Giving the Physics Bug to
Elementary Education Students
Mats Selen, UIUC
Inga Karliner, Sheila Ashbrook, Barbara Hug,
Steve Zoerb, Lauren Denofrio, Jeff Condis,
Dept. of Physics, Women In Engineering
www.physics.uiuc.edu
IL-AAPT Spring ‘04 : Pg 1
www.physics.uiuc.edu
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Why ?
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Many (most) elementary school teachers are not confident in their
knowledge of math & science, in particular physics.
 This can’t help but rub off on their students.
 This is particularly bad for girls since most elementary school
teachers are women.
The typical elementary education curriculum does not deal directly
with this. The UIUC science & math requirements are shown
below:
Content:
Methods
:
www.physics.uiuc.edu
IL-AAPT Spring ‘04 : Pg 3
So, what counts as a
“Physical Science” ??
In addition to the obvious (Physics,
Astronomy, and Chemistry), these do:
Elementary Ed students typically take
Food Science and Nutrition and Geography
(or Geology) to satisfy their PS requirement
www.physics.uiuc.edu
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Contrast this with the National Standards:
www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/nses/html/6c.html
www.physics.uiuc.edu
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Some details of these requirements…
Q: Where will the teachers learn this stuff ?
A: Not here ?
www.physics.uiuc.edu
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What about their education courses?
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These are methods classes.
 Focus should on how to teach, not on content.
The if students don’t know content coming into these
classes the instructor must take some class time to cover
very basic content before discussing methods.
 This is a problem !
» Seriously takes away from the real purpose of class.
» All sciences are covered (physics, chemistry,
biology) which means that any meaningful content
can’t be adequately taught anyway.
www.physics.uiuc.edu
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Our Idea
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Create a class that will give students confidence in their ability to
understand physics concepts.
Should come out with a positive “I can do this” attitude.
When their own students ask them a science question their
response should be one of two things:
» “Great question. Let me explain the answer…”
» “Great question. I don’t know the answer, but I know we can
find out what it is…”
Considerations:
Students must be attracted to the class.
Methods used in this class should be consistent with the way
they will ultimately teach their own classes.
» No point making it if no-ones takes it.
Must have appropriate scope.
» Can’t cover all of the materials in the national standards.
Must give students appreciation for concepts without math.
www.physics.uiuc.edu
IL-AAPT Spring ‘04 : Pg 8
Who are
the students?
Mostly women (all 24 this semester, in fact)
Almost all had physics in high school.
» Most liked their high school physics class !
They are all very smart but lack confidence.
» Especially true in math & physics.
They socialize extremely well and enjoy working in
groups.
» Took me a while to really appreciate how nice this is.

Not true for all physics and engineering majors
They love getting their hands on stuff and playing.
They love to learn.
www.physics.uiuc.edu
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Students must be attracted to the class.
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The simple things we can do:
Make the class count toward “Physical Science” requirement.
Make class count toward “Lab” requirement.
Schedule it not to conflict with required ED classes.
The things that require more thought:
Make it “fun” (more on this).
Make it relevant.
» Use methods similar to ones they will use.

Hands on “guided inquiry” lab.
» Give them materials & ideas to use in their own classroom.

The Tub.
» Important to have appropriate scope.
» Challenge them to produce their own lesson plans.

www.physics.uiuc.edu
This is where some of the topics not discussed in class can be
covered.
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Methods used in this class should be consistent with
the way they will ultimately teach their own classes.

