Title: Interactive, Collaborative, Electronic Learning Logs in the Physics Classroom
1Interactive, Collaborative, Electronic Learning
Logs in the Physics Classroom
- Chris Gosling
- Physics Teacher
- Saranac Lake High School
Sponsored by the National Science Foundation
DUE0302097, SUNY-Buffalo State Physics, The
Adirondack Teacher Center, and Saranac Lake
Central School District
2Presentation Structure
- Why journal?
- Types of journals
- Personal experiences
- Methods for implementation
- Selected excerpts
3Why journal?
- Students who journal outperform their peers
- MacDonald and Cooper as cited by Bazerman,
Little, Bethel, Chavkin, Fouquette, Garufis
(2005). - Written record of ideas and attitudes
- Opportunity to make sense of different
experiences - Form group identity
- Gauge student understanding
4Paper Journals -
- Traditional paper journals
- kept by the student without prompts
- checked periodically by an instructor
5Limitations of paper journals
- Student entries do not keep up with class
- most entries written just before due date
- Feedback limited to instructor comments at end of
grading cycle - Quality of writing/reflection limited with
students of lower ability MacDonald and Cooper as
cited by Bazerman et. al. (2005).
6Dialogue Journals
- Students respond to questions posed by instructor
- Instructor reads responses, comments, and asks
both follow-up and new questions
7Advantages of Dialogue Journals
- Rapid feedback from instructor
- High quality reflection can be achieved with
proper questions
8Disadvantages of Dialogue Journals
- Time consuming for instructor
- Physically challenging numerous journals to be
collected and transported
9Advantages of Using an Electronic Format
- Physical demands of traditional dialogue journals
eliminated - Identical questions can easily be directed to all
students (copy paste) - Students can quickly search for topics
10Disadvantages of Using an Electronic Format
- Still time-consuming
- Files can be lost or corrupted
- Physical act of writing is eliminated
- If images are improperly used files can become
unwieldy
11Advantages of Group-Based Journaling
- Easier for instructor respond to 1/3 of entries
compared to individual journals - (for groups of 3)
- Variety of class experiences within journaling
group can lead to good discussion
12Disadvantages of Group-Based Journaling
- Written comments may be those of typist rather
than group - Must ensure that typist rotates
- Perspectives of quiet group members can be
ignored - Sketches are more complicated to create
13Personal Experiences
- Used traditional individual paper journals in
graduate physics education coursework - Functional, but only if students keep up with
class
14Use of Journals as a Teacher
- Spring 2005 Paul Smiths College
- Implemented traditional paper journals with
algebra and calculus-based physics courses for
non-physics majors - Students wrote entries after each class meeting
(3x per week)
15Traditional Journal Results
- Collected Journals at Midterm Disaster
Disappointment - Most students wrote the journals the night before
they were due - Complete journals showed little genuine reflection
16Hickmans Interactive Collaborative Electronic
Learning Logs (ICE Learning Logs)
- Used with high school students
- Word-processing documents facilitate a group
dialogue journal - instructor bold font
- students non-bold font
- Randomly assigned groups
- (no single sex groups)
- (Hickman, 2000)
17My Adaptation of the ICE Learning Logs
- Virtually identical to Hickmans
- With small classes, single-sex groups were
sometimes unavoidable - Random groupings helped ensure that groups had
different class experiences
18My Adaptation of the ICE Learning Logs
- 3 semesters of use with calculus and
algebra-based courses of non-physics majors at
the college level - 1 semester of use with algebra-based high school
students - (color-coding will denote origin of excerpt)
19Methods of Implementation
- 2 methods of sharing shared network folder and
website - Shared folder is greatly preferred
-
- faster and easier to access
- Dont have to email file back to instructor
- instructor doesnt have to repost file to website
20Themes of Focus
- Group Identity
- Connection to the real-world
- Probing for Conceptual Understanding
- Ah-ha moments (for Learning Commentaries)
- Humor
- Student Responses
21Group Identity
Calculus-Based Algebra-Based High School
(Algebra-Based)
Group Names
- Sassinators
- Killer Time Traveling Train Team
- Rats in a Box
- Kinematic Cockatoos
- The Best Group Ever
- The Snowmen
- Nameless
- Friction Fighters
- Bowling Balls
- Wyld stallions
- Dream Team
22Group Identity
Calculus-Based Algebra-Based High School
(Algebra-Based)
Group Names
- The Exotic Yet Tasteful Learning Loggers
- Team This is Nice n Warm
- Team déjà vu
- Interactive Collaborative Electronic Learning
Loggers - The Pink Flamingos
- The Rubber Duckies
- The Blowfish
The most common group names were those formed
using students initials
23Conceptual Understanding
Calculus-Based Algebra-Based High School
(Algebra-Based)
- What is the difference between average and
instantaneous velocity? - Instantaneous velocity is the slope of the
tangent line at a specific point. Average
velocity is the average slope of the entire curve
on the p vs t graph. Good! - The difference between average and instantaneous
velocity is the average is between many different
velocities and the instantaneous is the actual
velocity. You find the velocity of each part of
the line and then average them together to get
the instantaneous velocity and then to find
Average velocity draw a line of best fit and find
the slope of the line of best fit. I agree with
your strategy for finding average velocity, but
am not sure why youd average all the slopes
together to find instantaneous velocity. Would
you like to revise your statement? If youre
still unsure feel free to call me over for a
quick moment.
