Author Archives: geoff

Monkey and the Hunter Conceptual Explanation

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Back in mid-November, I [posted to my 180 blog](http://180.pedagoguepadawan.net/289/day-63-anti-curious-george-escaped/) about the classic monkey and hunter demonstration. In that post I referenced a conceptual explanation as to why the hunter should aim directly at the monkey. Andy asked me to share the conceptual explanation and I’m finally taking time to do so.

For many years the best conceptual explanation I could offer was based on that of a student who came up with the following after seeing the demonstration. Imagine there is no gravity. The angle is such that in the time it takes the projectile to move horizontally, it will move the necessary vertical distance to hit the monkey. The effect of adding back gravity just adds the \frac{1}{2} a t^{2} part of the equation which is the same for the monkey and the projectile.

This year, I developed an alternative conceptual explanation. Put yourself in the frame of reference of the monkey. The difference in the vertical component of the velocity between the monkey and the projectile is the same and will remain the same due to the acceleration of gravity.
Therefore, the projectile has a constant velocity and, if aimed directly at the monkey, will move in a straight line toward the monkey.

I received a GoPro for Christmas and plan to use it to film this demonstration from the perspective of the monkey.

CSEd Week

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Due to space availability, we held our [Computer Science Education Week](http://csedweek.org) activities a week early. My colleague and I and our students shared student work over three days in the cafeteria. We highlighted robotics, art, and games over the three days. We also provided the opportunity for students to participate in the [Hour of Code](http://csedweek.org/learn). My colleague, @Mr_Alesch, created the following poster to promote our activities:

Download (PDF, 603KB)

I created the following video to promote computer science:

Computing at NNHS from Naperville North High School on Vimeo.

A handful of students completed the Hour of Code and many more students saw what students in the various computer science classes created. It was a good outreach activity and we learned how to make it even better next year. Students enrolling in computer science classes appear to be increasing; hopefully, this helped.

Physics Capstones

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This year’s AP Physics B capstones were as great as [last year’s](https://pedagoguepadawan.net/214/capstones/). Click there to read more about how I structure capstones.

* Joe’s [GravitON – A Python based N-Body Gravity Simulator](https://naperville.instructure.com/eportfolios/19347). Cleanly implemented and well documented VPython implementation of the n-body problem. Can’t wait until Joe offloads process to the GPU!
* Danny’s [Resistance Bands vs Free Weights](https://naperville.instructure.com/eportfolios/19350/Home/Introduction). A well-designed experiment to model resistance bands.
* Andrew’s [Amateur Kitchen Rocketry](https://naperville.instructure.com/eportfolios/16476/Capstone__Semester_1/Kitchen_Rocketry). Very creative. Have you ever considered building an olive-oil-powered rocket?
* Helen’s [Springboard Diving](Amateur Kitchen Rocketry). Great video analysis and fantastic video interviews of coaches and divers.
* Matt’s [Pony Physics](https://naperville.instructure.com/eportfolios/19088): Very creative and thorough exploration of the physics of My Little Pony.
* Andrew’s [Rifle Toss](https://naperville.instructure.com/eportfolios/16531/Home/Rifle_Toss_Capstone): wonderful application of more advanced physics to determine the energy needed for an 8-rotation rifle toss. (Web page struggles to display the equations; refer to PDF at the bottom.)
* Nathan’s [Physics of Intonation](https://naperville.instructure.com/eportfolios/16516/CAPSTONE_PROJECT): answers the question “how important is it to play in tune?” Includes a Python script that calculates superposition and a great Minute Physics-style video.
* Nathan’s [Putt Simulator](https://naperville.instructure.com/eportfolios/16498/Capstone): Models the motion of a golf ball on a generated surface. Incredible application of calculus and computational modeling. (Requires Python, VPython, and Matplotlib.)
* Michael’s [Tunnel to the Center of the Earth](https://naperville.instructure.com/eportfolios/19247/Home/Introduction): Wonderful Minute Physics-style video supported by Excel-based computational models. Cites Rhett Allain’s [How Long Would It Take to Fall through the Earth](http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/11/how-long-would-it-take-to-fall-through-the-earth/), solves Rhett’s homework, and then assigns his own.

