Author Archives: geoff

Resources for Middle School Science Activities

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When I visited National Instruments and [shared my experiences with STEM in high school](https://pedagoguepadawan.net/164/stem-talk-at-ni/), a talked to a few friends who were involved in various types of science programs for middle school youth. They were interested in activities they could use to help develop fundamental scientific understandings (such as scale) as well as be engaging and provide an opportunity to learn about various phenomena. I don’t have any experience at the middle school level, but I reviewed the various projects that I’ve done (or hope to do) with high school students either in class or as part of Physics Club.

If you have a few favorite activities that would be appropriate for these students, please leave a comment. I’ll pass along a link to this post to my friends back in Austin.

Science and Engineering Projects
———-

* [Naked Egg Drop](http://noschese180.posterous.com/day-68-naked-egg-drop)
* [Blinkie LED kits (learn to solder)](http://www.2dkits.com/zencart/)
* [Compressed Air Rockets](http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2011/10/how-to-compressed-air-rockets.html)
* [Hovercraft](http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2011/06/some-assembly-required-leaf-blower-hovercraft.html)
* [Brushbots](http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2011/05/in-the-makershed-brushbots.html)
* [Bristlebot](http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2007/12/how-to-make-a-bristlebot.html)
* [Camerphone spectrometer](http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/10/in-high-school-chem-labs-every-camera-phone-can-be-a-spectrometer/)
* [Glow sticks](http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/07/how-to_make_glow_sticks.html)
* [Vortex cannon](http://www.make-digital.com/make/vol15/#pg116)
* [Simple Laser Communicator](http://www.make-digital.com/make/vol16/#pg1)
* [Paper Plate Speakers](http://www.josepino.com/circuits/index.php?howto-speaker.jpc)
* [Tweet-a-Watt](http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/01/tweetawatt_our_entry_for_the_core77.html?CMP=OTC-0D6B48984890)
* [Homopolar Motor](http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/07/homopolar_motor_from_make_volume_01.html?CMP=OTC-0D6B48984890)
* [Holograms](http://www.integraf.com/a-simple_holography.htm)
* [Cosmic Ray Cloud Chamber](http://quarknet.fnal.gov/resources/QN_CloudChamberV1_4.pdf)

Scale
—–

* [Secret Worlds: The Universe Within](http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/java/scienceopticsu/powersof10/)
* [Building a sense of scale in the classroom](http://quantumprogress.wordpress.com/2011/09/14/building-a-sense-of-scale-in-the-classroom/)
* [The Scale (and Limits) of the Universe](http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/2010/10/the_scale_and_limits_of_the_un.php)
* [Scale of the Universe](http://primaxstudio.com/stuff/scale_of_universe/)
* [The Universe by Orders of Magnitude](http://freshphotons.tumblr.com/post/1255372595/natarie-badass)

Citizen Science
———

* [scistarter](http://scistarter.com/index.html)
* [Scientific American’s Citizen Science Initiative](http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=welcome-to-scientific-americans-cit-2011-05-02)

Great resources:
———-

* [MAKE Magazine](http://www.makezine.com/)
* [Howtoons](http://www.howtoons.com/)
* [QuarkNet](http://quarknet.fnal.gov/)
* [Science Olympiad](http://soinc.com/)

No More Credit for Homework

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As a [previously shared](https://pedagoguepadawan.net/165/honors-physics-reflection/), I am not making many changes in Honors Physics this semester. However, we are making two significant changes related to homework. Despite my strong belief in standards-based assessment and reporting philosophy, I have always provided some credit for completing homework. I’ve previously [shared my attempt to justify this policy](https://pedagoguepadawan.net/11/igradehomework/).

To minimize the overhead of checking homework and discourage blatant copying, we use WebAssign for homework. It worked well and certainly didn’t require much effort once I had created the problem sets. However, at the end of this semester a huge problem hit my colleague and I like a brick wall:

***You get what you reward.***

We rewarded a student submitting the correct answer for 80% of the homework problems in WebAssign and that is exactly what we got.

