in identifying and explaining each phenomenon.
She directs your team to the following web sites:
http://www.big6.com/showarticle.php?id=16
http://nb.wsd.wednet.edu/big6/big6_resources.htm
http://www.fortbend.k12.tx.us/library/big6.htm
http://205.213.162.11/project_big6/big6/big6.htm
As usual the information will be posted on the City Times’ web site as soon as the editor deems the identities and explanations of the phenomena accurate. The editor reminds you to submit a word document of your report that contains a complete, concise and clear explanation, including diagrams and photos of each phenomenon. The editor also emphasizes the report must be in final copy form with hot links to all web resources.
Your team reassembles in the newsroom and begins brainstorming to outline what must be done for the article, and everyone is aware of the deadline. One team member suggests that maybe trying to visualize the phenomena might help.
Pathfinder:
**** http://alltheweb.com
Search terms - sun phenomenon
Sample Results:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_phenomenon
Gives a nice list of optical phenomena and includes short descriptions and photographs of several phenomena. Many new search terms can be generated from this site.
http://www.astrophys-assist.com/wilobs/weathwin/sundog.htm
Contains photos and a description of “sun dogs”, this is one of the optical effects the students are looking for. This site does not contain an explanation of the effect. No adds on this site.
**** http://www.altavista.com/web/adv
Search terms – sky optics
Sample Results:
http://www.atoptics.co.uk/halosim.htm
A science oriented site, there are no adds. Contains many links to numerous optical effects. Contains explanations of the effects. Contains a searchable index that leads to many other good resources.
http://mintaka.sdsu.edu/GF/index.html
Contains an outstanding explanation of the “green flash” and photos.
**** http://www.ask.com
Search terms – green flash, sunset
Sample Results:
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/atmos/redsun.html
Contains nice photos and simple but effective ray diagrams that help explain the phenomena. Science oriented site – no adds.
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_061.html
More of a lay persons explanation of the phenomena. Has some good comments but lacks a good explanation for the uniformed and no photos.
**** http://www.exalead.com/search/C=0/?2p=1
Search terms - sun pillars
http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/guides/mtr/opt/ice/sp.rxml
Science oriented site. Nice photos and contains a very sparce explanation of the phenomena.
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2002/06may_pillar.htm
Nice NASA site. Contains it all photos and explanations. The bonus is the site show the phenomena is not restricted to the sun.
http://www.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/ASF7/790.html
A limited site. Contains one poor quality picture and a very wordy explanation.
**** http://www.google.com/advanced_search
Search terms – refraction, reflection, light, optical sky phenomenon (just for the fun of it)
http://science.jrank.org/pages/612/Atmospheric-Optical-Phenomena.html
Contains a list of many phenomena with links to each. The links lead to limited explanations and no photos.
http://www.auf.asn.au/meteorology/section12.html
An extensive Australian science oriented site that contains good explanations for most phenomena. No photos!
http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/guides/mtr/opt/home.rxml
Science oriented site with brief explanations and links to more extensive explanations and photos.
http://www.cityes.org/natural-phenomena-in-geology.html
Boooo for this site. Contains hard to follow explanations of phenomena. This site seems to be designed to catch younger web surfers so they will view and click the advertisement.
**** http://www.ditto.com/default.aspx
Search term – sun pillars
A site that contains only photos. Enter Sun Pillars. Click on a photo and it leads to the original site that contains the photo. Some photos do not contain a sun pillar, so a person must have some background knowledge to use the search results effectively.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Pathfinder
Activity 1 - Information Access and Web 2.0
In Mod 5 I outlined a problem were the students must identify three optical phenomena based on vague descriptions that lay people might convey to a reporter of a newspaper. The students themselves are not familiar with the phenomena and must do some searching to identify and develop an explanation for each phenomenon. So I tried to conduct my searches in a manner the students might try. Here are the results.
