Transcript Teaching Physics

OAPT 2008
Ryerson University
Optics Can Give You
the
H.O.T.S.
(Higher Order Thinking Skills, of course!)
Workshop Presenter
Dave Doucette
B. Sc. (cognitive psychology), B. Ed.
Cedarbrae CI
Scarborough
Agincourt CI
Scarborough
Dr. GW Williams Aurora
chemistry
chemistry physics
physics
Assistant Head of Science
Head of Science
Richmond Hill HS Richmond Hill
physics
[email protected]
Highly Tentative
Workshop Agenda
A Flight of Fancy
Are you being diffuse, I might ask?
Traveling Lightly
Mira, mira on the wall
The real story of mirrors
Doing our homework (P.C.K.)
Lenses & images
Ray Diagrams – then and now!
Correcting for vision defects
The human fibre optic
2 min
2 min
5 min
5 min
6 min
15 min
5 min
5 min
10 min
5 min
Let’s have some phun with Physiks
Discovery Activity: Light Propagation
worksheet
Plane Miras
Concave Mirrors
and the real deal
…humans are pattern seekers. We try to relate new
things into an existing system to ‘make sense of
things.
…we build our knowledge from what is presented to us.
Learning is not the transfer of material from the head of
the teacher to the head of the learner intact.
Learning is the reconstruction of what the learner
understands, or thinks she understands, tempered by the
existing knowledge, beliefs, biases, and
misunderstandings in the mind of the learner.
Johnstone, A.H., Dep’t of Chemistry, Glasgow University,“Chemistry Teaching - Science or Alchemy”,
Journal of Chemical Education, Vol. 74 No.3, March 1977.
Doing Our Optics Homework:
PCK (pedagogical content knowledge)
Research reinforces the notion that misconceptions among students are the rule
rather than the exception.
Some of the common misconceptions include not viewing light as something
that travels but rather only as its source (the Sun, a light bulb, etc.). This leads
to difficulty in understanding the formation of shadows and the direction they
take.
The research shows that middle-school students (ages 10-13) understand that
mirrors can reflect light. However, they often reject the idea that everyday
objects also reflect light, according to Guesne (1985) and Ramadas and Driver
(1989).
Similarly, many elementary and middle school students do not realize that
their eyes receive light when they look at an object. The notion that the eyes
generate light that radiates outwards is a common one.
Using Misconceptions Research in the Design of Optics Instructional Materials and Teacher Professional Development Programs
Stephen M. Pompea1, Erin F. Dokter, National Optical Astronomy Observatory, 950 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, Arizona, 85719 USA
Constance E. Walker, and Robert T. Sparks Conceptual Astronomy and Physics Research (CAPER) Team, Steward Observatory, University of Arizona,
Tucson Arizona 85721 USA
What homework tells us about…
How students learn?
One must understand how a novice approaches light and appreciate the
perspective a child brings to learning about optics.
Prior knowledge may impede progress in learning key concepts.
Novices differ from experts in that novices do not notice meaningful
patterns in a given field of study.
The knowledge of an expert has a sense of context or conditions; it is
not a set of facts, propositions, or theorems.
Experts are very flexible in their thinking processes and also have the
ability to retrieve important knowledge sets with little efforts.
[chunking]
Using Misconceptions Research in the Design of Optics Instructional Materials and Teacher
Professional Development Programs
Stephen M. Pompea1, Erin F. Dokter, National Optical Astronomy Observatory, 950 N. Cherry
Avenue, Tucson, Arizona, 85719 USA
Constance E. Walker, and Robert T. Sparks Conceptual Astronomy and Physics Research (CAPER)
Team, Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, Tucson Arizona 85721 USA
Homework answers the question:
Are there Guidelines for Teaching?
1. Students become aware of their own preconceptions about a concept
by thinking about it and making predictions (committing to an
outcome) before any activity begins.
2. Students expose their beliefs by sharing them, initially in small
groups and then with the entire class.
3. Students confront their beliefs by testing and discussing them,
initially in small groups and then with the entire class.
4. Students work toward resolving conflicts (if any) between their ideas
(based on the revealed preconceptions and class discussion) and their
observations, thereby accommodating the new concept.
5. Students extend the concept by trying to make connections between
the concept learned in the classroom and other situations, including
their daily lives.
J. Stepans, Targeting Students’ Science Misconceptions: Physical Science Activities Using the
Conceptual Change Model (2nd edition). Riverview, Florida: Idea Factory, (1996).
Enough homework already…
Let’s do something cool!
Yajusgottaseethis
– the real
real image!
And it is quantitative, too
Ye Olde Raye Diagram – sorry, Ray!
PhET
Computer
simulations
The Eye & Correcting Vision Defects
“I can see clearly now…”
Teaching Teachers
PhysTEC
Physics Teacher Education Coalition Teacher Reform
A)The goal of the program at Cal Poly is to produce science teachers who
are student centered:
* they believe that students must construct their own understanding
and use activities that are consistent with this belief;
* they make teaching decisions based on students’ current
understanding (not content coverage);
* they are providers of experience rather than the dispensers of
knowledge
B) Teachers must have a solid grasp of the material, they must know
about alternative student conceptions, and they must be able to answer
questions in a way that leads students without giving them the answer.
These skills take time to develop so we must start to develop them well
before our future teachers begin their first job.
http://www.phystec.org/calpoly/annualreports/04-05/reform.html
Big Finish – Human Fibre Optic
Clean up, clean up, everybody clean up!
Thanks for coming!
http://www.dailybubble.com/archives/humor/optical_illusions/