The behavior that we were unintentionally rewarding began to become clear when I would help students outside of class. The dialog would go like this:

S: “Mr. Schmit, I have a question about a homework problem. Can you help me?”

Me: “Of course! Let me see your notebook and what you have so far.”

S: “It is problem number 38. I’ll show you in the text.”

Me: “Okay, but let me see what you have written down so far.”

S: *blank look*

Me: “Let me see your sketch, diagram, list of givens, equation with variables, substitution of values with units, …”

S: *blank look*

S: I just solve the problem on WebAssign.

Me: *blank look*

S: I just type the numbers into my calculator and enter the final answer in WebAssign.

While I don’t have this conversation with every student, it is not at all uncommon. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, the students are exhibiting the exact behavior that I’m rewarding.

So, this semester, **no credit for homework**. None. I will still create homework assignments on WebAssign since students do like to check their answers or to ask for another version of the same problem for practice. This change will at least stop rewarding the behaviors we don’t want.

While hopefully students’ experiences during the fall semester will be sufficient to encourage them to adopt robust and organized problem solving methods, I realize it won’t for everyone. So, the second change that we are making is that **before reassessment a student must show me clear, detailed, and robust solutions to the homework problems related to that standard.**

Yes, I realize that many of you have been doing exactly this from day one. I’m a bit slow to catch on as it took me two and a half years. Better late than never.

As a humorous endnote, one student solved a circular-motion, car-on-banked-curve problem on the semester final exam without showing any work at all. He wrote a note about how he did the whole thing on his calculator and didn’t expect any credit. He also noted how it would be quite ironic if he got the answer wrong. He didn’t.

Honors Physics Reflection

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I previously shared my [end-of-semester reflection](https://pedagoguepadawan.net/160/mechanics-modeling-instruction-reflection/) for my regular physics class. I wanted to do the same for my honors physics class which is significantly different from my regular physics class. We do not use Modeling Instruction, and it is a fast-paced, problem-solving focused, class. It is basically an AP Physics B class that covers all topics except for fluid mechanics, thermal physics, atomic physics and quantum effects, and nuclear physics. We actually cover some topics beyond the scope of the AP Physics B curriculum. That said, it does have many progressive elements. We are now in our third year of standards-based assessment and reporting. There are no points as it is a mastery-based system. Many labs are not scored but serve as discovery labs through guided inquiry. We leverage some aspects of Modeling Instruction such as whiteboarding and socratic dialog.

We move through units at a very fast pace. In the fall semester, we covered Giancoli Chapters 1-7 and 9. While the curriculum is “a mile wide,” it isn’t “an inch deep.” The mastery system requires our students to develop a significant understanding of these topics. That said, multiple representations are noticeably lacking. I’m always surprised when I see that graphical representations for kinematics is an optional section in Giancoli (but not in the class).

Since implementing SBAR, I’ve been pleased with the learning that occurs in honors physics despite its more traditional elements. To check if I’m completely misleading myself, I administer the FCI at the beginning and end of the fall semester. This year’s gain was 0.58 which was just a tad lower than the gain of 0.60 the previous two years.

My reflection regarding honors physics this fall has been focused on why the structure of the class seems to be working. Should I be satisfied with the degree to which students are replacing and refining their preconceptions about mechanics? Would I see a deeper level of understanding if I moved to Modeling Instruction? At what cost?

While musing on these questions, I thought back to my own experience in high school and college. As best I can recall, I learned physics in mostly traditional classrooms. How was it that I developed a decent understanding without many misconceptions in these environments?

The conclusion that I have arrived at is that I perform a mini-modeling discourse and modeling building with myself as I listen to a lecture or practice solving problems. I have an ongoing commentary in my head where I’m asking myself questions that connect one idea to the next, finding patterns, building models, testing models, refining models. I never was, and still am not, good at memorizing stuff; so, I had to construct and derive solutions on the fly.

