Gordon Aubrecht

107 Journal Topics and Homework

Remember to put your personal email address, to which I should send the reply, at the top of your journal entry!

Please do not submit the journal the week before it is due, even if it is visible here. Please wait until that week.

Journals are due Saturday by 10 AM unless specifically told otherwise. Email journals to aubrecht.1@osu.edu, aubrecht@physics.osu.edu, or aubrecht@mps.ohio-state.edu (all work equally well).

Please remember to check the homework for the week the day after our last class for the week for any changes that might be made.
Homeworks are due Wednesdays by the start of class unless you are specifically told otherwise.

Week 1
Journal Entry 1

Hi, we’re glad you signed up for Physics by Inquiry. We would like to get acquainted. For your first journal entry we’d like to know:

• Before beginning this course (or starting a previous physics by inquiry course), what did you believe it meant to be a “teacher”? How does a teacher act, what does a teacher do? Lecture? Demonstrate? Whatever else, not listed here? Explain your reasons for thinking as you did about teaching.
• What is your major? Or what major would you like to be in the future? Why did you choose that major?
• In your opinion, is learning science important? How will a knowledge of science concepts related to your future occupation? To the rest of your life?
• Why are you taking this course? Had you heard about this course (tell us what, either good or bad)? Did your advisor suggest you take it? Do you expect to get something from the course that you can use in the future?
• How would you describe your attitude toward physics?
• This week in Physics 107 you learned about short circuits. How did you learn it? What techniques for teaching/learning helped you learn? Why/how do you believe what you learned is the correct description of the way nature works? (be specific) How could you use these techniques in your own teaching (assume you are or will be a teacher for purposes of your answer)?

Homework 1: Supplementary Problems 1.1 and 1.4, p. 494. (We expect you to speak with your group members, but remember, you need to write up your answers yourself!)

journal due 7 January 2012

homework due 11 January 2012

Week 2
Journal Entry 2

• This course is different in many ways from other courses, and we’d like to take this opportunity to ask you how the course is going for you so far.
• Group Work: Have you had any experience in working in groups in your other classes? Is the group work in this class any different from the group work in other classes? Does your group help you to learn, or not? What do you like best about your group? What would you change about the group work? Given a choice, would you rather work with your present group, a different group, a smaller group, or alone? Feel free to write what you think. Have you talked about this with your group?
• Predicting: In this class, you’re often asked to make predictions before actually doing an experiment. Why do you think you’re asked to predict things? Do you think it’s useful? Why or why not? What is the role you see for predictions in this class?
• This week in Physics 107 you learned about how bulb brightness changes in circuits that are in parallel when one bulb is unscrewed. How did you learn it? What techniques for teaching/learning helped you learn? Why/how do you believe what you learned is the correct description of the way nature works? (be specific) How could you use these techniques in your own teaching (assume you are or will be a teacher for purposes of your answer)?

Homework 2: Problems 3.2, 3.3, and 3.5.

journal due 14 January 2012

homework due 18 January 2012

Week 3
Journal Entry 3

By the end of this last week, you will have finished three weeks of Physics by Inquiry. We’d like to get an idea of what you’ve learned so far, and how you’ve learned it.

• In section 4.3, you learned some very important concepts on the difference between physical layout and electrical connections in series and parallel circuits and how to recognize how to draw circuit diagrams in standard form.
• Explain how you learned this concept. What did you do first to understand the concept? How did discussing the question with your group change your understanding? Of the things you did to understand the concept, such as drawing a diagram, experimenting with the bulbs, thinking about the question of the current supplied by the battery, which approaches were helpful? Were any not helpful?
• Can you think of an example from everyday life that uses the concept you discussed above?
• We are interested in how you use the textbook in this course. Is it the same way as you use your books in other courses? Do you prefer this sort of course textbook to the more “usual” kind, or is the other sort more comfortable?
• Quiz: The first quiz may have been very different from the types of quizzes that you have taken before. What was different about it? Why do you think we request you explain things in words? Why do you think the course and the quiz are put together as they are?
• What did you learn in Physics 107 this week? How did you learn it? What techniques for teaching/learning helped you learn? Why/how do you believe what you learned is the correct description of the way nature works? (be specific) How could you use these techniques in your own teaching (assume you are or will be a teacher for purposes of your answer)?

