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Welcome to Physics! Physics is the study of how objects interact with each other and their environments. In this classwe will look at cars, planes, music, homes, electricity, sports, cooking, and more. The concepts you will learn – work and energy, forces, momentum, etc. – form the foundation of chemistry, biology, earth science, and the other scientific disciplines. Open up a newspaper on any given day and you will read about the scientific issues facing society, such as: Finding new and cleaner energy resources Obtaining clean drinking water
Scientists are no longer the only people who need to understand and make scientific decisions. Politicians, lawyers, urban planners, and police forces are a few of the many people whose careers require a firm grounding in science. A strong physics background will allow you to participate in our ever evolving world. Unlike traditional courses, we introduce energy and its conservation right at the beginning (after defining speed); you will gain an appreciation for why objects move and affect their environment. Energy remains the focus and central theme as you investigate more concepts such as work, friction, and Newton’s Laws of Motion. Instead of learning physics as a series of disjointed units you will use energy as a unifying concept and come to learn that accelerating, lifting, heating, or lighting all require energy. Organization of the Book
“Tell me something and I'll forget. Show me and I'll remember. Involve me and I'll learn.” – unknown By now you have probably had plenty of experience with traditional textbooks, those thick books filled with loosely connected facts. Most courses taught with traditional textbooks require students to memorize information and repeat it on exams. More often than not, this information is then forgotten by the student because it was not connected to what was already in the student’s head. Hopefully, you will find this course to be a welcome departure from the “brain dump” methods of traditional classes. In this course you will build and understanding of physics concepts through a collaborative process with your peers and your instructor. The book is designed around the 5E Learning Cycle, shown to the right and described below. 1. Engage – The first stage of the learning cycle will provide a question or activity designed toengage the students on the new concepts and try and connect the new phenomenon to what the students already know. 2. Explore – In the second stage the students will investigate the new phenomenon withoutdirect instruction from the teacher. At this stage students will test predictions and hypotheses and/or form new ones, develop and revise explanations based on their observations while discussing them with peers. Students SHOULD be puzzled during this stage – you are just learning about something new! 3. Explain - During this stage, students explain concepts in their own words, ask for evidence and clarification oftheir explanation, and listen critically to one another's explanation and those of the teacher. Students should use observations and recordings in their explanations. The teacher will help the students use logic and observations to revise and reshape their ideas into something the whole class can agree upon and which agrees with the student’s observations. 4. Extend - During extend students will apply concepts and skills in new (but similar) situations and use formallabels and definitions. Students need to consider existing data and evidence as they explore new situations. As they encounter new situations students will be using the previous information to ask questions, propose solutions, make decisions, experiment, and record observations. 5. Evaluation - Evaluation will take place throughout the learning experience. The teacher will observe students'knowledge and/or skills, application of new concepts and a change in thinking. The teacher will use question and formal surveys to help students assess their own learning.
Wouldn’t it be more efficient to just present the information in the traditional manner, you may ask?
How does this prepare you for the future? Traditional education leads students to believe that there is nothing left to learn– it’s in the book. However, most occupations do not have a textbook filled with answers. The “real” world is much different from the “school” world. In the real world:
Give a person a fish and they eat for a day, teach a person to fish and they eat for a lifetime. – Chinese Proverb
Physics Toolbox Like a carpenter or plumber physicists utilize different tools to solve problems. Instead of wrenches or saws, the physicists’ tools consist of concepts and equations. As you progress through the course you will add short descriptions of concepts and equations into the toolbox that you can use for quick reference.
Interludes – Energy and Society With electric lights, televisions, radios, cell phones, cars, hot water, heat, and other energy requirements, our society depends on energy sources. Since there is a limited amount of energy in this world proper management of our energy resources is crucial to the continuation of our civilization. After each chapter the book contains a brief interlude which will help you explore and understand the issues between energy and society.
Role of the Teacher “The worst thing that can happen to boys [and girls] in school is to have to render blind obedience to everything the teacher says. On the contrary, if teachers are to stimulate the reasoning faculty of boys and girls under their care, they would continuously tax their reasoning and make them think for themselves.” – Mahatma Ghandi The format of this course requires that teacher to NOT be a transmitter of knowledge but a learning coach. In athletics a coach uses practice time to teach the players the skills needed in the game. However, during the game the players must decide what skills to apply and how to react in different situations. The best coaches design practices that allow the players to practice making those decisions while the coach can guide the players in their decision making. We have designed this course to provide you with a similar framework. You will be asked to make decisions and answer questions without being exactly clear of the answer. During the course the teacher will allow you to make decisions and develop explanations while guiding you towards a correct understanding of the underlying concepts. Just like an athlete, to become successful at analyzing situations you will need to practice by developing and revising explanations and solutions to problems encountered in the course. A teacher is one who makes himself progressively unnecessary. – Thomas Carruthers
Why does the teacher always answer a question with a question? Now that the teacher is no longer a transmitter of knowledge, the students can sometimes become frustrated with the lack of “answers” from the teacher. An athletic coach can observe an athlete on the field to understand the athlete’s decisions. However, a teacher cannot see your thinking. In order to “see” your thought processes your teacher will ask you questions so that he/she can get a better understanding of your thinking and guide you towards a correct interpretation of a concept or idea.The teacher who is indeed wise does not bid you to enter the house of his wisdom but rather leads you to the threshold of your mind. ~Kahlil Gibran A teacher's purpose is not to create students in his own image, but to develop students who can create their own image. ~Author Unknown
Expectations of Students As you can probably see, this course will be much different than most of your previous experience in school. In this environment, each day is important. Ideas posed by your fellow classmates become the building blocks in your knowledge. To be successful, students need to meet the following expectations:
“Education must enable one to sift and weigh evidence, to discern true from false, the real from unreal, and the facts from fiction.” Martin Luther King, Jr. Enjoy your journey….The Boston Latin School physics teachers |
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Introduction to the Energizing Physics Workbook |