I appreciate that not all of my students in honors physics do this, but I believe that many do. Whenever I hear that students cannot learn from lecture, I wince a bit since I believe that some students can. I think that those that can intrinsically do what many progressive pedagogies do explicitly with the entire class.

I don’t think that the current structure of honors physics is perfect by any means. While we are going to make some minor SBAR-related changes this semester (post coming soon), I don’t anticipate any major changes next year. Instead, I’m going to focus my efforts on preparing for a new AP Physics B class that I will be teaching. Furthermore, before I make any significant changes to honors physics, I want to see the new AP Physics B curriculum. I have a feeling that it will require significant changes to honors physics if not replace the course entirely. That will provide an opportunity to reassess all of these ideas.

If you think I’ve missed something major in my analysis, please don’t hesitate to call it out. Likewise, if you’ve come to a similar conclusion, I’d appreciate the reinforcement.

STEM Talk at NI

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Yesterday, I had the honor of presenting my experiences this past summer working on the Fermilab Holometer as well as my perspectives on STEM education at the high school level at National Instruments. Since my contribution to the Holometer project used National Instruments products and my family was vacationing in Austin, Texas, I offered to visit and share my experiences. I was a bit surprised when I was also asked to share my perspectives on STEM education in high school.

My presentation about the Holometer was pretty much the same as the one I gave the [Global Physics Department](http://globalphysicsdept.posterous.com/geoff-schmit-on-research-for-hs-teachers). (I’ve [written several posts](https://pedagoguepadawan.net/holometer) about the Holometer.) I added more technical details on the NI products involved and how the signal analysis was performed to better match the audience.

At first, I didn’t feel qualified to address National Instruments employees, who work for a company that are amazing supporters of STEM in K-12 with their efforts with FIRST and LEGO. As a result, I started my presentation with disclaimers:

* I do not have a master’s degree in STEM education
* I am not a STEM education expert
* I have not attended conferences and workshops in STEM education
* I have taught at a one high school for five years

However, once I sat down and started thinking about what I would share, I realized that I, like most physics teachers, am qualified to at least share my perspective because:

every morning I get up and try to inspire students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics by leveraging my experience as an engineer, an interviewer, a supervisor, and a teacher.

In my case, I specifically left National Instruments and software development to become a physics teacher to make some small contribution by inspiring students to pursue studies and careers in STEM-related fields.

I structured my presentation around three high-level themes which I elaborated with photos, videos, and stories:

**Inspire Students with Experiences**

I shared that few students are inspired because of something they only read or hear or see; they are inspired by their experience doing it. I shared the experiences of my FIRST Robotics Team, Science Olympiad Team, and Physics Club. Physics Club is an after school, student-driven, low-commitment group that allows all students opportunities to play, inquire, create, share, and explore. I shared our past experiences with [near-space ballooning](https://pedagoguepadawan.net/60/nearspaceballoon/) and the [ping pong ball cannon](https://pedagoguepadawan.net/157/pingpongballcannon/). The second theme is:

**Inspire Younger Students with Older Students**

The main ideas for this theme are that students respond best to other students and students can loose interest in science during middle school. To address this, Physics Club and the FIRST Robotics Team perform outreach activities where younger students see projects done by the older students and build their own smaller-scale projects with the assistance of older students. The third theme is:

**Inspire the other 98% in the Classroom**

I was somewhat disappointed when I realized that all my efforts with FIRST Robotics, Science Olympiad, and Physics Club only involve 2% of the students at my school. I shared that this is a significant challenge but the most important theme. Many changes to a traditional classroom are required to inspire students about STEM:

* Change Perceptions
* Change Mindset
* Change Pedagogy
* Change Culture

I shared the importance of bring professionals into the classroom to share their experience and helping students appreciate that science is an active process done by real people. Despite significant local press about standards-based assessment and reporting, I shared how critical it is in my classrooms. I talked about Modeling Instruction, guided inquiry, project-based learning, and Project Lead the Way.

