Student Performance Objectives:
Interactive Demonstrations (PowerPoint presentation)
Demonstration Record (PDF)
Levels of inquiry: A hierarchy of practices with examples from physics (see definition of Interactive Demonstrations)
Levels of inquiry: Using inquiry spectrum learning sequences to teach science (detailed information about interactive demonstrations and their interactions with other types of inquiry-oriented instruction including several examples)
Seeing is believing: Classroom demonstrations as scientific inquiry. A paper published in JPTEO by PTE student Jerod Gross 2003.
Demonstration Rubric (downloads PDF file with all criteria for evaluation of student demonstrations)
A Sampling of Demonstration Web Sites:
(Many more samples can be found by searching on key words "physics demonstrations" on Google or other search engines.)
Science and Mathematics Initiative for Learning Enhancement (SMILE) The SMILE program at the Illinois Institute of Technology is designed to enhance the elementary and high school learning of science and mathematics through the use of the phenomenological approach. Since 1986 participants in summer sessions have been asked to create and publish a single concept lesson plan. These lesson plans include the materials needed, a suggested strategy and expected outcomes. There are currently almost 800 lesson plans available. These lesson plans are available in a number of formats and deal with a wide number of disciplines, including physics.
Animations of Physical Processes This site maintains a large number of active images, theory of operation, videos, etc. associated with a wide range of physical phenomena relating to waves, thermodynamics, mechanics, and optics. Among some of the best your instructor has seen to date.
The Video Encyclopedia of Physics Demonstrations Limited access to 600 online video demonstrations for high school and university physics students.
YouTube.com Visit YouTube and conduct a search on "physics experiment" and "science experiments" and "experiment" and other such terms. Here you will find lots of amazing videos that can substitute for the real thing should you not have the needed equipment.
Resources for Physics Demonstrations This site is maintained by the Physics Instructional Resource Association (PIRA). It has a large number of links to "online demonstration rooms" and other resources.
Physical Sciences Resource Center The American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) has developed the Physical Sciences Resource Center (PSRC), a multidimensional Web-based resource of physics education resources for physics teachers at all educational levels. PSRC features curricula, links to Web sites, shareware, sample assessments, job opportunities, and other valuable information. A key feature of PSRC is that links are reviewed prior to their posting, so that users can have increased confidence in the value of PSRC resources. Another feature of PSRC is that it is a resource of its users. In other words, users may submit Web sites and other resources for review.
comPADRE (Communities for Physics and Astronomy Digital Resources in Education) is a network of well-organized, digital collections of high-quality educational materials in physics and astronomy. These collections connect to a wide range of digital resources, including curricular materials, digital libraries, and online journals. Additional collections will be added over time.
Bad Science Bad Science abounds and comes in many guises. This page sets out to attack only one brand: well understood phenomena which are persistently presented incorrectly by teachers and writers, presumably because they either do not know any better or because they don't really care enough to get it correct. By publicizing examples of bad science, students, teachers and writers may become sensitized to the horrors of such glib explanations or representations.
Return to PHY 311 Course Outline
(last updated 11/19/2008)