PHYS 661 -- Laboratories and Demonstrations in Physics
Meetings:
- Prof. Andy Layden, 419-372-8653, laydena(at)bgsu(dot)edu
- Meet in 104 Overman Hall (we may move during the class) from 6-9pm unless noted below.
Class Schedule & Topics
- Tues Jan 27: Plan semester, finish trombones, finish presentations.
- Tues Feb 17: Examining PhET simulations.
- Tues Mar 17: Physics in astronomy activities and demos.
- Tues Apr 7: Students present their own favorite physics labs & demos (see section below).
- Tues Apr 28: Students present their own labs & demos;
outdoor astronomy; Solar Rotation Lab
- Tues May 5 (or July?): Outdoor astronomy?, Galileoscopes
Student Lab/Demo Presentations:
- Take a lab or demo (L/D) that you are currently using (or one that you would like to use) and share it with the class.
- Presentations should take ~20 minutes, expect up to 10 min of questions/comments/suggestions from the class afterwards.
- The presentation should include:
- An introduction to the L/D including what class you would use it in, at what point it would come in the semester, what concepts you are hoping to clarify or highlight,
- A demonstration of how you would present the L/D in your own classroom (model it for us),
- A discussion of the pedagogy involved -- why do you think this is a good way of explaining the subject matter,
- A copy of the activity for each student in the class to take home with them; this should include blank copies of all handouts/worksheets, a parts list, and assembly instructions if appropriate (i.e., everything a teacher would need to recreate the L/D in his/her own classroom).
- If you don't have a L/D in mind, search the following sites for ideas; be sure to acknowledge any material you "lift."
- Keep in mind the goal of the course: to combine our experience and talents and generate a body of L/Ds (be they original, "new to you", or old-but-improved) that we can all take into our classrooms. That is, use the time wisely to expand our teaching resources.
Some Lab/Demo Resources for Physics & Astronomy (suggest others to add!):
Link to model rocket videos for use in physics kinematics capstone projects (and fun).
Updated 2009 Jan by Andy
Layden