Hands on labs “inquiry” based activities:
“Hard Core” inquiry is not quite appropriate.
» Very good but very slow
» Would not cover enough materials to make class attractive
We are trying what you might call “guided inquiry”
» Don’t demand that they have to discover every last detail
from scratch.
» Give help when appropriate to move things along.
Have them use materials and do activities that they can
replicate in their own classrooms.
» Inexpensive “equipment”
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www.physics.uiuc.edu
Washers from Farm & Fleet ($1.09/lb),
Cheap thermometers, stopwatches etc
Show heat capacity demo
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Appropriate Scope
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* Student projects
There are 11 full 3 hour labs in a semester (14 weeks – 3 special*).
We can cover at most 11 topics.
We need to choose the right ones:
1. Uncertainty and the Nature of Science
2. Atoms and the States of Matter
3. Heat and Temperature
4. Mass, Weight and Balance
5. Volume, Density, Floating, & Sinking
Our picks
6. Measuring and Graphing Motion
7. Simple Forces & Newton's Laws
8. Investigating Gravity
9. Simple Machines
10. Simple Circuits
11. Magnets & Motors
www.physics.uiuc.edu
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Class Structure
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A different topic is covered each week.
Each week has the following structure:
Monday
Hands-on lab
(2pm – 5pm)
See Example
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Tuesday
Web-Based
Homework &
Preflights
Wednesday
Lecture/
Discussion
Thursday
-
Friday
-
(4pm – 5pm)
All required materials are given to students each week in the
Monday lab.
The web based homework and preflights probes conceptual
understanding:
Homework is used as part of each students grade.
Preflights provide feedback for designing Wednesdays “lecture”.
www.physics.uiuc.edu
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Class Structure…
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Grading:
Class Participation (Lab and Discussion)
Web Based Homework & Preflights
Final Quiz (copied from Homework & Labs)
Final Project (includes write-up & presentation)
40%
25%
10%
25%
Final Project:
Students work in groups of 4 to create a 30 minute hands on lab
» Just like the ones they did in class all semester.
» The need to provide:
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Lab materials (paid for by me)
Lab write-up.
Lesson plan.
These “labs” are taught to their fellow Physics 123 students
during the last 2 lab periods of the semester.
www.physics.uiuc.edu
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Appreciation for concepts without math.
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Hands on labs
Let them “live” the math whenever possible
» Example: F = ma (actually, they learn a = F/m)
» Skateboards, ropes & spring scales (demo).
Turns out that “a little” math is actually OK as long as its in the
context of some concept they understand.
Balance (i.e. torque) demo
www.physics.uiuc.edu
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What about the “Fun” part?
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Students work in groups doing hands-on projects.
Encourage competition between groups.
» Prizes
Make projects interesting & unusual
» i.e. egg drop, clay boat, magnets, motors etc
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Halftime
Take a 10 minute break in the middle of 3 hr lab to have a
snack and do something different.
» Get to know the others, share stories etc
» Share hobbies (origami, crocheting…)
» Music
Let the students guide what happens in the lecture/discussion.
Use Preflights to probe their understanding.
Answer their “I always wondered why…” type science
questions.
Do as many cool demos as possible.
www.physics.uiuc.edu
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Preflight Example:
Lets look at answers to this one
(we did not specifically discuss this in class at all)
www.physics.uiuc.edu
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www.physics.uiuc.edu
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We got this idea about half way through the semester:
www.physics.uiuc.edu
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www.physics.uiuc.edu
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This question always gets very interesting results:
Click here to see web page…
This is a great opportunity to show students “how to figure out”
the answer to questions they will get from their class some day.
www.physics.uiuc.edu
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Direct
Feedback:
www.physics.uiuc.edu
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Direct
Feedback:
www.physics.uiuc.edu
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Direct
Feedback
:
www.physics.uiuc.edu
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Lessons Learned
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Overall I am delighted with the way the course is going.
We have covered quite a bit of physics !
The students like it and I know they are saying good things
about it to their friends. This is really very important.
» Expect big enrollment in Spring/05.
There are details of every lab that were good & bad.
These will be tuned for next spring.
Need to create bonus activities to keep faster groups from
getting bored when waiting for slower groups to finish.
The students are simply wonderful.
Most fun class I have ever taught.
www.physics.uiuc.edu
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