Based on feedback from students, I’m going to make a one change for next year. Several students actively peer reviewed each other’s capstones. This was fantastic and improved the quality. I wanted to make this a required activity next year.

I think this year’s class benefited from seeing examples from last year’s class. Now that I have a diverse collection of excellent capstones to share, students have an easier time understanding what a capstone is and how to present it in an engaging manner.

Recognizing True Professional Development

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This fall, our school district adopted a new model for how professional development affects teacher salary. The new model provides various opportunities for educators to participate in professional development activates aligned to their personal career path. These activities may result in immediate compensation or “points” that can accumulate and move teachers across the traditional salary schedule.

Coming from the business world, the idea that employees would have a career path that they discuss periodically with their supervisor makes a lot of sense. I’m pleased that everyone will at least have this conversation as it is both a great opportunity to set goals as well as to identify opportunities for collaboration with teachers with similar goals.

I’m even more excited about the flexibility of the new model. The “bricks” that result in compensation or points can be coursework like in traditional salary models. However, they can also be earned by leading initiatives, participating in committees, creating and facilities professional development courses, developing curriculum, conducting research, and other professional learning experiences.

Historically, I’ve been pretty frustrated with how my professional development has been recognized and rewarded by my district. My time, like everyone’s, is limited and valuable. I choose to participate in those activities that will have the greatest affect on my professional development and my students’ learning. I carefully choose the conferences and workshops that I attend, the committees and professional development activities in which I participate, and the graduate courses in which I enroll. Only once in my seven years as a teacher has my assessment of professional development value and my district’s aligned. I received graduate credit for the Modeling Instruction workshop that I completed five years ago. The most frustrating was when I was denied credit when I was a Teacher Research Associate at Fermilab National Laboratory over one verb in the corresponding graduate course description. That summer, I worked on the [Holometer collaboration](http://holometer.fnal.gov) and wrote a [series of articles](https://pedagoguepadawan.net/holometer/) that explained the experiment at a level high schoolers and general public could understand. It was an incredible experience. I hope, with this new model, no teacher will ever experience the frustration that I did when pursuing such a rich professional development experience and not having that recognized by the district.

Now I’m about to test the flexibility of the new model.

I just finished writing a brick proposal for the “Discovery, sharing, execution, and enhancement of research-based and field-tested best practices for physics education.” I’ve come to realize that the most valuable professional development that I experience is with my online and Chicagoland colleagues. That’s why I invest my time in my weekly physics PLC Google Hangout, monthly Physics West meetings, my blog and 180 posts, and reading all of your posts and tweets. I tried to convey the significance of these experiences in my application:


This brick would be an example of blended learning. It would involve my participation with my online colleagues through a weekly Professional Learning Community (PLC) physics meeting comprised of physics educators throughout the country (and world) that I most respect and through less formal interactions via Twitter and blogs. For example, check my blog [Pedagoue Padawan](https://pedagoguepadawan.net) and my 180 blog: [Pedagogue Padawan 180](http://180.pedagoguepadawan.net). It would also encompass in-person activities with the Chicagoland Physics West group, which meets monthly at area educational institutions. Interactions with each group are shared with the other as well as with my colleagues at Naperville North. To provide some context, every significant change (e.g., [standards-based grading](https://pedagoguepadawan.net/category/standards-based-grading/), [Modeling Instruction](https://pedagoguepadawan.net/category/modeling/), [peer instruction](https://pedagoguepadawan.net/?s=peer+instruction), [computational modeling](https://pedagoguepadawan.net/?s=computational+modeling)) that has dramatically affected student learning and my professional practice has been profoundly impacted by the interactions captured in this brick; significantly more so than any other professional development experience I’ve done in my seven years of teaching.

I’ll keep you all posted on how this goes and thank you in advance of your continued support of my professional development.

Happy New Year!

