Friday, March 23, 2018
Better.
This past Thursday the magic got going - the physics group and the chemistry group, who have each independently been working on their (very related) representations, realized the representations weren't the same but were unable to explain why. It was a fascinating and lively conversation.
Tuesday, March 13, 2018
Challenges
This semester I'm back to teaching an inquiry course - one where I know what we're going to investigate but I'm not sure where it will lead, where different groups pursue different - but related - problems, and where most of my work involves, I think, listening closely to student ideas and building on those as we craft our claims and questions and investigations. This semester I'm studying the course through the lens of "design" and "making" -- wondering what kinds of artifacts are produced and why, what constraints we meet and have to negotiate with our designs, etc.
I decided we'd investigate the Gaussian Gun, as a topic that cuts across many (but not all) sciences and has, I think, a low floor and high ceiling. I was anticipating an energy-theater investigation that might lead to a "5 Laws of Energy" kind of conversation, but that didn't happen.
And where we are is...
- one group has been working for a while now on making an potential well that mirrors the magnet ball. two prototypes built. one just proof-of-concept, one done by measuring forces and generating a well from that - trying to add a see-saw to transfer energy but that failed, now working on a final version.
- one group has compared the system to an SN AR reaction in chemistry (the intermediate state is stable, just not with the amount of energy this system has) and is generating a reaction map, again using a force probe
- one group was convinced the outgoing ball was faster than the incoming ball. They've 3-d printed a surface and are listening to the sound generated as it rolls over to deduce the speed.
I'm relieved we have something to show for ourselves. It's always really scary for me to teach this way with a new topic and worry we'll never get anywhere interesting.
But it's not really feeling too great. In the past, I feel like students have been really proud of their own work, engaged deeply in the debates and the work, and feel inspired and transformed by the class. I don't think anyone feels that way right now.
In addition, today one person was absent - his group member was really blasé and when I suggested that a group that has recently finished with their data join her to help take data and understand the work she is doing she said something like, "I have no idea what we're doing." Boo. As I walked them through the steps of what I thought they had been doing, it felt like I was giving mindless instructions.
With the 3-d-energy-well group, they're considering the really challenging problem of the asymmetry of the well (how can one side have a different slope and still reach the same height?), but the conversation - which was fun - was essentially me and one other student going back and forth. :(
It just mostly feels still a bit like pulling teeth or dragging feet. Students having to retake data because they weren't really thinking things through - other students watching while one tinkers and thinks and plans. Just kind of blah. It's not fun for me to teach. So while I think I can (for my grant) answer some questions about how various designed products emerged in the context of our inquiry, I'm not feeling like I have anything powerful to say about teaching and learning b/c we're just not enjoying it much.
I decided we'd investigate the Gaussian Gun, as a topic that cuts across many (but not all) sciences and has, I think, a low floor and high ceiling. I was anticipating an energy-theater investigation that might lead to a "5 Laws of Energy" kind of conversation, but that didn't happen.
And where we are is...
- one group has been working for a while now on making an potential well that mirrors the magnet ball. two prototypes built. one just proof-of-concept, one done by measuring forces and generating a well from that - trying to add a see-saw to transfer energy but that failed, now working on a final version.
- one group has compared the system to an SN AR reaction in chemistry (the intermediate state is stable, just not with the amount of energy this system has) and is generating a reaction map, again using a force probe
- one group was convinced the outgoing ball was faster than the incoming ball. They've 3-d printed a surface and are listening to the sound generated as it rolls over to deduce the speed.
I'm relieved we have something to show for ourselves. It's always really scary for me to teach this way with a new topic and worry we'll never get anywhere interesting.
But it's not really feeling too great. In the past, I feel like students have been really proud of their own work, engaged deeply in the debates and the work, and feel inspired and transformed by the class. I don't think anyone feels that way right now.
In addition, today one person was absent - his group member was really blasé and when I suggested that a group that has recently finished with their data join her to help take data and understand the work she is doing she said something like, "I have no idea what we're doing." Boo. As I walked them through the steps of what I thought they had been doing, it felt like I was giving mindless instructions.
With the 3-d-energy-well group, they're considering the really challenging problem of the asymmetry of the well (how can one side have a different slope and still reach the same height?), but the conversation - which was fun - was essentially me and one other student going back and forth. :(
It just mostly feels still a bit like pulling teeth or dragging feet. Students having to retake data because they weren't really thinking things through - other students watching while one tinkers and thinks and plans. Just kind of blah. It's not fun for me to teach. So while I think I can (for my grant) answer some questions about how various designed products emerged in the context of our inquiry, I'm not feeling like I have anything powerful to say about teaching and learning b/c we're just not enjoying it much.
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