**** http://alltheweb.com
Search terms - sun phenomenon
Sample Results:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_phenomenon
Gives a nice list of optical phenomena and includes short descriptions and photographs of several phenomena. Many new search terms can be generated from this site.
http://www.astrophys-assist.com/wilobs/weathwin/sundog.htm
Contains photos and a description of “sun dogs”, this is one of the optical effects the students are looking for. This site does not contain an explanation of the effect. No adds on this site.
**** http://www.altavista.com/web/adv
Search terms – sky optics
Sample Results:
http://www.atoptics.co.uk/halosim.htm
A science oriented site, there are no adds. Contains many links to numerous optical effects. Contains explanations of the effects. Contains a searchable index that leads to many other good resources.
http://mintaka.sdsu.edu/GF/index.html
Contains an outstanding explanation of the “green flash” and photos.
**** http://www.ask.com
Search terms – green flash, sunset
Sample Results:
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/atmos/redsun.html
Contains nice photos and simple but effective ray diagrams that help explain the phenomena. Science oriented site – no adds.
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_061.html
More of a lay persons explanation of the phenomena. Has some good comments but lacks a good explanation for the uniformed and no photos.
**** http://www.exalead.com/search/C=0/?2p=1
Search terms - sun pillars
http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/guides/mtr/opt/ice/sp.rxml
Science oriented site. Nice photos and contains a very sparse explanation of the phenomena.
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2002/06may_pillar.htm
Nice NASA site. Contains it all - photos and explanations. The bonus is the site shows the phenomena is not restricted to the sun.
http://www.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/ASF7/790.html
A limited site. Contains one poor quality picture and a very wordy explanation.
**** http://www.google.com/advanced_search
Search terms – refraction, reflection, light, optical sky phenomenon (just for the fun of it)
http://science.jrank.org/pages/612/Atmospheric-Optical-Phenomena.html
Contains a list of many phenomena with links to each. The links lead to limited explanations and no photos.
http://www.auf.asn.au/meteorology/section12.html
An extensive Australian science oriented site that contains good explanations for most phenomena. No photos!
http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/guides/mtr/opt/home.rxml
Science oriented site with brief explanations and links to more extensive explanations and photos.
http://www.cityes.org/natural-phenomena-in-geology.html
Boooo for this site. Contains hard to follow explanations of phenomena. This site seems to be designed to catch younger web surfers so they will view and click the advertisement.
**** http://www.ditto.com/default.aspx
Search term – sun pillars
http://www.ditto.com/searchResults.aspx
A site that contains only photos. First type in sun pillars. Click on a photo and it leads to the original site that contains the photo. Some photos do not contain a sun pillar, so a person must have some background knowledge to use the search results effectively.
If I used a good combination of key words all of the search engines I tried returned good results. Even a poor selection of key words would usually return results that could be used to generate a better selection of key words. Two search engines gave me the poorest results, if poor key words were used in Ask.com and ditto.com, the results were almost useless. Neither one seemed to give a hint of what I was looking for if I started with a poorly selected key word search. However if I improved the key word search, than the results were good or very good.
In Mod 5 I outlined a problem were the students must identify three optical phenomena based on vague descriptions that lay people might convey to a reporter of a newspaper. The students themselves are not familiar with the phenomena and must do some searching to identify and develop an explanation for each phenomenon. So I tried to conduct my searches in a manner the students might try. Here are the results.
**** http://alltheweb.com
Search terms - sun phenomenon
Sample Results:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_phenomenon
Gives a nice list of optical phenomena and includes short descriptions and photographs of several phenomena. Many new search terms can be generated from this site.
http://www.astrophys-assist.com/wilobs/weathwin/sundog.htm
Contains photos and a description of “sun dogs”, this is one of the optical effects the students are looking for. This site does not contain an explanation of the effect. No adds on this site.
**** http://www.altavista.com/web/adv
Search terms – sky optics
Sample Results:
http://www.atoptics.co.uk/halosim.htm
A science oriented site, there are no adds. Contains many links to numerous optical effects. Contains explanations of the effects. Contains a searchable index that leads to many other good resources.
http://mintaka.sdsu.edu/GF/index.html
Contains an outstanding explanation of the “green flash” and photos.