OSMOCES 2013: Computational Modeling with VPython

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If you are in my [OSMOCES 2013](http://osmoces.org/) session on Computational Modeling with VPython and want to try the models as we go, here are the three links to you need to get setup:

* [VPython](http://www.vpython.org/index.html)
* [my GitHub](https://github.com/gcschmit/vpython-physics)

Install VPython for your system and download my vpython-physics repository from GitHub.

If you referring to these materials later or just browsing, here are the slides I shared.

Download (PDF, 5.59MB)

I also shared several links to other resources, textbooks, papers at the end. They are reproduced here to make navigation easier.

* [Georgia Tech PER Group](https://per.gatech.edu/wiki/doku.php?id=projects:hscomp:physutil)
* [my GitHub](https://github.com/gcschmit/vpython-physics)
* [John Burk’s blog](https://quantumprogress.wordpress.com/computational-modeling/)
* [Matter and Interactions by Ruth Chabay and Bruce Sherwood](http://matterandinteractions.org)
* [Computational Physics by Mark Newman](http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/cp/)
* [Integrating Numerical Computation into the Modeling Instruction Curriculum](http://arxiv.org/abs/1207.0844) by Caballero, Burk, et al.
* [Open Source Physics, Easy Java Simulations (OSP EJS)](http://www.opensourcephysics.org/search/categories.cfm?t=Overview)
* [Glowscript and CoffeeScript](http://www.glowscript.org) and an [introduction](http://matterandinteractions.wordpress.com/2011/09/23/glowscript-3d-animations-in-a-browser/)
* [GeoGebra](http://www.geogebra.org)

Introducing Growth Mindset and Deep Practice to Students

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I [read](https://pedagoguepadawan.net/291/summer-reading-2/) Mindset by Dr. Carol Dweck and The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle this summer. The three of us teaching Honors Physics this year agreed that we should share the concepts of mindset and deep practice with out students, emphasize them throughout the year, and measure how our students mindsets change throughout the year.

Inspired by the efforts of [John Burk](http://quantumprogress.wordpress.com/?s=mindset) and [Mylène](http://shiftingphases.com/2013/01/13/growth-mindset-resource/). I put together some materials that focus on mindset and learning attitudes. There are a coupe of surveys, some in-class activities, and some readings for homework and in-class discussion. I think focusing on these concepts can have a significant impact on our students. I also wanted to collect some data that measures the impact of [our new approach](https://pedagoguepadawan.net/286/honors-physics-changes/) to Honors Physics.

We started with John Burk’s [intelligence survey](http://quantumprogress.wordpress.com/2011/09/10/measuring-mindset-in-my-classes/) which is a short survey to be administered before discussing mindset and deep practice. We assigned this survey for homework and captured the data in Canvas.

Some results were quite promising and indicative of more of a growth mindset than I expected:

Screen Shot 2013 09 22 at 12 42 06 AM

*You can greatly change how intelligent you are.*

Screen Shot 2013 09 22 at 12 42 15 AM

*You can greatly change your ability to understand science.*

And some indicate that there is plenty of room to change attitudes about learning and physics:

Screen Shot 2013 09 22 at 12 41 57 AM

*How well you can memorize mostly determines how well you can do in science.*

Screen Shot 2013 09 22 at 12 42 40 AM

*Watching an instructor do examples is the best way to learn new material.*

After students completed the intelligence survey, we introduced the concepts of growth vs. fixed mindset and performed activities from *The Talent Code* to demonstrate deep practice and chunking. At home they watched Angela Duckworth’s [TED talk on grit](http://www.ted.com/talks/angela_lee_duckworth_the_key_to_success_grit.html). Here are the slides:

Download (PDF, 2.08MB)

We then assigned [*The Power (and Peril) of Praising Your Kids*](http://nymag.com/news/features/27840/) a New York Magazine article for reading at home. We also distributed copies of [Diana Hestwood’s slides](https://sites.google.com/site/dianahestwood/) about how the brain learns.

The next day in class, we had a great discussion about this article and the slides. Several students really identified with the boy Thomas in the New York Magazine article.