At the end, I felt compelled to take advantage of this opportunity to encourage those in attendance to help inspire students about STEM. I charged them to:

* Be Aware
* Promote Reform
* Provide Support

I was honestly surprised at the level of interest in my presentation based on the attendance and the number of positive comments afterward. So, for those of you like me who are career changers, if the opportunity presents itself, share your experiences as a teacher with your former colleagues. We may gain more allies in the challenges that we face everyday.

Mechanics Modeling Instruction Reflection

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I just finished my second year of Modeling Instruction for mechanics in my regular physics class.

While I attended a mechanics modeling workshop a few years ago, I remember when I first decided to jump into modeling with both feet. I was looking at a problem involving electromagnetic induction that required use of the equation F = BIl. All students had to do was to find three numbers, one in units of tesla, one in amps, one in meters and multiply them together without any understanding of physics. This was reinforced when I saw students in the next question trying to solve for resistance using Ohm’s Law and plugging in a velocity instead of a voltage. Many of my students weren’t understanding physics, they were learning to match variables with units and plug-and-chug. Our curriculum was much wider than deep and I felt that I had to make a change.

Fortunately, my desire to change the emphasis of the curriculum coincided with a county-wide effort to define a core curriculum for physics. While it wasn’t easy, the team of physics teachers at my school agreed that we had to at least cover the core curriculum as defined by the county effort. This was the opportunity to reduce the breadth of the curriculum, focus on understanding and critical thinking, and use Modeling Instruction for mechanics.

I felt that the first year of Modeling Instruction was a huge improvement in terms of student understanding. This past semester was even better. While just one measure, FCI gains reinforce my beliefs. In 2009, the year before introducing Modeling Instruction, my students’ average FCI Gain was .33. In 2010, the first year of Modeling Instruction, it was .43. This year, the FCI gain was .47. While I don’t credit Modeling Instruction as the sole factor that produced these improvements in students’ conceptual understanding, it is probably the most significant. We also started standard-based assessment and reporting in 2010 and, hopefully, I’m improving as a teacher in other ways. For me, the most important confirmation that I was on the right path was that I couldn’t imagine going back to the way that I was teaching before.

The three most important changes that I made this year were: [goalless problems](http://quantumprogress.wordpress.com/2010/11/20/goal-less-problems/), sequencing of units (CVPM, BFPM, CAPM, UBFPM, PMPM), and [revised Modeling Worksheets](http://kellyoshea.wordpress.com/physics-materials/) based on the work of [Kelly O’Shea](http://kellyoshea.wordpress.com/), [Mark Schober](http://science.jburroughs.org/mschober/physics.html), and Matt Greenwolfe.

There is still plenty of room for improvement, however. Pacing was a big issue. We still have to finish mechanics in one semester. As a result of the time spent in other units, I really had to rush energy and momentum. While students could connect to many concepts in the momentum unit with previous models, energy was completely different. However, this experience had a silver lining in that it may provide hope for other teachers who want to adopt Modeling Instruction but are concerned that they won’t have time to cover their curriculum. I decided at the beginning of the semester that I would spend the time I felt was needed on each unit to develop the underlying skills of critical thinking, problem solving, and conceptual understanding. When I got near the end of the semester and had to fly through energy, I didn’t introduce it as another modeling unit. Instead, I presented it to the students as another representation of mechanics. I encouraged them to apply their critical thinking and problem solving skills to this different approach. I was pleasantly surprised when they did as well as previous years’ classes on the energy summative exam despite the incredible short amount of time we spend on the unit. I think this supports the idea that students versed in Modeling Instruction will have a strong foundation that will allow them to readily understand unfamiliar topics as well as, if not better, than students who covered those topics in a traditional fashion.