**** http://www.ask.com
Search terms – green flash, sunset
Sample Results:
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/atmos/redsun.html
Contains nice photos and simple but effective ray diagrams that help explain the phenomena. Science oriented site – no adds.
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_061.html
More of a lay persons explanation of the phenomena. Has some good comments but lacks a good explanation for the uniformed and no photos.
**** http://www.exalead.com/search/C=0/?2p=1
Search terms - sun pillars
http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/guides/mtr/opt/ice/sp.rxml
Science oriented site. Nice photos and contains a very sparse explanation of the phenomena.
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2002/06may_pillar.htm
Nice NASA site. Contains it all - photos and explanations. The bonus is the site shows the phenomena is not restricted to the sun.
http://www.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/ASF7/790.html
A limited site. Contains one poor quality picture and a very wordy explanation.
**** http://www.google.com/advanced_search
Search terms – refraction, reflection, light, optical sky phenomenon (just for the fun of it)
http://science.jrank.org/pages/612/Atmospheric-Optical-Phenomena.html
Contains a list of many phenomena with links to each. The links lead to limited explanations and no photos.
http://www.auf.asn.au/meteorology/section12.html
An extensive Australian science oriented site that contains good explanations for most phenomena. No photos!
http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/guides/mtr/opt/home.rxml
Science oriented site with brief explanations and links to more extensive explanations and photos.
http://www.cityes.org/natural-phenomena-in-geology.html
Boooo for this site. Contains hard to follow explanations of phenomena. This site seems to be designed to catch younger web surfers so they will view and click the advertisement.
**** http://www.ditto.com/default.aspx
Search term – sun pillars
http://www.ditto.com/searchResults.aspx
A site that contains only photos. First type in sun pillars. Click on a photo and it leads to the original site that contains the photo. Some photos do not contain a sun pillar, so a person must have some background knowledge to use the search results effectively.
If I used a good combination of key words all of the search engines I tried returned good results. Even a poor selection of key words would usually return results that could be used to generate a better selection of key words. Two search engines gave me the poorest results, if poor key words were used in Ask.com and ditto.com, the results were almost useless. Neither one seemed to give a hint of what I was looking for if I started with a poorly selected key word search. However if I improved the key word search, than the results were good or very good.
New Classroom Resources and Tools
Important questions any teacher should ask are: What resources and tools are currently being used in the classroom? And should additional resources and tools be incorporated into the classroom? The process of thinking about the questions and taking action helps to improve the classroom experience for the students year after year. The current and emerging web tools can be used as additional resources for the classroom. It will take some time and dedicated effort to effectively incorporate the web tools into the classroom. There will be successful integration of some tools and there will be some failures.
A positive result of using the web tools is the students will feel connected to the latest and greatest. Some of the work the students are doing in classroom may seem esoteric to them, but if the tools they are using are at the leading edge of web technology, the students may feel a better connection between the classroom and the outside world. This will not prove to be the great panacea for improved student attention, engagement, and learning, but it will help. I suspect most students like to feel they are learning to use the latest and greatest; after all they are usually the early adopters of the latest technology.
For my classes, I will generally incorporate new resources, tools and technology along with the corresponding new teaching strategies if I can see a way to improve the learning process or add an interesting new twist to learning. Currently I do not rely on the web. In fact, I tend to keep the students directed at specifically focused information. If the information is not focused, then the students tend to get lost and trial off in directions that usually cause confusion.
I do believe there is a way to use the web in my classes that can limit distractions for the students. The general process I have in mind is once the students have developed a reasonable level of competence for a set of properties such as refraction, reflection, and diffraction, they can search the web for every day ordinary phenomena involving the properties. The concept is if the students have proper level of competence, they should be able to differentiate between good and bad information by evaluating the proper usage the properties of a given web site. This will give the students a better change to determine if the information on a web site is viable and allow the student to write a reliable report about a specific natural phenomenon.
