Flo Turkenkopf Packer Collegiate Institute Brooklyn, NY Computational vs. Conceptual: The Best Approach to Teaching 9 th Grade Physics

So, What Am I Going To Talk About? A brief history of “Physics First” at Packer Defining the mathematically or conceptually minded student Reasons for offering two separate courses Syllabi for each course Additional thoughts

Physics First at Packer Introduced to Packer in 1993 From 1993 to 2002, taught as Conceptual Physics 2002 Computational Physics is introduced

Does One Size Really Fit All? Howard Gardner: Multiple Intelligences Mathematical vs. Conceptual Learners

Two Ways of Thinking: Mathematically and Conceptually General Examples:  What do you think of when I ask you what 60 divided by 4 is?  Moving your game piece on a Trivial Pursuit Board Examples from Teaching:  Calculating g’s on a roller coaster  Having a student tell you that their mathematical solution does not make sense

Why Two Different Courses Teaching one curriculum frustrates all students There are different reasons for studying physics Introduction to scientific inquiry Preparation for becoming future scientists Chance to understand the world around them Strengthens the entire science curriculum

So, What Do the Two Curricula Look like? Disclaimer: This is our first year with the two classes and so these syllabi are ever-changing

Conceptual Physics Topics and Projects: Introduction to Physics Thermodynamics: Designing an environmentally responsible home Temperature and Heat Conduction, Convection, and Radiation Specific Heat Capacity Waves and Sound: Building your own musical instrument Wave vocabulary Light and Sound Using an oscilloscope to calculate frequency

Conceptual Physics Continued Mechanics: Newton’s Laws Children’s Story and Designing & Building a Roller Coaster Motion Graphs Newton’s Laws Forces (especially weight) Circular motion Energy

Computational Physics Introduction to Physics Introduction to scientific thought Scientific Notation Unit Conversion Significant Figures Graphing Mechanics Motion Graphs Motion equations: 1D and 2D Newton’s Laws Forces: 1D and 2D Circular Motion Energy Momentum

Computational Physics Continued… Thermodynamics Conduction, convection and radiation Specific heat capacity 1 st and 2 nd laws of thermodynamics

Similarities in the Two Curricula Introduction to scientific inquiry Basics of mechanics Fundamental ideas in thermodynamics Lab report structure emphasized Technology used to acquire data Use of computer applications such as MS Word and Excel

Some Additional Thoughts Computational Physics does not need to incorporate trigonometry. Offering two courses should not be viewed as a tracking system. Tailoring courses to fit students' needs works best in a school that has a culture of collaboration.

A Little Summary… For the past 8 years Packer has taught one physics curriculum, Conceptual Physics, to all 9 th graders. This past year we chose to implement a second course in the 9 th grade called Computational Physics because: We believe that there are fundamental differences between teaching the mathematically minded physics student and the conceptually minded physics student We believe that all the students will enjoy physics more if they are taught it from the angle that is appropriate to their learning style We believe that it will strengthen our entire science program by creating an opportunity to challenge the extremely talented physics students.

Questions?