Whiteboarding continues to be an area that requires improvement. I made a couple of changes that improved the level of discourse among students. When whiteboarding labs, I either explicitly jigsawed the lab activities or guided groups to explore different areas such that each group had unique information to present to the class. This variety improved engagement and discussion. When whiteboarding problems, we played the mistake game on several occasions. This too increased engagement and discussion. However, I feel that I still have a long way to go to achieve the socratic dialog that I believe is possible.

Next fall, I will dramatically shorten the first unit which focuses on experimental design and analysis. I will probably still start with the bouncing ball lab but then immediately move onto the constant-velocity buggies. That should allow enough time to explore energy and momentum in a more reasonable time frame.

At least I feel like I’m on the right path.

Honors Physics Ãœber Review Problem

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Honestly, I never look forward to reviewing before exams. We have a dedicated review day at our school and I have never found it particularly engaging or effective for students. A few students have a list of specific questions to ask, and they benefit from the answers and discussions, but many do not.

This year, in Honors Physics, the calendar was such that we ended up having three days to review for the semester exam. My colleague had a great idea: create the Ãœber Physics problem (also known as the problem that never ends). Our goal was to review every one of our twelve [more-challenging standards](https://pedagoguepadawan.net/119/honorsphysicsstandards/). We brainstormed on a sequence of events that could be woven into a story. At the start of class, we introduced the story for that day and then left students to work through the problems with each other, ask questions about needed information, and check answers. The next day, we would summarize the previous day’s events, associated standards, and solutions before introducing the next “chapter” of the story. For the past three days, students were the most engaged during review that I have ever witnessed. They were interested in the story and excited by what the next “chapter” might bring. These problems were challenging which I believe also contributed to the interest.

Some simplifying assumptions were made but the students weren’t too critical. Unfortunately, I made a calculation error that affected the third day’s problems. When the error was corrected, the final coefficient of friction was ridiculous. I’ll have to adjust the story if I do this again next year.

While much of the story was conveyed verbally, I’ll share the rudimentary pictures that I drew and some of the specified variables. Each page corresponds to one day’s part of the story. The perspective of the diagram changes at times to show the necessary information. The answers are written in green or red and were provided one day after that part of the story was presented.

Download (PDF, 315KB)

Something Has Replaced My iPad in My Bag

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For the last year and a half, I’ve almost exclusively used an iPad as my computing device at school. I was pleasantly surprised that practically everything that I needed to do: email, web browsing, demonstrating how to solve problems, and playing videos; I could do on the iPad. I loved that the iPad turned on instantly, never needed to be plugged in during the day, and weighed almost nothing. At home, I still had a traditional computer, an iMac, which I used extensively in the evenings.

Lately, as I’ve been more and more busy, I’ve noticed that during the day, I would have to capture tasks and postpone their completion since I could not efficiently handle them on the iPad. (Perhaps, a future post on Getting Things Done is warranted to explain the methodology I use for task management.) My extracurricular activities are ramping up and they require me to complete a more diverse and spontaneous series of tasks during the day.

I finally decided to make a change. I purchased a MacBook Air and have been using it for the past week. It has been wonderful and I have been more productive. The MacBook Air has many of the characteristics of the iPad: near-instant on, incredibly light, and long battery life. In addition, I can do almost anything on the MacBook Air at school as I can do at home on the iMac.

I haven’t set up a new Mac in a while and I was surprised at how different my experience was with the MacBook Air. With the advent of [Dropbox](http://db.tt/PQBFBih) and iCloud, I didn’t copy any files when setting up the MacBook Air; these services synchronized, and continue to synchronize, my contacts, calendar entries, mail, photos, and files between my Macs and iOS devices. For the first time, when I pick up any of my computing devices, I feel that I am at home and not using a satellite computing device that is just a snapshot.