24Cptl. Und. / real world
Calculus-Based Algebra-Based High School
(Algebra-Based)
- What does it mean when you say that an object is
accelerating? Provide an example of a situation
where an object accelerates. - When an object accelerates, it is gaining
velocity. An example of this would be a small
child rolling down a hill in a garbage can. Ouch,
but good example! - A sled accelerates going down a hill.
- When you spit off a bridge the spit accelerates
from your mouth as at falls to the icy depths of
the water. Wow, very vivid example.
25Connection to real world
Calculus-Based Algebra-Based High School
(Algebra-Based)
- Question 2.b. helped ideas hit home because it
showed a real life situation that created a
visual of what was really happening with distance
and time and coming up with the story on our own
allowed us to see this comparison better. Good, I
really like this question and was sorry that we
didnt have time to discuss it as a class.
26Connection to real world
Calculus-Based Algebra-Based High School
(Algebra-Based)
- Aside from the human-sized cage, whats another
example of a real-life object than can function
as a Faraday cage? How so? - We talked about cars, trucks, or other petroleum
spewing vehicles acting as a faraday cage in a
lightning storm. With a metallic shell,
electrical charge is distributed on the outside.
This is the reason that people do not get
barbequed when their car is struck with lightning
while sitting on the side of the highway during a
tornado (e.g. Student Cs poor, unfortunate
family). - An object in the real world that can function
like a Faraday cage would be a car in a lightning
storm. This is because if the car is struck
while youre inside it, the outside of the car is
charged, but inside youre safe.
27Connection to real world
Calculus-Based Algebra-Based High School
(Algebra-Based)
- Give an example of a situation where the velocity
of an object is changing but its speed is not. - An example of the velocity of an object changes
but not the speed is if an airplane was changing
course but maintaining a constant speed. - A car can be traveling north on I87 at 60 mph and
then go South on I87 at 60 mph. The speed of the
car remains the same and the direction changes.
28Connection to real world
Calculus-Based Algebra-Based High School
(Algebra-Based)
- Come up with a real-life situation where you
could use the kinematic equations to solve a
problem. Be creative! - You are flying a helicopter at an elevation of
500m Above Ground Level and are hovering at a
blistering speed of 0m/s. wow! You are trying to
drop a ball out and land it in your friends
pool. How long would it take for the ball to
land in the water? Great problem! - A squirrel is running to a tree at the constant
velocity of 2 m/s. The tree is 50 m away from the
squirrels starting point. You could use a
kinematic equation to figure out how long it
would take the squirrel to reach the tree. Great! - Student G jumps off Bluff (a cliff above water).
The rock is precisely 25m high?. It takes him
precisely 5 seconds to hit the water. Given the
average acceleration based on the downward force
of gravity to be 9.81m/s2, what is Student Gs
velocity when he hits the water?
29Connection to real world
Calculus-Based Algebra-Based High School
(Algebra-Based)
- Tell me a story about a situation where net force
might be applicable. - A tow truck pulling someone out a ditch is an
example of net force. The cars gravidity is
pulling against the truck and the truck is
pulling against the car. The truck needs to exert
more force than the car to pull it out of the
ditch. ok - An example of this is if Student Bs car stalls
out and he needs two of his friends, Willie and
Bob, to help him push while he steers the wheel.
The net force is equivalent to the force applied
on the car by Willie (F_w) plus the force applied
on the car by Bob (F_b). Therefore, F_xnet F_w
F_b.
30Connection to real world
Calculus-Based Algebra-Based High School
(Algebra-Based)
- And finally, please tell me a story that could
have resulted in the motion shown on the graph
below. Be creative!