Suppose you were the teacher for Physics 107 and you wanted to put a particular, specific question on the next quiz that would make sure that your students really understood the experiences they’d had and could reason from them. For example, you might write down a diagram with three identical bulbs that are not in standard form, but have bulb A in parallel with bulbs B and C in series and then say “Draw the standard circuit diagram for the circuit shown. Accompany the drawing with a full explanation for your choices.”
Make up such a specific question yourself in the detail as exemplified above and explain how it can help you decide whether your students understood the concept (for example, what mistakes in answering you think they might make).

Homework 3: Problems Problems 4.1, 4.2, and 4.4, pp. 499-502, and A, B, and C, below:

A. Consider two circuits made with identical bulbs. Circuit #1 has three bulbs, Z, Y, and X connected in series across a battery. Circuit #2 has one side of bulb Z connected to the positive terminal of the battery and the other side connected to bulb Y; then the other side of bulb Y is connected to the junction on one side of bulbs V and W in parallel, then the other junction of the parallel is connected to bulb X, the other side of which is then is connected to the negative terminal of the battery.
a. How do the currents in bulbs X, Y, and Z compare to the current through the battery in circuit #1? Explain your reasoning.
b. How do the currents in bulbs V, W, X, Y, and Z compare to the current through the battery in circuit #2? Explain your reasoning.
c. How does the current through the battery in circuit #1 compare to that through the battery in circuit #2 if both were hooked to identical batteries? Explain your reasoning.

B. For the circuits of Problem A, how does the current through the battery change in the following situations? Compare in each situation to the original current in that circuit. Explain your reasoning.
a. Circuit #1, if the bulbs are unscrewed in sequence (and rescrewed in before the next bulb is unscrewed).
b. Circuit #2, if the bulbs are unscrewed in sequence (and rescrewed in before the next bulb is unscrewed).
c. Circuit #1, if the bulbs are shorted out one at a time, one by one, and unshorted before the next bulb in the sequence is shorted.
d. Circuit #2, if the bulbs are shorted out one at a time, one by one, and unshorted before the next bulb in the sequence is shorted.
e. Both circuits, if all the bulbs together are shorted out at the same time.

C. Draw a circuit in standard form of the “truck” circuit shown in the picture.

journal due 21 January 2012

homework due 25 January 2012

Week 4
Journal Entry 4

Sometimes you’re asked to come up with your own experiments for testing an idea. Why do you think you’re asked to do that? Do you think designing your own experiments is useful? Why or why not?

In this class, various methods are used to get input and feedback from you. Some of them, such as homework, quizzes and exams, are used in many courses. Others, such as diagnostics and journals, are less frequently used. We find information from all of these useful for improving the course. However, we would like to know if these help you to learn better in any way. We would appreciate your sharing your opinions with us.

Consider homework, quizzes, exams, diagnostics, and journals. Which of these help you to understand physics concepts better? Has the journal played any role in helping you with this class? How about the diagnostics? Do you see any advantage of having diagnostics at the start of every section? You have a quiz or exam every other week, in addition to your diagnostics. Do you think there are too many tests, too few tests, or just the right number? Please tell us why.

This week in Physics 107 you learned to recognize series and parallel circuits when the configuration was not simple. How did you learn it? What techniques for teaching/learning helped you learn? Why/how do you believe what you learned is the correct description of the way nature works? (be specific) How could you use these techniques in your own teaching (assume you are or will be a teacher for purposes of your answer)?

If you’ve taken Physics 106, or 108, we’d appreciate it if you could compare your experience from last quarter (or whenever) and this quarter.

Suppose again that you were the teacher for Physics 107 and you wanted to put a particular, specific question on the next quiz that would make sure that your students really understood the experiences (see example in Week 4). Make up such a specific question yourself in the detail as exemplified above and explain how it can help you decide whether your students understood the concept (for example, what mistakes in answering you think they might make).

Homework 4: Problems 4.6, 4.7, and 5.1, pp. 500-502.

journal due before 1 February 2012 because I did not get it up in time

homework due 1 February 2012

Week 5

Journal Entry 5

One of our goals is to give you the tools and confidence needed to teach some physics. To do this you’ll not only have to learn the content, but also think about how to adapt what we’re doing to a different situation. If you plan to teach at the elementary or middle school level, for example, there will probably be one teacher to 30 students, as opposed to the teacher to student ratio in our class. What else would be different?