Not everything is perfect, however. The iWork Apps on Mac OS X, need better support for iCloud so that document management is round-trip between Mac OS X and iOS. I expect that this will be addressed, but, for now, I continue to use Dropbox and manually integrate changes made on iOS devices back to the Mac. Particularly annoying are the issues with the [MacBook Air running Lion and wireless networks](http://www.google.com/search?rls=en&q=macbook+air+wireless+issues). I’ve hacked on my configuration enough to have a functional but annoying solution; so, I’m better off than some. Regardless, I’m amazed that Apple has yet to address these issues. Finally, the MacBook Air isn’t a tablet. I continue to use the iPad on its own when I want to demonstrate how to solve problems because I can write well on it with Note Taker HD, it projects well on the screen, and it is easy to export my notes to PDF files and post them to our class web site. Perhaps I’ll find an app that makes the iPad function as a drawing tablet for a MacBook.

I haven’t given up on the iPad by any means. I still hope to run an iPad pilot with my class. I think an iPad has several advantages when used in a classroom by students and teachers compared to traditional laptops and I want to explore these. Personally, I still use my iPad. I expect that when traveling or attending a conference, I will only bring my iPad. Finally, nothing is more immersive than curling up on the couch with a blanket and an iPad and reading.

Ping Pong Ball Cannon

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The [ping pong ball cannon](https://pedagoguepadawan.net/28/halloweenphysics/) is one of the demos that we perform for our Halloween Demo Day. As always, the question arose of just how fast the ping pong ball is traveling. Students began asking what else the ping pong ball could shoot through. When I shared that we were firing our ping pong ball cannon on Twitter, I received this reply:

Tweet

This sounded like a challenge for Physics Club. I also wanted to film the ping pong ball with the high speed camera again in order to try and determine the velocity of the ping pong ball. While we were at it, we decided to have some fun:

The [raw video footage](http://vimeo.com/channels/258392) was filmed at 1000 fps. The camera films the carnage indirectly via a mirror in order to be protected from the debris.

Here is the video used to determine the velocity of the ping pong ball. The ping pong ball is only visible for five frames and is pretty blurry, but it works. (Although our technology specialist commented that we really need a 10,000 fps camera; I’m keeping my fingers crossed!)

Here’s the graph of the ping pong ball’s horizontal position vs. time with the velocity calculated:

Ping pong ball graph

Based on the video analysis, the ping pong ball is traveling at 167.2 m/s or 374 mph.

I’ve used the ping pong ball cannon as a sample problem when studying the work-energy theorem:

Calculate the velocity of a 2.3 g ping pong ball as it leaves a 1.5” diameter air cannon that is 2 m long. Assume that we completely evacuate the air cannon and the force remains constant as the ball is expelled.

F = P A = (14.7 psi)(Ï€)(.75 in)2(4.45 N/lb) = 116 N
W = F d = (116 N)(2 m) = 231 J
KE = 1/2 m v2 = 1/2 (.0023 kg) v2 = 231 J
v = 448 m/s = 1003 mph

So, in reality the ping pong ball is traveling much slower than the theoretical maximum value. I expect this is due to the limitations of our vacuum pump. While the ping pong ball does experience air resistance once it leaves the pipe, I was surprised how far it appeared to travel before slowing noticeably (which is reinforced by the video analysis).

Oh, and when we fired the ping pong ball into three empty soda cans, it passed through the first two cans and embedded a fragment of itself through the wall of the third!

ISEC 2011: Standards-Based Grading for High School Physics

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This post is to capture the resources discussed in the Standards-Based Grading for High School Physics presentation (P154) at the Illinois Science Education Conference. Mark Rowzee and I presented our experience in adapting standards-based assessment and reporting to two different physics courses over the past three years. Our abstract is:

We will share our experience in implementing standards-based grading (a.k.a. standards based assessment and reporting) in our regular and honors physics classes over the past two years. This methodology has helped students focus on learning and understanding and not collecting points for a grade. It has helped us focus on defining meaningful standards and providing helpful feedback.