The final piece as to administer the [Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS)](http://www.colorado.edu/sei/class/) which was developed by the PER group at Colorado Boulder. We wanted to administer this at the start of the year to capture student expectations and then again at the end of the year to capture how student attitudes have changed. Administering this survey was a bit tricky since these students don’t have a previous experience with a physics class. So, we encouraged them to complete the survey based on their expectations.

To achieve our goal of having a significant impact on our students, these activities must only be the beginning. We will have to make a concerted effort to reinforce growth mindsets explicitly throughout the year and implicitly with a culture in which a growth mindset can flourish. While I fear that the traditional school environment fosters a fixed mindset, I hope that at least our classroom (especially with standards-based grading) can provide a refuge for the growth mindset.

Summer Reading

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I have a theory that how much I enjoy the summer is directly proportional to how much I read during it. This may be because I make little time to read anything of significant length during the school year. However, during the summer, I find it easier to make time. This summer was a good one for reading!

**[Mindstorms: Children, Computers, And Powerful Ideas](http://www.amazon.com/Mindstorms-Children-Computers-Powerful-Ideas/dp/0465046746) by Seymour Papert**

I had been meaning to read this for a while and received a copy as a Christmas gift. I found it so enlightening and surprising that I previous [wrote about it](https://pedagoguepadawan.net/247/mindstorms/).

**[The Quantum Story: A history in 40 moments](http://www.amazon.com/Quantum-Story-History-40-Moments/dp/0199655979) by Jim Baggott**

I don’t remember how this book ended up on my reading list, but I’m glad it did. I find the history of modern physics fascinating and my students appreciate learning about the historical context in which scientific advancements were made. I found *Quantum Story* riveting. I flagged dozens of pages to reference in class when we study modern physics.

**[Mindset: The New Psychology of Success](http://www.amazon.com/Mindset-Psychology-Success-Carol-Dweck/dp/0345472322) by Dr. Carol Dweck**

Several teachers that I respect have strongly recommended this book and Dweck’s research on fixed vs. growth mindsets. AFter last year, I was concerned about many of my students’ mindsets. I found this book helpful in that it provided a good foundation for understanding mindsets from a cognitive psychology perspective. I’m working on a future post on how I’ll introduce students to fixed vs. growth mindsets.

**[The Talent Code: Greatness Isn’t Born. It’s Grown. Here’s How](http://www.amazon.com/Talent-Code-Greatness-Born-Grown/dp/055380684X) by Daniel Coyle**

This book was a great pairing to *Mindset*. Coyle focused on very similar ideas from the perspective of neuroscience. I flagged a couple of the examples in this book to use as activities with my students. I hope that the combination of the ideas of mindset with that of deep practice will have a powerful impact on my students.

**[
National Geographic Angry Birds Furious Forces: The Physics at Play in the World’s Most Popular Game](http://www.amazon.com/National-Geographic-Angry-Furious-Forces/dp/1426211724) by Rhett Allain**

It took me longer than expected to read this book because my son took it before I got started. It is a wonderful, accessible, fun, and engaging introduction to the world of physics through the lens of Angry Birds. Rhett’s casual writing style is a perfect fit for this book. I plan to keep it out in my classroom for students to browse and enjoy.

**[The Einstein Theory of Relativity: A Trip to the Fourth Dimension](http://www.amazon.com/Einstein-Theory-Relativity-Fourth-Dimension/dp/1589880447) by Lillian R. Lieber**

I believe I learned of this book in *The Physics Teacher* and was intrigued by the reviewer who claimed this was the best explanation of tensors, ever. I ordered a couple of copies: one to gift to a student who was graduating and one for myself. I was wonderfully surprised by the writing style and the illustrations throughout the book. I must admit that I’m still in the middle of the book, but I hope that my reading won’t be interrupted now that school has started!