For the following questions, imagine you are an elementary or middle school teacher.

• What physics concepts taught so far in this class could be taught in your classroom? Would you teach the concepts the same way you learned them or modify their presentation depending on the age of the students? If you modify, how would you do that?
• How would you adapt the structure of the material to work in a time period of about 45 minutes each day?
• Would you use the same inquiry method of teaching as the instructors are doing right now? Why or why not? Would it be necessary to modify the teaching method also?
• How would you keep elementary or middle school students on track in a group effort? How would you determine whether the group is functioning, and how strict you should be with students who are disrupting the group and/or falling behind?

Suppose again that you were the teacher for Physics 107 and you wanted to put a particular, specific question on the next quiz that would make sure that your students really understood the experiences (see example in Week 4). Make up such a specific question yourself in the detail as exemplified above and explain how it can help you decide whether your students understood the concept (for example, what mistakes in answering you think they might make).

In Physics 107 this week you learned about the difference between the resistances of voltmeters and ammeters (oops, sorry about this misstep!). How did you learn it? What techniques for teaching/learning helped you learn? Why/how do you believe what you learned is the correct description of the way nature works? (be specific) How could you use these techniques in your own teaching (assume you are or will be a teacher for purposes of your answer)?

Homework 5: Problems 5.4, and 5.6, pp. 502-503 and D, E, and F, below:

D. Determine the currrent(s) through circuit elements D, E, and F in the diagram shown above. Explain your reasoning.

E. In the circuit below, determine the relative brightnesses of the bulbs after you draw the circuit in standard form (use the labels provided). The bulbs are identical. Explain your reasoning.

F. In the circuit above, suppose an ammeter is positioned at a point between 4 and bulb I, and that it reads 150 mA. A second ammeter positioned between bulb F and 2 reads 40 mA. The bulbs are identical. Explain any reasoning.
a. Determine all the currents through all the bulbs that you are able.
b. Explain the effect of adding an ideal wire between points 2 and 3. What happens to the brightness of the bulbs?

journal due 4 February 2012

homework due 8 February 2012

Also, for your own practice: Decipher the following circuits, replace the diagrams with diagrams in standard form.

Week 6

Journal Entry 6

In the process of studying Physics by Inquiry, some of you have tried experiments that weren’t in the manual. If you have tried an experiment that wasn’t in the manual, describe the experiment and discuss the results. If you haven’t tried an experiment that wasn’t in the manual, discuss an experiment you would like to try, or discuss the results of an experiment in the manual that surprised you.

Imagine that you were explaining to your friend Diana, a student just like you (with the same ability and intelligence) who is thinking of taking Physics 107, exactly what was expected and how to understand what is happening in class. She wants you to tell her what to do and how to study for the class in order to be able to learn best. Diana really wants to understand physics and does not care about her grade (as long as she can pass).

In studying science, we try to determine how to help people tell “good” (or real) science from “bad” (or fake, or pseudo-) science. Find a website that is an example of “good” science and explain why you think it is “good” science, then do the same thing for an example of “bad” science, again with explanation. You may imagine you are going to be explaining this to one of the other members of your group.

Suppose again that you were the teacher for Physics 107 and you wanted to put a particular, specific question on the next quiz that would make sure that your students really understood the experiences (see example in Week 4). Make up such a specific question yourself in the detail as exemplified above (that means I need what resistors you plan to use, etc.) and explain how it can help you decide whether your students understood the concept (for example, what mistakes in answering you think they might make).

In Physics 107 this week, you learned how to define and measure resistance in terms of a circuit using nichrome wire. How did you learn it? What techniques for teaching/learning helped you. What techniques for teaching/learning helped you learn? Why/how do you believe what you learned is the correct description of the way nature works? (be specific) How could you use these techniques in your own teaching (assume you are or will be a teacher for purposes of your answer)?

Homework 6: Problems 5.2, 5.5, 5.7, 6.2, and 6.3, pp. 502-505

journal due 11 February 2012

homework due 15 February 2012

Week 7

Journal Entry 7

to be entered next week ...

take me to Gordon's home page

take me to the syllabus

By clicking the highlighted text, you should be able to send me email directly: aubrecht@mps.ohio-state.edu