Download (PDF, 8.4MB)

Links to Resources:

* [Honors Physics Parent Letter](https://pedagoguepadawan.net/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/Honors-Physics-Parent-Letter.pdf)
* [General Phyiscs Parent Letter](https://pedagoguepadawan.net/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/General-Physics-Parent-Letter.pdf)
* [Honors Physics Syllabus](https://pedagoguepadawan.net/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/Honors-Physics-Syllabus.pdf)
* [General Physics Syllabus](https://pedagoguepadawan.net/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/General-Physics-Syllabus.pdf)
* [Honors Physics Standards](https://pedagoguepadawan.net/119/honorsphysicsstandards/)
* [General Physics Standards](https://pedagoguepadawan.net/153/generalphysicsstandards/)
* [Honors Physics Sample Standards Calendar](https://pedagoguepadawan.net/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/Honors-Physics-Sample-Standards-Calendar.pdf)
* [all posts under the SBG category](https://pedagoguepadawan.net/category/standards-based-grading/)

General Physics Standards

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This is a follow-up post to the [Honors Physics Standards post](https://pedagoguepadawan.net/119/honorsphysicsstandards/) that enumerates the standards that we have defined for our General Physics class. As I mentioned previously, this year, our entire school is replacing the traditional report card with a standards-based report card. The standards reflected on this report card, which we call report-card standards, represent an aggregation of several of the more-specific standards and are common across both high schools in our district. For General Physics, we have defined the following report-card standards for the whole year.

Report-Card Standards
———————

* science as a process
* understand the basic concepts of kinematics
* understand, explain, discuss, and apply Newton’s Laws
* understand the basic concepts of energy and energy conservation
* understand the basic concepts of momentum and its conservation
* explain, discuss, and calculate the properties of electrostatics
* explain, discuss, and calculate the properties of electric circuits
* understand, explain, and discuss the properties of magnetism
* describe wave type, properties, and interactions
* understand the relationships among science, technology, and society in historical and contemporary contexts

Below are the more-specific standards that we use for General Physics during the fall semester. These standards are influenced by objectives defined by a group of physics teachers working together at the county level as well as [Modeling Instruction](http://modeling.asu.edu/).