A positive result of using the web tools is the students will feel connected to the latest and greatest. Some of the work the students are doing in classroom may seem esoteric to them, but if the tools they are using are at the leading edge of web technology, the students may feel a better connection between the classroom and the outside world. This will not prove to be the great panacea for improved student attention, engagement, and learning, but it will help. I suspect most students like to feel they are learning to use the latest and greatest; after all they are usually the early adopters of the latest technology.
For my classes, I will generally incorporate new resources, tools and technology along with the corresponding new teaching strategies if I can see a way to improve the learning process or add an interesting new twist to learning. Currently I do not rely on the web. In fact, I tend to keep the students directed at specifically focused information. If the information is not focused, then the students tend to get lost and trial off in directions that usually cause confusion.
I do believe there is a way to use the web in my classes that can limit distractions for the students. The general process I have in mind is once the students have developed a reasonable level of competence for a set of properties such as refraction, reflection, and diffraction, they can search the web for every day ordinary phenomena involving the properties. The concept is if the students have proper level of competence, they should be able to differentiate between good and bad information by evaluating the proper usage the properties of a given web site. This will give the students a better change to determine if the information on a web site is viable and allow the student to write a reliable report about a specific natural phenomenon.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
The Problem Solving Process
I use a problem solving process every time I explain how to do a problem in class, which closely follows a process outlined in the textbook. In the beginning, I call out the steps as I go through the process, the same steps used in the book. At the start of the semester I find that the students don't follow the process, they just fumble throughout the problems. It takes time and practice to accept and use the process.
It is midterm as of Friday this week (lots of grading) so I thought I should ask the class to outline the steps to follow in solving problems as a way to connect my physics class with the course we are in. Here are the results, the words vary a little from the Big6 model but the process and themes are basically the same:
Here is the list generated today in Physics 1 for solving word problems:
1. What is the question? (Read - Read - Read again.)
2. Identify data stated or implied.
3. Gather more information (diagrams, equations, theory).
4. Analyze.
5. Solve.
6. Check. Is the answer reasonable? What is learned?
I think steps 2 and 3 can be collapsed into one step, but the students felt there is a distinction between data given in a problem and other information such as equations that are used to solve the problem. I also think a better word for step 6 is evaluate, but the students are more concerned about getting the correct answer and not too concerned about going beyond that.
After we generated the list, we talked about using it to solve a physics problem that was on the board. Then taking a cue from this class, I prompted the physics class to talk about what happens in each step for an ordinary problem such as buying a car. The students caught on quickly and lots of ideas were generated.
The biggest take away in this module is perhaps asking students to apply the problem solving process to problems of a context different than physics problems is helpful.
It is midterm as of Friday this week (lots of grading) so I thought I should ask the class to outline the steps to follow in solving problems as a way to connect my physics class with the course we are in. Here are the results, the words vary a little from the Big6 model but the process and themes are basically the same:
Here is the list generated today in Physics 1 for solving word problems:
1. What is the question? (Read - Read - Read again.)
2. Identify data stated or implied.
3. Gather more information (diagrams, equations, theory).
4. Analyze.
5. Solve.
6. Check. Is the answer reasonable? What is learned?
I think steps 2 and 3 can be collapsed into one step, but the students felt there is a distinction between data given in a problem and other information such as equations that are used to solve the problem. I also think a better word for step 6 is evaluate, but the students are more concerned about getting the correct answer and not too concerned about going beyond that.
After we generated the list, we talked about using it to solve a physics problem that was on the board. Then taking a cue from this class, I prompted the physics class to talk about what happens in each step for an ordinary problem such as buying a car. The students caught on quickly and lots of ideas were generated.