We Don’t Need a Technology Integration Team

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Last year, I was a member of my high school’s Technology Field Test Team, a group of teachers, Technology Integration Specialists, and administrators who were piloting various technology initiatives (e.g., one-to-one iPads, BYOD, iPad carts, etc.). This year, that team is morphing into a team focused on technology integration building-wide rather than additional pilots. Along with the two Technology Integration Specialists and another teacher, I will be leading this team. Over the summer, I was asked to think about the vision, the scope, and [The Why](http://www.startwithwhy.com) of this team.

After some thought, I realized:

**We don’t need a Technology Integration Team**

Instead:

**We need a Teaching Best Practices Team**

The very idea of a technology integration team puts the emphasis on the wrong syllable. We need a team that can help our teachers adopt pedagogically-sound best practices for teaching. Often, those best practices may involve the integration of technology. Sometimes, [they won’t](http://fnoschese.wordpress.com/2010/08/06/the-2-interactive-whiteboard/). Regardless, the technology isn’t the first step; and, furthermore, if [the](http://www.khanacademy.org/) [technology](http://smarttech.com/smartboard) doesn’t support pedagogically-sound best practices, we need to make sure our colleagues are aware of that.

To be clear, I’m not against technology in the classrooms. I try all sorts of stuff and see what works for me and my students. I feel much better when a particular use of technology is supported by educational research. So, while I don’t send students home at night to watch Khan Academy videos, because that doesn’t help students learn (and [may actually reinforce their misconceptions and make them over-confident](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVtCO84MDj8)), I do use iPads as a key tool in peer instruction and follow [a process supported by educational research](http://www.lifescied.org/content/10/1/55.abstract).

Here’s a helpful [matrix](http://fcit.usf.edu/matrix/matrix.php) on the spectrum of technology integration. By focusing primarily on the technology, I think teachers can get stuck on the left side of this spectrum. They use technology in a substitutive manner in which they are doing the same things in a somewhat better way. If we focus first on doing better things, we can explore more transformative uses of technology.

I have a theory that these transformative uses of technology occur in quantum steps. Having a great Learning Management System (LMS) like [Instructure’s Canvas](http://instructure.com/) enables students to create [online portfolios of capstone projects](https://pedagoguepadawan.net/214/capstones/) that are easily shared within and outside of the classroom. Having access to seven laptops and [Vernier’s](http://vernier.com/) LabPro and LoggerPro make possible a whole collection of physics labs. Having access to 15 laptops and [Tracker](http://www.cabrillo.edu/~dbrown/tracker/) allows pairs of students to learn about physics through video analysis. Having access to 30 iPads and [NearPod](http://www.nearpod.com) allows the discussion and debate of rich questions during peer instruction. Having one-to-one of a uniform device and set of apps enables students to … well, I’m not sure since I haven’t experienced that, but I expect it will be another quantum step.

I don’t know who coined the phrase or if the context was even related to technology, but I think this sums up my philosophy of technology in education:

**Doing Better Things over Doing Things Better**

When I wrote the above quote, I was reminded of Agile Software Development, which was a major focus of mine in my previous career. Personally, I find a great deal of similarities between my educational technology philosophy and my software development philosophy. In fact, upon revisiting the [Manifesto for Agile Software Development](http://agilemanifesto.org), I found it surprisingly relevant to the world of education and technology when viewed from that perspective. Here it is:


We are uncovering better ways of developing
software by doing it and helping others do it.
Through this work we have come to value:

Individuals and interactions    over    processes and tools

Working software    over    comprehensive documentation

Customer collaboration    over    contract negotiation

Responding to change    over    following a plan

That is, while there is value in the items on
the right, we value the items on the left more.

From one perspective, I think these principles could apply to the relationship between teachers and students in a classroom. From another perspective, I think they could apply to the relationship between teachers and our technology integration team.

I think there is a lot of wisdom in [Stephanie Chasteen’s post](http://blog.sciencegeekgirl.com/2013/07/18/moving-beyond-telling-faculty-about-educational-innovations-aaptsm13/) about a talk at the AAPT Summer Meeting by Chandra Turpen in which she promotes the idea that “we should focus on providing powerful experiences with educational innovation that allow faculty to see success for themselves.” This perspective combined with developing a [growth mindset](http://mindsetonline.com) in our faculty could be a powerful combination.