Fall Semester Standards
———————–

> STT 1. I can build a qualitative model, identify and classify variables, and make tentative qualitative predictions about the relationship between variables.
>
> STT 2. I can select appropriate measuring devices, consider accuracy of measuring devices, maximize range of data, and calculate error propagation for an experiment.
>
> STT 3. I can develop linear relationships and relate mathematical and graphical expressions.
>
> STT Lab 1. I can create and populate data tables for an experiment.
>
> STT Lab 2. I can measure phenomena in the laboratory with minimum error.
>
> STT Lab 3. I can create graphs from data measured in an experiment.
>
> STT Lab 4. I can analyze graphs of data measured in an experiment.
>
> STT Lab 5. I can analyze uncertainty in an experiment.
>
> STT Lab 6. I can write a complete formal experiment report according to the specified format.
>
>
> CVPM 1. I can distinguish between scalar and vector quantities.
>
> CVPM 2. I can describe and analyze constant-velocity motion based on graphs, numeric data, words, and diagrams.
>
>
> BFPM 1. I can draw a free body diagram and add vectors graphically to find net force.
>
> BFPM 2. I can identify the Law of Inertia (Newton’s 1st Law) to various situations in the real world.
>
> BFPM 3. I can identify action-reaction force pairs (Newton’s 3rd Law) and the fact that they act on two separate bodies.
>
>
> CAPM 1. I can describe and analyze uniform-acceleration motion based on graphs, numeric data, words, and diagrams.
>
> CAPM 2. I can apply the various kinematics equations in one dimension.
>
>
> UBFPM 1. I can draw a free body diagram and use the concept of net force to solve problems using Newton’s 2nd Law
>
> UBFPM 2. I can identify how different factors affect the force of friction and can differentiate between static and kinetic friction.
>
> UBFPM 3. I can solve problems using the coefficient of friction.
>
> UBFPM Lab 1. I can determine the relationship between force, mass, and acceleration using experimental data.
>
>
> PMPM 1. I can justify that if the only force acting on an object is gravity, it will have the same constant downward acceleration regardless of mass, velocity or position.
>
> PMPM 2. I can apply the various kinematics equations in two dimensions while recognizing the independence of horizontal and vertical variables.
>
> PMPM Lab 1. Model the path of a projectile based on experimental data and use this model to hit the predicted location.
>
> PMPM Lab 2. Compare predicted values based on a model against experimental results.
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> COEM 1. I can identify that energy is transferred and solve problems using conservation of mechanical energy (kinetic energy and gravitational potential energy)
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> COEM 2. I can identify work as a change in energy and calculate its based on force and displacement.
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> COEM 3. I can analyze the rate of energy change of a system in terms of power.
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> COEM Lab 1: Perform an experiment to compare the loss of gravitational potential energy and the gain of kinetic energy of an object moving down an  incline in order to calculate the energy transferred between the system and the environment.
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> COMM 1. I can identify momentum of an object as the product of mass and velocity and relate the change in momentum (Impulse) to the force acting on it over a period of time.
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> COMM 2. I can analyze the momentum of a system of objects in one dimension and distinguish between elastic and inelastic collisions
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> COMM 3. I can solve problems using conservation of momentum were the net external force is zero.
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Spring Semester Standards
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> ES 1. I can identify the charge on each sub-atomic particle and describe the behavior that each has on each other and how these particles move in a conductor.
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> ES 2. I can apply the principle of conservation of charge (charge is neither created nor destroyed just transferred from one object to another) to predict the movement of charges in insulators and conductors.
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> ES 3. I can predict attraction and repulsion between charged and neutral objects and predict how charges will redistribute based on charging by contact and induction.
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> ES 4. I can apply Coulomb’s Law to two charged particles.
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> ES 5. I can describe an electric field and identify the electric field diagrams for a one or two charge system and identify the direction of the force experienced by a charge in an electric field.
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> ES Lab 01. I can predict the charge on a neutral object knowing the process by which it was charged.
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> ES Lab 02. I can demonstrate how to put a charge on a conductor using the processes of conduction and induction.
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> CIR 1. I can recognize and analyze series and parallel circuits.
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> CIR 2. I can apply how energy is conserved within a circuit (Loop rule) and how charge is conserved within a circuit (Junction Rule)
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> CIR 3. I can calculate equivalent resistance and apply Ohm’s Law.
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> CIR 4. I can calculate the power used by an electronic device.
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> CIR Lab 1: I can measure voltage and current with an appropriate meter.
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> CIR Lab 2: I can draw a circuit diagram and build it correctly based on a description.
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> CIR Lab 3: I can draw a circuit diagram for a circuit based on bulb brightness and observations of the circuit.
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> EM 1. I can recognize and explain what causes magnetic fields.
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> EM 2. I can identify the direction of magnetic fields.
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> EM 3. I can distinguish between magnetic fields and electric fields.
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> EM Lab 1. I can understand the relationship between magnetic and electric fields.
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> EM Lab 2. I can recognize that an object must be charged and moving in a magnetic field in order to experience a magnetic force.
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> WA 1. Know and identify the following features of a wave: amplitude, wavelength, frequency, crest, trough, node, antinode, and period.
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> WA 2. Identify, and compare and contrast, the two types of waves and how they transfer energy.
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> WA 3. Apply the principle of superposition to explain constructive and destructive interference of waves.
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> WA 4. Conceptually and mathematically describe reflection and refraction of waves.
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> WA 5. Conceptually and mathematically demonstrate the relationship between velocity, frequency, and wavelength for a wave, and how wave medium affects these variables.
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> Understand the relationships among science, technology, and society in historical and contemporary contexts.
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