The biggest take away in this module is perhaps asking students to apply the problem solving process to problems of a context different than physics problems is helpful.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Problem Based Learning
As suggested by Nelson in “Improving Questioning and Problem-Solving Skills” and elsewhere in the readings, problem based learning involves real world problems that are open-ended that may not have an obvious solution. Real world problems in Physics are extremely difficult for most students. Is it realistic to ask students to solve very difficult problems? If you pick up any physics book and examine the problems at the end of the chapter, you will find many problems that are constructed around some type of physical event in the world, but the problems are almost always very limited in scope, meaning one or two concepts apply to that problem. Real world problems as suggested in the readings immediately bring to my mind scenarios that are broad in scope, many different physical principles must be applied in the correct order to solve the problem. Selecting the correct physical principles and deciding how to apply them in the proper order is a daunting task even for the very best student. Most of the time the student will give up and feel crushed by the problem. Thus it is important to offer a series of problems that are relatively straight forward that allows the students to apply 1 or 2 principles at a time to build confidence. After considerable practice, only then is it possible to offer a problem that involves several principles at once, but even then most students will consider such problems to be very difficult.
Knowing the difficulties the students will encounter I set about to construct a real world problem. The first question to ask and answer is what physical principles did I want the students to use. The next step is to think carefully about how to write the problem to ensure it is limited to the selected principles and does not lead into or morph into something far more difficult than intended. In the problem I selected I limited the principles to basic projectile motion, but this “is” the real world so error analysis must be considered. Probably not realized by most people, in Physics, most of the time real world scenarios are modeled using an ideal world. For example in the ideal world there may be no friction, but in the real word friction does exists. Often it is helpful and sometimes necessary to model a simplified ideal world to better understand what is happening in the real world, precisely because the real world is very complex. The problem I designed requires the students follow the process a physicists would use, first start in the ideal world to better understand the real world problem.
My main concern is most students are not practiced at modeling an ideal world and may find the problem I have designed for them to be too difficult largely because they are unable to break it down into an ideal problem. By the time they get to the problem they will have practiced in the ideal world each principle needed to solve the problem. But will their conceptual understanding of the principles be sufficient for them to proceed through the comprehensive critical thinking process to find a solution to the problem? I believe I have limited the scope of the problem sufficiently to allow the students to solve the problem, but I really don’t know how the students will react until they try it.
The first time I will be able to assign this problem will be about two weeks into the start of the 08 fall semester. I plan to assign the problem about three weeks before it is due. At that time the students will not have covered all the topics in class needed to solve the problem. During the two weeks that follow the assignment, all necessary topics will be covered. Hopefully the students will be thinking about the problem as the relevant topics are covered in class.
Knowing the difficulties the students will encounter I set about to construct a real world problem. The first question to ask and answer is what physical principles did I want the students to use. The next step is to think carefully about how to write the problem to ensure it is limited to the selected principles and does not lead into or morph into something far more difficult than intended. In the problem I selected I limited the principles to basic projectile motion, but this “is” the real world so error analysis must be considered. Probably not realized by most people, in Physics, most of the time real world scenarios are modeled using an ideal world. For example in the ideal world there may be no friction, but in the real word friction does exists. Often it is helpful and sometimes necessary to model a simplified ideal world to better understand what is happening in the real world, precisely because the real world is very complex. The problem I designed requires the students follow the process a physicists would use, first start in the ideal world to better understand the real world problem.
My main concern is most students are not practiced at modeling an ideal world and may find the problem I have designed for them to be too difficult largely because they are unable to break it down into an ideal problem. By the time they get to the problem they will have practiced in the ideal world each principle needed to solve the problem. But will their conceptual understanding of the principles be sufficient for them to proceed through the comprehensive critical thinking process to find a solution to the problem? I believe I have limited the scope of the problem sufficiently to allow the students to solve the problem, but I really don’t know how the students will react until they try it.
The first time I will be able to assign this problem will be about two weeks into the start of the 08 fall semester. I plan to assign the problem about three weeks before it is due. At that time the students will not have covered all the topics in class needed to solve the problem. During the two weeks that follow the assignment, all necessary topics will be covered. Hopefully the students will be thinking about the problem as the relevant topics are covered in class.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Improving schools with technology:
It would be interesting to conduct a survey to determine if the general public is in agreement that schools should be using the latest technology. I suspect the results of the survey would be that a significant percentage, perhaps more than 70 %, will agree that technology needs to be in the schools. But believing that technology should be in the schools is far easier than actually getting the technology into the schools. The goal is laudable but reaching the goal is a challenge that involves many factors.