31Responses
Calculus-Based Algebra-Based High School
(Algebra-Based)
- Suzy was walking her dog at a constant speed.
Then she stopped to look at a bird for a moment
and all of the sudden a car hit her and the dog
and sent them both backwards at a constant speed.
Then they both lie in coma on the rode until
someone came along and found them. But it was too
late, they were already dead. Ouch! Harsh, but it
matches the graph well. - Student D was on his way to school and turned
around, then he got back to his house and fought
with his mom for a little while, until she drove
him back to school, were he stayed for the day.
Interesting story, but a perfect match to the
graph! - A runner goes back toward the starting line
because he dropped the baton then stops to pick
it up, and after a few seconds sprints forward
make up the time lost and stops at the finish.
32Responses continued
Calculus-Based Algebra-Based High School
(Algebra-Based)
- So, there was this guy. His name was Phil. So,
he was sitting there, in his recliner, 10 feet
away from his T.V. But he left the remote on the
coffee table, 6 ft away from the T.V. He went
and got the remote, and tripped and fell. So,
now hes lying on the floor, for some seconds.
So then, his show came on, but he forgot his iced
tea in the kitchen. So, he SPRINTED to the
kitchen and got his iced tea. So, then he sat
and drank his iced tea, when someone called. It
was his mom. And then she made him talk
indefinitely. The End. Wow, thats an incredibly
sad story. Nice work! - There was a zookeeper and he started at his
office, and then he went away from his office to
go home and on his way he stopped at the lions
cage and realized it was open. So he stopped on
his way out to close the gate. He then heard a
noise behind him and ran because he knew it was
the lion. He ran past his office and into the
woods where the lion tackled him and ate him and
that is where the line remains in the same
position.
33Connection to real world
Calculus-Based Algebra-Based High School
(Algebra-Based)
- Please tell me a story where an object or a
person has a positive position and velocity, but
negative acceleration. - If you are moving in a positive direction but
slow down so you dont you get hit by a truck you
will have negative acceleration. - A runner is running away from the starting line
(the origin), steps into a pothole, stumbles for
a bit, and then continues running. His velocity
would have decreased, but would stay positive,
while acceleration would be negative. Yes! This
is a good story. Did Scott (whos on the
cross-country team) help dream it up? Im glad
you liked it, It was Scott. - A story about a sprinter running away from a
starting line has a positive position and
velocity but a negative acceleration. Oops sorry
hes drunk and turned around to start running
towards the starting line. check this- you sure?
If the sprinter is moving away from the starting
line at an increasing rate (speed is getting
faster) then the acceleration would be positive.
If youd like to edit your story youre welcome
to.
34Ah-ha moments
Calculus-Based Algebra-Based High School
(Algebra-Based)
- Did any of your group members have an Ah-ha
moment when the light bulb turned on and
everything made sense? - The analogy with the car and the gas tank made a
lot of sense for us. reference to constructing
motion maps Good, glad to hear that it worked
for you. - None of us experienced an epiphany but we all
understand the subjects proficiently. ok - Our light bulbs are flickering, but are not turn
on completely. We understand most of the
material but the subtleties in understanding the
different graphs. All we need is just to review
the material to gain a complete understanding.
Ok, sounds good to me. Did anyone have time to do
this over the past week? - There werent any real ah-ha moments, everything
was pretty straight forward. We enjoyed playing
with the balloons and tinsel, that was fun.
35made you think
Calculus-Based Algebra-Based High School
(Algebra-Based)
- Within your group, select one problem that made
you THINK! - 4.20 in the purple book made us think hard about
where the ball would go. We thought the ball
would continue in a straight line, but we would
like to see proof in class. (tennis ball and pvc
pipes). (a bowling ball and rope would also work
well) How about a marble and a pie tin? Though a
bowling ball would certainly be more dramatic,
especially since were working in 2-D without the
effects of gravity. That means that the ball
would have to be swinging in a perfect horizontal
circle while Andrew gets to run in with a pair of
scissors and cut the string. Remind me if we
didnt do this activity! - And I just found out from Student I explaining to
me that the ax vector is the same as the vector
of the net force. When you say the same, do you
mean that it has the same units and magnitude? OR
do you mean that theyre proportional? We meant
that they are in the same direction, we werent
talking about units or magnitude or
proportionality at all. - The problem that made us think was the problem
with the two cars colliding with different masses
and velocities. We had to predict the direction
after the collision. It made us think because it
was a real life situation.