So, maybe I’ve finished my summer homework. The Why of our team is to better help students learn by helping teachers adopt best practices. Our scope is advocacy and support for pedagogically-sound teaching best practices that may or may not require technology integration. Perhaps our vision could be captured by rephrasing the Agile Manifesto in the context of the relationship between teachers and our team.

I’m sure I’m not the only one to have thought about this. I’d love to hear your ideas and experiences and share those with this new team.

Pedagogue Padawan 180

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I’m going to attempt to keep at 180 blog this year. I infrequently make time during the school year to write long blog posts; so, I hope I can share more of what we do via [Pedagogue Padawan 180](http://180.pedagoguepadawan.net/). I don’t have 180 days with students; so, I’ll include some extra days along the way. I’m starting today because it is the first day back for teachers (students won’t arrive until Wednesday). I’m starting with Day 0 since I teach computer science as well as physics!

A couple of days ago, Fran Poodry announced on the AMTA list a Modeling Instruction-focused 180 blog aggregator. If you are interested, (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/197Vq_iIICtXbqmE-rzCVSOGcdoB6UAVSdhKj_v-Y2Yk/viewform).

Honors Physics Changes

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Several factors combined into a perfect storm that set the stage to make major changes to our Honors Physics course. One, last year was rough and several aspects of class were disappointing. I’m not going to dwell on those here. Two, we have an extra section of Honors Physics this upcoming year and another physics teacher will join my colleague and I in teaching Honors Physics. She is a really good influence on us! Three, we want to pilot the AP Physics 1 course to prepare for the first official year of AP Physics 1/2 in 2014-2015 and prime a pipeline of students ready for AP Physics 2. As a result, we are changing almost every aspect of this course.

First is the curriculum. We are aligning our curriculum to that of AP Physics 1. This changes the emphasis from content to understanding and skills. As a result, we will finally be able to implement [Modeling Instruction](http://modelinginstruction.org/) in Honors Physics! The shift to Modeling Instruction, which we have been using in General Physics for a few years, will have a tremendous impact on these students. We are also taking some of the most successful aspects of my AP Physics B course and incorporating them into Honors Physics. We will have formative quizzes for each unit and we will have peer instruction to focus on conceptual understanding.

This change in curriculum and pedagogy required us to redefine all of our units and materials. All new standards, in-class packets, quizzes, lab activities, lab practicums, and exams. Fortunately, we didn’t have to create too many materials from scratch. We started with Kelly O’Shea’s [Honors Physics Standards](http://kellyoshea.wordpress.com/2011/08/10/honors-physics-2012-objectives/). We used worksheets from the Modeling Workshop along with portions of Kelly’s packets. We used peer instruction questions I compiled for AP Physics B. We combined quiz and exam questions from a variety of sources. We kept our favorite labs and found or created new ones.

We are also trying to incorporate and emphasize certain themes throughout the course. One is growth mindset. Reading Dr. Carol Dweck’s book [Mindset](http://www.amazon.com/Mindset-The-New-Psychology-Success/dp/0345472322/) and Daniel Coyle’s [The Talent Code](http://www.amazon.com/The-Talent-Code-Greatness-Grown/dp/055380684X/) this summer, helped me to find the commonality of behaviors and attitudes that some physics students, especially honors physics students, have that make them really struggle in the course. I prepared a mini-lesson (upcoming post) to introduce the concepts of fixed vs. growth mindset and deep practice. Another area of focus will be measurement uncertainty in labs. While we have a good set of [measurement uncertainty activities](https://pedagoguepadawan.net/198/updated-measurement-uncertainty-activities/), we don’t sufficiently reinforce these concepts throughout the year. At the most recent QuarkNet Workshop at Fermilab, we heard and discussed how critical it was for students to understand and appreciate the concept of measurement uncertainty.

A good sign that we are on the right track for this revamped Honors Physics course is that I’m excited and looking forward to this class this year. Without these changes, I don’t think I would be saying that….