If technology is to be incorporated into the classroom, the building that houses the classroom must be looked at. The current state of the 'backbone', the necessary wiring and junction box equipment to support the technology, of a building needs to be examined and a determination made as to how much work is needed to upgrade the building. Were I work I have seen the transition from electric typewriters to computer workstations with wireless printing. To accomplish this the building needed to be modified. Literally miles of wiring, fiber optics, and supporting equipment were installed over an extended period of time stretching into years. Obviously this process requires careful long range planning.
It is the teachers who will incorporate technology into the curriculum. This will not just happen, to accomplish the goal of incorporating technology into the classroom the factors of time, money, support, and stability are necessary ingredients to ensure that the process of integration is cost efficient and educationally sound.
The classroom teacher must be given the time to vet current technology to determine which technology to use and how to incorporate the technology into the classroom and time to develop the curriculum. The amount of time is going to vary from teacher to teacher, or class to class depending on how much technology is incorporated into the classroom. The extend of technology integration in an art class is different than a chemistry class. The classroom teacher with access to various professional sources of advice can make a sound judgment as to how much technology should be incorporated into their classroom
Money of course is in tight supply in most schools districts. Where does the money come from to the buy the technology? And where does the money come from to support the teachers “time” to incorporate the technology into the curriculum? There are no easy answers to these questions. An important component in the answers to the questions is stability. High teacher turnover is a problem. Teachers who stay with a school district can learn how to advocate for the technology they need and as money comes available to buy the technology and they can spend the time needed to develop the necessary curriculum. From start to finish the complete process may take two or three years depending on the depth and breath of integration. For districts that experience high turn over, the process of integration is obviously interrupted.
Support for technology integration is more than just time and money, it is a commitment by the school board, administration, and community to work toward providing the resources needed to build an infrastructure that supports and maintains technology. Computers are part of the technology equation. To support computers there must be personal in place within the district dedicated to maintaining the computers, software and printers. It is helpful to have people on hand to respond to problems as they arise, or at the very least have funds available to hire outside help. Computers are one type of technology that requires specific knowledge to repair them; different types of technology will require different and specific knowledge.
If technology is to be incorporated into the classroom, the building that houses the classroom must be looked at. The current state of the 'backbone', the necessary wiring and junction box equipment to support the technology, of a building needs to be examined and a determination made as to how much work is needed to upgrade the building. Were I work I have seen the transition from electric typewriters to computer workstations with wireless printing. To accomplish this the building needed to be modified. Literally miles of wiring, fiber optics, and supporting equipment were installed over an extended period of time stretching into years. Obviously this process requires careful long range planning.
It is the teachers who will incorporate technology into the curriculum. This will not just happen, to accomplish the goal of incorporating technology into the classroom the factors of time, money, support, and stability are necessary ingredients to ensure that the process of integration is cost efficient and educationally sound.
The classroom teacher must be given the time to vet current technology to determine which technology to use and how to incorporate the technology into the classroom and time to develop the curriculum. The amount of time is going to vary from teacher to teacher, or class to class depending on how much technology is incorporated into the classroom. The extend of technology integration in an art class is different than a chemistry class. The classroom teacher with access to various professional sources of advice can make a sound judgment as to how much technology should be incorporated into their classroom
Money of course is in tight supply in most schools districts. Where does the money come from to the buy the technology? And where does the money come from to support the teachers “time” to incorporate the technology into the curriculum? There are no easy answers to these questions. An important component in the answers to the questions is stability. High teacher turnover is a problem. Teachers who stay with a school district can learn how to advocate for the technology they need and as money comes available to buy the technology and they can spend the time needed to develop the necessary curriculum. From start to finish the complete process may take two or three years depending on the depth and breath of integration. For districts that experience high turn over, the process of integration is obviously interrupted.