36made you think
Calculus-Based Algebra-Based High School
(Algebra-Based)
- Within your group, select one problem that made
you THINK! - Student Ks group did a problem with the
quarterback and it showed that you can move
backwards and forwards. The quarterback dropped
back from the line of scrimmage, then threw the
ball forward to a receiver, and then the receiver
continued to run into the end zone. This showed
us that there is both positive and negative
movement in terms of direction. - Question 1c was helpful because we could compare
our answer to another groups answer. It showed
how real life situations could be represented and
how different people use different scales for the
same thing. - Student J predicted that two objects of equal
size but different weight would hit at different
times, the heavier of the two hitting first. I
predicted that objects of different weight would
hit at the same time. Ok- thanks. Most people on
the street would predict that they hit at
different times, but now you know! We observed
that the shape of the object has more affect on
falling rate than the mass of the object does. - Problem number seven was the one that made us
think the most. Intuitively, most of us thought
that the object with the higher mass would have
the greater momentum, but when we put the numbers
into the equation the momentums were equal. Yes!
This shows that momentum depends on more than
mass alone.
37made you think
Calculus-Based Algebra-Based High School
(Algebra-Based)
- Within your group, select one problem that made
you THINK! - The problem with the resistors in series and the
voltage graph showing the drop in voltage across
the resistors. This problem made us think because
we had to consider current as well. Ok- good. - The problem with the electric filed (what is
this?) um we meant field (sp) lines and the
five different points surprised us. We did not
expect that they would all have the same electric
field potential. We thought that the closer the
point was to the negative charge, the weaker the
force would be. Yes, this is certainly the case
when dealing with charges. However, the problem
gave us lines of equipotential rather than the
charges themselves, so thats all we had to go on.
38made you think
Calculus-Based Algebra-Based High School
(Algebra-Based)
- Within your group, select one problem that made
you THINK! - We think number 7 on the homework 3 was really
difficult. You had to apply a lot more thinking
to it then previous questions. You had to
realize the relationship and substitute different
numbers in different places in the equation. You
also had to alter the equation so that it would
work for the variable you were trying to find!
39Cries for help
Calculus-Based Algebra-Based High School
(Algebra-Based)
- No one in our group has an epiphany, but most of
our group is confused with the slope of velocity.
We also have trouble with acceleration vectors. - Soooo, the homework, was NOT as easy as we were
thought to believe. In fact, the diver question
and skier question were near impossible! It is
partially our fault for not starting the homework
earlier and asking questions on it, but we
thought it would be easy and quick, and the fact
that blackboard was down this weekend did not
help - We all had trouble understanding the force
vectors. Ok, thanks for letting me know. The good
news is that well be spending a lot more time
with them in the future so there will be plenty
of time to practice.
40Humor/trade books
Calculus-Based Algebra-Based High School
(Algebra-Based)
- But once we started talking about the Greenies
I actually understood. Physics should be taught
everywhere using Greenies. - p.s. What we really learned is that the
greenies will go on THE PRICE IS RIGHT and will
play plinko with flashing bouncey balls and win
Switzerland. Greenies enjoy cheese and
chocolate. In fact cheese and chocolate are the
two major constituents of the greenies diet.
They also enjoy hamsters. (reference to There
are no electrons Electronics for Earthlings)
cite?zgf
41Humor
Calculus-Based Algebra-Based High School
(Algebra-Based)
- Tell me a story about a situation where net force
might be applicable. - If you have two Rare Mountain Shoats playing tug
of war on top of St. Regis Mountain. The two
shoats are of equal strength but not stamina. So
for a while the net force on the rope applied by
the shoats is ZERO. After 3 minutes shoat 1 gets
tired and is applying less force than Shoat 2.
Shoat 2 pulls him down the mountain and into
Lower St. Regis Lake. He won. Thats one of the
best shoat stories ever. Maybe you should write
it down and put it in a fairy tale book for your
grandkids someday. I might do that too.
42Humor
Calculus-Based Algebra-Based High School
(Algebra-Based)
- Invent a motion map and then provide a plausible
explanation for how it could have been created. - This guy Chris Gosling was walking along one day
and he tripped on a porcupine. It is important to
note that he was near the top of a hill when this
incident happened. So when he tripped he fell in
the direction of the downward slope and proceeded
to roll into a ball and then down the hill.
Along the way a large rock intercepted Chris
path and he flew 2ft into the air and was caught
by a large eagle and carried off to spend the
rest of his life to live in a nest. However,
between the time of porcupine impact and when he
slammed into the rock, some nearby Physics
students decided to measure motion maps than save
him from his doomed fate. Outstanding scenario!
