I got myself into some trouble yesterday while out to breakfast with a few friends. Our conversation was perfectly civil until I brought up an idea for an informal research project I'd been curious about taking on to reveal common misconceptions about Newton's 2nd law. I'd been imagining walking the streets of New York City with a microphone and performing an informal survey of how people answer a question such as, "Why does an egg break against the floor when you drop it?"My friends and I first discussed the logistics of such an operation: whether a person on the street is more or less likely ...
Dec 22, 2010
Dec 13, 2010
Differentiated Instruction in Physics
Physics First provides opportunities for an interesting type of differentiated instruction, where students might arrive at a complex understanding of fundamental concepts through their exposure to a variety of experiences.I just got back from a trip to Baltimore to observe Physics First classes. I had a chance to visit two of the fifteen Baltimore public schools now teaching CPO Physics First, but the details of this visit will have to wait until ...
Dec 7, 2010
Teacher-Driven, Student-Centered
The
ninth grade physics class at this Quaker school is an example of how a
creative and dedicated teacher can make extensive use of resources from a
variety of places to design a unique and popular course.I'm quite partial to the emphasis that Quaker schools place on holistic education,
and I think that philosophies of Quaker education match nicely with
some the ideas behind Physics First. This particular Quaker school I
visited is fairly small. The 70 or so students in a typical ninth grade
class are split into four sections, at 15-20 students each section.
The physics class is required ...
Nov 22, 2010
One Teacher's Texbook-Based Course
I visited this private school a slight drive
outside of New York City on a rainy day, and I got a little wet
wandering around the campus for a while. I had to ask three people for
directions before I was able to find the science wing. My point is that
this school is well-equipped, and their campus is BIG and beautiful. The
school is not predominantly a boarding school, but some students (and
some teachers) live on campus. There are about ...
Nov 19, 2010
Conversation with a Friend
Last Friday night at 1am (!), I ended up having a conversation about science teaching with a friend of mine who lives in DC. She is working for the American Engineering Association on nation-wide campaign to change people's views about what it means to be an engineer. Essentially, the AEA sees much-reduced enthusiasm for the profession, and they're trying to do something about that by changing the public attitude. When our nation's brightest potential physicists and mathematicians spend their time bringing the world's financial system to its knees rather than, say, solving the world's energy ...
Nov 17, 2010
Modeling PF in a New Jersey Public School
The head of the science department at this public
high school in New Jersey was one of a few people in my area who
responded to an open request I sent out to the physics first listserve
in the spring of 2010, and I'm very glad he did. The program at this
school was exciting to see, and it is a rare example of a large public
school that's been able to institute a successful physics first program
at multiple skill levels. The program is an excellent example of
successful Modeling Instruction,
and students have shown significant gains on diagnostics tests and an
increase in upper-level ...
Nov 16, 2010
Student-Designed Experiments in an All-Girl School
This post
describes my visit an all-female K-12 school on the upper east side in
Manhattan. The school is small, with a class size of about 60 students
in each grade, 15 students to a classroom. I spent most of a day at the
school, and sat in on two ninth grade physics classes, one senior level
AP-style course, and one student-teacher interview about an independent
research project. What follows is a rough account of what I saw during
my visit, and my impressions of what the program seemed to emphasize.
The teacher I spent most of my time with took a great deal of time out
of his ...
Nov 14, 2010
Introduction
Though I've been working on these observations since September, I'm just now getting around to creating a public record of these observations! I apologize for the delay! Much of the information here has been copied directly onto the "What's this Project?" page, so I'm sorry for the redundancy.First, some background: My name is Joe Kremer. I have a Bachelor's degree in Physics and Russian Language from Oberlin College, and I worked teaching physics ...
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