(A lesson for High School Physics)

Before Reading (jump to: During Reading, After Reading)

I. Motivation
“Have you ever gone for a bike ride and felt the wind against your face more and more with each little bit you sped up? Or have you ever been driving to school and, as you sped up, felt your head being pulled to the head rest? These are both things that happen when you accelerate, within the speed limit, of course. Today we are going to learn how to talk about velocity and acceleration.”

II. Prior Knowledge
“How many of you did the assigned reading for today (pages 22-37)? (Expecting a gross overestimation of hands) What were the two main concepts of the section? (Wait for the terms “velocity” and “acceleration” to be given) What can you tell me about velocity and acceleration? (correct any false information, probable pieces of falsehood: 1)velocity does not equal distance divided by time, but average velocity does, 2) acceleration does not equal velocity divided by time, but average acceleration does) We can describe all linear motion in terms of time, position, velocity, and acceleration.”

III. Purpose
“I’m going to give you a chance to read this section again, so we can understand it better. It is on basic concepts of linear motion, which includes velocity and acceleration. The text can be rather difficult to read because it has a lot of new information. That is why we’re going to try a new strategy. I want you to understand all of the new information.”

IV. Strategy Instruction
“What we are going to do is called ‘Insert Note Taking’. It will help us understand all this new information a lot better by organizing information in to facts we understand and facts which need clarifying. There are three steps to this. One, as you read the section, write on a piece of paper any pieces of information that are new. Two, after you are done reading, organize all the facts you have written down on a new piece of paper under one of two headings: ‘I understand’ or ‘I don’t understand’. Finally, when you’re all done with that, we will take turns as a class asking questions about the information we don’t understand. I will then clarify any questions you have.
“Now, let’s pretend that I just read the first two paragraphs. There were two pieces of new information. One, the term ‘displacement’, I understand pretty well, so I’m writing that under ‘I understand.’ (Write on board under heading) The other piece was average velocity, which I don’t understand, so I’m putting that under the other heading. Now I can ask the teacher any questions I have.”
“Let’s try this. I want you to read page 23 only. Use this strategy and we’ll see how it goes.” (Wait until class has read and make sure they are writing information under one of the two headings).

During Reading

“Alright class, now I want you to read pages 23 through 31, using ‘Insert Note Taking’. Concentrate on any new information or vocabulary words.”

Wolfson, R. (1999). “Physics: 3rd Edition, for Scientists and Engineers,” pp. 22-31.Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley.

Modified Text:

This website will allow less skilled readers to read the same content in a simpler way. Also, vocabulary words are hilighted and have links to their meanings.

http://www.sparknotes.com/physics/kinematics/1dmotion/section2.rhtml

After Reading

Questioning/Discussion
“Alright class, let’s now take turns asking about information we don’t understand. Are there any volunteers to go first?” (Begin fielding questions and clearing up “fuzzy” information) Here are some possible questions with solutions:
1. The difference between “displacement” and “distance”.
The teacher will draw an “A” on the left of the board, and “B” in the middle, and an “X” on the right. The teacher will then explain that both A and B are people traveling to point X. The paths that each man takes will be drawn as follows: Man A will go straight to the X. Man B will zig-zag all around the board and eventually end up at X. The teacher will ask which man travels further. The class will give varying answers so the teacher will explain that both are correct. Man B traveled more distance, but Man A had more displacement as he finished further away from his starting point.
2. The difference between average and instantaneous velocity.
The teacher will mention the fable of the tortoise and hare. He or she will comment on the fact that the tortoise had a much faster average velocity as he covered the course in a quicker time, but the hare had a faster instantaneous velocity at certain points because he was sprinting.
3. What are the units on acceleration?
“What is acceleration? It’s the change in velocity over time. So we know it’s a fraction with seconds in the denominator, and velocity in the numerator. We already know the units for velocity are meters per second (m/s), so now we know that m/s is the numerator. Since m/s is in the numerator, we can move the seconds to the denominator. That gives us s times s in the denominator, or s squared. That’s how we arrive at our units of meters per second squared.

4 . Any others…..
(Keep fielding questions until all new information has been understood)

Writing to learn
“Now class, I want you to pay attention over the next day to how often velocity and acceleration come in to your every day life. I want you to think how you could put some of these situations in terms of numbers. For example, how could you give me a value of your acceleration in your car driving to school? OF course, you’d measure your change in velocity and divide by time! I want everyone to write down three examples and turn them in to me in two days.”

Closure
“How many of you liked ‘Insert note taking’? How many of you think it helped you understand the material better? On you assignment, I want you to add a paragraph telling me whether or not you liked the notes, if you’d like to do it again, and why or why not?”