How Technology Can Help Your Students Build a Deeper Understanding of the Subject and Enjoy Learning Physics By Dr. Marina Milner-Bolotin Department of Physics and Astronomy University of British Columbia

You cannot teach a man anything, you can only help him to find it within himself. Galileo Galilei

Inquiry-Based Physics Teaching Applications: Problem solving, everyday life uses, new predictions Prediction IF-THEN Unsuccessful Observational experiments Physical model Testing Experiment Successful

Technology – What is it Good for? Enhanced Experiments MBL Video Visualization Simulations WWW Dialogue Beyond the Classroom Interactive Lessons Lectures Problem Solving Is it all? What else?

Physics Problem Data-Bases Mastering Physics (Free with Knight Textbook purchase – or $28 per semester per student): The University of TX Database – Free Database (The Department and the students pay) Many other databases – some are free

Interactive Problem-Solving - MP

Online Resources - ActivPhysics Physics problem solving: simulations, advice, strategies, graphs, diagrams, charts, interactive problems…

Technology and Multiple Representations  1 - i 1 R 1 - i 3 R 3 = 0  2 - i 2 R 2 - i 3 R 3 = 0 i 1 + i 2 = i 3 i 1 i 2 i 3 R 1 R 2 R 3 11 22 ActivPhysics helps students create and connect different representations

ActivPhysics Students visualize a problem, build energy bar charts, solve it, make and test predictions…

Peer Response Systems Systems which allow students answer multiple choice questions and transmit their answer to instructor’s computer The answers can be displayed during the lesson and analyzed later There are many different systems available –PRS – EduCue – Addison Wesley bc.com/catalog/academic/product/0,1144, DS,00.htmlhttp:// bc.com/catalog/academic/product/0,1144, DS,00.html

Peer Response System

Interactive Lectures – Using PRS A sample starts with 1000 radioactive atoms. How many half-lives have elapsed when 750 atoms have decayed?

PRS: Who Does More Work? 1.Bob 2.Joe 3.Both did the same amount of work Both men pick up the barrels with const speed Assume the rolling friction is very small

PRS: Applying Gauss’s Law These are two-dimensional cross sections through three- dimensional closed spheres and a cube. Rank order, from largest to smallest, the electric fluxes  a to  e through surfaces a to e. 1. Φ a > Φ c > Φ b > Φ d > Φ e 2. Φ b = Φ e > Φ a = Φ c = Φ d 3. Φ e > Φ d > Φ b > Φ c > Φ a 4. Φ b > Φ a > Φ c > Φ e > Φ d 5. Φ d = Φ e > Φ c > Φ a = Φ b

Immediate Feedback: PRS Results Instructor and students get immediate feedback on the material comprehension. Large lecture becomes interactive

Enhanced Experimentation - MBL Exploring the meaning of the area and slopes of graphs in 1-D Kinematics Using available equipment, design an experiment which will test the model of 1- D motion

Enhanced Experimentation - Video

Dialogue Beyond the Classroom Discussion on problem solving via the interactive software – MP, WebAssign, WebCT, Discussion Boards, etc. Getting immediate feedback on problem solving Experimenting at home with the real data collected during the class time

Technology and Physics Teaching Technology: Is a tool and its effectiveness depends on how you use it Doesn’t replace a teacher, but it opens new opportunities Helps students to learn interactively outside of the classroom Provides opportunities for more effective data analysis (video experiments, MBL, data analysis in Excel, Graphical Analysis)

Some Online Resources Technology Enabled Active Learning – TEAL Physics Teaching Technology Resource - Online Videos: Mastering Physics: ActivPhysics: Set of PRS problems: l l PRS Information: MIT – Open Courseware: (video of lectures) Interactive applets for teaching physics: bin/ss/mainhttp:// bin/ss/main