Support for technology integration is more than just time and money, it is a commitment by the school board, administration, and community to work toward providing the resources needed to build an infrastructure that supports and maintains technology. Computers are part of the technology equation. To support computers there must be personal in place within the district dedicated to maintaining the computers, software and printers. It is helpful to have people on hand to respond to problems as they arise, or at the very least have funds available to hire outside help. Computers are one type of technology that requires specific knowledge to repair them; different types of technology will require different and specific knowledge.
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Discussion of the MILE Guide Assessment
Background,
I work for a very large and complex technical college district called Madison Area Technical College (MATC). MATC is one of 16 districts throughout the state of Wisconsin. MATC covers all or parts of 12 counties in south central Wisconsin with 5 campuses scattered in different counties. The largest and main campus call Truax is located in Madison, this is where I work. There are three other small campuses in Madison and there are outreach adult education centers in about forty local school districts. Altogether the college serves about 50,000 students.
The college offers over 90 one and two year technical and associate degree programs and over 20 apprenticeship programs. Another very important component of the college is the college transfer program. In effect the college transfer program is a sort of junior college or two year college, students can take courses at MATC and transfer the credits to the University of Wisconsin or elsewhere. Students in the programs can and do take college transfer classes.
The college is so large and so complex that in some cases I only have a limited knowledge as to what is happening elsewhere in the college and I have been here for nearly 24 years. I do however belong to a committee that determines how funding is distributed among the various education centers of the college. This gives me a unique perspective on how the college operates.
The survey:
Responding accurately to the MILE Guide Online Survey was a little tricky for me. The survey is clearly designed for K-12 and often talked about parents working with the school district administrators and teachers. Well here many of our students are parents! So I tried to answer the questions based on my knowledge of the area of the college I work and also my experience working on the budget committee. Even so some of my answers are on the guesswork side.
Here are the results of the survey:
"In the 21st Century stage - you have successfully integrated 21st Century Skills into you school and are working towards continual implementation. The roles of your stakeholders are constantly changing to meet local and ongoing needs of you school. You have a vision for you school and students, teachers, administrators, parents and the community work towards this common vision."
Next steps:
Two of the next steps as recommended by the survey are as follows:
*Collaborate with outside partners.
*Plan collectively and strategically for the future.
Collaboration comments:
Collaboration with outside partners occurs in every program. The faculty and appropriate administrators of a program meet on a regular basis with an "advisory committee" to review and assess all aspects of a program. The advisory committee is composed of members of the community who are directly involved in the program in some way. For example the dental assistant program"advisory committee" would consist of dentists, dental assistants with work experience and others connected with dentistry in some way. Everyone has direct experience and they understand the expectations of dental assistants when they enter the work force. The advisory committee guides the structure of the program to ensure the students obtaining the proper education.
Planning comments:
Planning collectively and strategically for the future is ongoing. For an institution so large and complex as the college, it could be very easy for the needs of a single teacher to get lost or run over by the needs of so many others. but amazingly this does not happen. The key to success in hearing the needs of everyone is a clearly defined process. We do have a process at MATC that allows for each voice to be heard. It starts with small units. For example I teach physics in the physical science department composed of 6 full-time faculty and 2 - 3 part time faculty. Each year our department develops a plan that includes a budget for equipment as well as any activity associated with teaching and learning such as developing a new course, or new curriculum, or updating a lab manual. The department plan moves to the next level and is incorporated with other plans from other departments that comprise a learning center called Arts and Sciences. There are several learning centers at the college. Funding requests and other needs for each learning center are combined and considered by appropriate inclusive committees. Not all requests can be funded as expected and thus request for funding must be prioritized and the higher priority requests are funded. If components of a department plan are not funded, there is a good chance of funding in the future as long as the request remains in the department plan from one year to the next.
All important decisions are made by committees. All committees are inclusive, that is, they are composed of administrators, faculty, and other units of the college such as information technology and facilities. This ensures that all stakeholders have a voice in decision making. Faculty are an important voice in this process.
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