43Humor
Calculus-Based Algebra-Based High School
(Algebra-Based)
- Teddy, Makeda, and Brian- This drawing is one
of the best Ive ever seen. Maybe I will take it
home and put it on my fridge. But why is the
grassy hillside level? The eagle is a
particularly nice touch.
44Humor
Calculus-Based Algebra-Based High School
(Algebra-Based)
- Tell me a story about a situation where net force
might be applicable. - So we got team A and team B in an extreme
tug-o-war tournament. They are in the final
round and its a heated match. Team A is a
applying a force of 80 wheat fig N and team B is
applying a force of -80 wheat fig N. The net
force of the tug-o-war match is 0 wheat fig N.
All of a sudden, little Timmy musters up enough
strength to increase the force of team Bs net
force to -82 wheat fig N. With this larger
amount of force, the new net force of the
tug-o-war match is -2 wheat fig N. Team B is now
able to pull team A into the alligator infested
mud pit and win the extreme tug-o-war tournament
for the fifth consecutive year. All of the
players of team A were sadly consumed by the
alligators and will no longer be able to compete
in next years tournament.
45Humor
Calculus-Based Algebra-Based High School
(Algebra-Based)
46Student Reactions
Calculus-Based Algebra-Based High School
(Algebra-Based)
- Which do you prefer individual journaling or the
group journals weve been doing the second half
of the semester? Why? -
- We all agree that group journal is the better way
to get thoughts and ideas out and is much easier
to work in a group than to sit down individually
and write the entries. Being done in class, you
dont forget like you would when having to do
them individually. - Well the groups journal was preferred as we can
work together to find our way and in addition we
get some satisfaction in the more immediate reply
from you the teacher as to our rightness or
wrongness - Journaling is definitely better as a group
because its fresh in the mind and it makes sure
we do it. - It was nice to have your question to point us in
a direction.
47Student Reactions Cont.
Calculus-Based Algebra-Based High School
(Algebra-Based)
- Which do you prefer individual journaling or the
group journals weve been doing the second half
of the semester? Why? - We believe that the journals in class were
definitely the way to go. They allowed us more
constructive journal entries, instead of writing
them all at the end and forgetting some stuff.
Its actually incentive to do them, since its
done in class. - Group journaling is much better. In case we dont
understand something we can discuss it over with
our group and understand it better. it helped to
direct the journal entries.
48Student Reactions
Calculus-Based Algebra-Based High School
(Algebra-Based)
- Which method makes it easier to write a Learning
Commentary later? -
- When it comes to writing Learning Commentaries we
feel that individual journaling is better because
individually your problems are in the journal,
maybe the problems that you (individually) have. - We think it was also easier to write Learning
Commentaries because you didnt have to keep
flipping through journal pages, and everything
was found on the computer.
49Student Reactions
Calculus-Based Algebra-Based High School
(Algebra-Based)
- Which method helps you learn better?
- (electronic learning logs vs. traditional
journals) - We believe that this electronic journaling helps
us learn better since there are specific
questions to answer about the topics we cover in
class. - We think that as a group you learn better because
every ones views are expressed and discussed. - This method was also probably better for learning
because of two reasons you always did it and
your answers were more complete and correct.
50Student Reactions
Calculus-Based Algebra-Based High School
(Algebra-Based)
- How do these learning logs compare to traditional
journals (pencil and paper) that youve kept for
other classes? -
- We all like the electronic learning logs a lot
better than having to write them on paper. - They are faster and are easier to correct
mistakes with a teachers response. - We decided that we like electronic learning logs
better than written ones, because it is more
efficient and fast than journals on paper.
51Student Reactions
Calculus-Based Algebra-Based High School
(Algebra-Based)
- Do you think that writing the Learning Logs helps
you learn physics? - Learning logs help- they kind of bring everything
together. - We think they help us and they are a better way
to figure out things we have problems with. - they do help us get information straight.
- It didnt necessarily help to learn physics but
they definitely gave us a good summary of the
material and good practice!
52References
Bazerman, C., Little, J., Bethel, L., Chavkin,
T., Fouquette, D., Garufis, J. (2005).
Reference guide to writing across the curriculum.
West Lafayette, Indiana Parlor
Press. http//wac.colostate.edu/books/bazerman_wac
/ Hickman, P. (2000). Assessing student
understanding with interactive-electronic-collabor
ative learning logs. ENC Focus, 7(2), 24-27.
53Questions?