Sean's+Course+Description+and+Analysis

Sean's Course Description and Analysis

Sean's Individual course description and analysis are here.
Module 1

Individual Course Description and Analysis

Description

Certain students at HPU take a sequence of two sets of Physics courses. The two courses in the first set are a lecture/lab combination called, respectively, Physics 2030 and Physics 2031. These courses are immediately followed by a second set of lecture/lab courses called, respectively, Physics 2032 and Physics 2033.

These courses are offered online and are given in a 10-week format. In the calendar quarter from January to March, Physics 2030 and 2031 are being offered. These will be followed by Physics 2032 and 2033 in the quarter from April to June.

It has not yet been worked out how to properly offer a lab in an online context. Consequently, the lab courses, Physics 2031 and 2033, are devoted mostly to solving Physics problems. The subject matter, which spreads across both sets of courses, is the same as is offered in any undergraduate first course in Physics.

Analysis

The students find their assigned Physics problems on the textbook publisher’s website. There they enter the answers and are automatically graded. In addition, the students are each randomly assigned individual problems which they are to solve; these problems, with the completely worked out solutions, are posted in a Discussion Forum for the fellow students to review and to comment on.

The course materials provided by the publisher include a number of worked-out solutions to many of the problems provided. What is not provided is a discussion of how to solve Physics problems. After teaching this course a number of times, I have the distinct impression that the students are expected to absorb the solution method by osmosis as a result of having done many problems.

This glaring lack in the Physics courses appears to be the type of item that can be addressed by the ID methods of this class. It is proposed to address this lack by designing an instructional module that will guide the students through a thought process, in which the problem is broken down into its component parts and a solution strategy devised; this thought process will have to be easy and natural to have maximum effectiveness.

In order to accomplish the objectives laid out here, there will have to be some form of demonstration of how to carry out the solution of a standard Physics problem. The thought process will have to be demonstrated and described so that it can be imitated by the student.

Next, the students will have to be shown how to apply these concepts to the solution, not just of textbook problems, but of real-world problems they might encounter after the Physics course is over. To do this, they will need to have a mental model of how the principles of Physics are applicable in daily life. This whole approach will be problem-centered, i.e., getting students to see the happenings in the world around them as problems to be analyzed, solved, and interpreted.

Analyses by Colleagues





Module 2:

Sean's responses to the suggestions of LeeAnna and Youxin, together with an initial strategy for implementation.

**Revised Analysis of Online Physics Course**

Having revisited the course in light of the readings in the text and the comments of my Group members, I am seeing deficits that need to be addressed with regard to nearly all of the First principles expressed in Ch. 2.

There is plenty of information provided in the course; there is no need I can see to go beyond what is currently there. There does need to be a good Demonstration of how to tackle a Physics problem. I am currently viewing this as a call to develop a series of Demonstrations of how Physics problems are solved – most likely with on for mechanics, one for optics, one for electricity, etc. For the purposes of this class, I shall confine myself to developing the demonstration for mechanics, which involves forces and motion. The demonstration should indicate the steps and the thought process necessary to take a problem from start to finish.

In using the Principle of Application, the student should do the problems assigned and show that he/she can follow them and arrive at the correct solution. This Principle is already largely in effect in the course.

The problems assigned are currently mostly single-step. That is, the student is given some data and is asked to find a solution using, for the most part, a single calculation. Using the Principle of Problem-Centeredness, a multi-step problem would have to be designed, wherein the answer(s) from earlier parts of the problem are needed to progress into later parts of the problem. It is conceivable to do this within a single field of Physics, such as mechanics. But this may work better when applied to a problem that crosses the boundaries of distinct fields. Such a problem would have to come along toward the end of the course and, perhaps, be a part of a summative evaluation.

How Activation will be worked in may require some thought. Currently, I envision it as being part of the Demonstration, wherein relationships are made to earlier types of problem-solving done by the students.

Integration may be best demonstrated by having the student identify a real-world situation and outline the analysis and the application of the solution method, possibly including an actual solution of the problem.

1/26/2012

Module 3

PROBLEM-SOLVING IN THE PHYSICS ONLINE COURSE

The students receive instruction in the concepts of physics. Part of their learning is the application of these concepts to the solving of physics problems representing real-world situations. This analysis focuses on a subset of the course, viz., the problem-solving technique, that is, at the present time not well developed. A breakdown according to the 5 headings of the ETEC 750B course follows:

Information-About: The Laws of Physics are laid out and explained; examples of problems are given throughout the course. Not much information is currently supplied about how to read a problem, extract the basic information, determine which Laws are applicable, and set up any necessary diagrams. This has to be remedied.

Part-of: Relating one problem to another that is related seems to be obvious. This is usually done by juxtaposition of the problems next to each other or by grouping them into sections of chapters. A more explicit delineation of the similarities and contrasts can be devised to give the students a sense of context.

Kind of: This somewhat overlaps with Kind-of, as I see it. Problems related to orbital mechanics tend to be presented together. However, in a chapter on magnetism, there can be a discussion of magnetic effects on satellite orbits. Here, one concept can be affected by another; the student will need to get a bigger picture on how to put two different pictures together.

How to: A step-by-step problem-solving approach, applicable to all sorts of physics problems, is largely absent. This will have to be devised, with example problems “exploded” and their parts laid out in a logical sequence.

What happens: As I see it, this is the speculative part of the problem. Once the problem is worked out, the student should be able to gain deeper insights by playing “what if”. What if the gravity were stronger or weaker? What if we change the angle of the projectile? This part of the course is definitely absent in its current incarnation.

Based on further reading and on the Tables I've seen in use, I've gone a little deeper, and in a somewhat different direction with this analysis. Please read the following file:

LeeAnna's Critique of Sean's Module 3: I am extremely rusty on my memories of physics, but I'll take a stab at it. I haven't seen what the course looks like, but from Sean's analysis, I would say Information-about does appear to be present, that is how physics courses are usually presented with descriptions of various laws of physics. Part-of could be something like discussing how velocity is related to acceleration or something like that. Kind-of could be like talking about how centrifugal forces are a type of force exerted on something spinning perhaps? How-to is how I saw physics taught in my textbooks for physics 101 and 102 in undergraduate school. Unless the course is only describing theories and laws of physics I don't see how this section could be omitted... What-happens is an important section to include and could be approached by saying things like what happens to your perception of gravity if you travel to the moon or Mars?

MODULE 4:

In the following file, I give a critique of the multimedia aspect of my Physics course, as it currently exists: