PHY 312 -- Teaching Physics from the Historical Perspective
Physics Teacher Education Program
Illinois State University
Carl J. Wenning, Program Coordinator
Spring Semester 2002
Madeline Hunter (Principal, University Elementary School, UCLA) is probably most famous for her lesson plan design -- the so-called Hunter Model. This eight-step plan (anticipatory set, the objective and its purpose, instructional input, modeling, checking for understanding, guided practice, independent practice, closure) has many good elements in it, but the model falls short in that it was designed for elementary school lessons that have objectives that are probably much simpler than those at high school level. What follows is a modified version of the Hunter Model lesson plan that you might find more helpful.
NOTE: Your lesson must follow a history-oriented inquiry plan. The focus of your lesson should be on answering a key question rather than merely purveying knowledge. Simply asking lots of questions during a lesson does not make it an inquiry-oriented lesson. Students should be actively engaged in hypothesizing, experimenting, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation, and drawing conclusions based upon empirical evidence. Avoid at all costs expository lecture-demonstration approaches. Your lesson should contain some relevant elements of history gleaned from your own research.
The Hunter Model assumes that before teacher begins to plan a lesson, the teacher will have:
Statement of Focus Question: Inquiry lessons are designed to answer the focus question. The procedures used to answer the focus question most certainly should be inquiry oriented. That is, getting students to use problem-solving strategies to answer key questions that are both important and relevant.
Statement of Objectives: What, more specifically, are the students expected to know and be able to do at the end of the lesson? Including content knowledge, intellectual skills, and dispositions as appropriate. Your objectives should have readily observable behaviors or performance tasks. Students must be made aware of day-to-day objectives.
Physics Content: The hierarchy of knowledge should be provided here in a concise fashion.
Historical Content: The nature of the historical elements included in the lesson and what you expect students to know in relation to this.
Alignment : The content, objectives, and goals of this lesson must align with Illinois Learning Standards, including "Applications of Learning." In a concise statement, explain how the lesson complies with the ILS directives.
Instructional Strategies: Keep in mind the follow possibilities for lesson strategies (not all are inquiry-oriented):
| directed inquiry independent inquiry concept change & constructivism cooperative/collaborative learning problem-based learning integrated/interdisciplinary curricula thematic teaching learning cycles discussion |
just-in-time teaching laboratory demonstrations short lecture small group work student presentations Socratic questioning review session recitation |
think-share-pair games video debates student generated exam questions mini research project case study creative writing peer instruction |
Instructional Activities: Instructional activities are planned that help students to accomplish the stated objectives. A question that a teacher should ask is, "Is the particular strategy used most appropriate to the content? How do I know?" Instructional activities may be chosen from the list above. Include ideas for guided practice, independent practice, closure, etc. Include estimated times for each activity.
Relevant Preconceptions: Check the University of Dallas Physics Department web site for relevant "alternate conceptions" associated with this top and list them.
Checking for Understanding: How will you as teacher determine whether or not the goal and objectives for the day's lesson has been achieved? How will you assess the objectives in an informal though meaningful manner? Never end a lesson without checking whether or not your students have achieved the objectives. List here a series of not less than 7 questions or test items that you might use to check for student understanding of the content of the lesson.
Closure: There has to be a logical means for drawing conclusions from the lesson. How will this be done? Closure activities should be included among list of instructional activities.
Materials: What materials will you need to teach your lesson? Because science teaching can be so materials intense, it's a good idea to make a list of everything that you'll need so that nothing is forgotten. Be sure to do so.
Statement of Focus Question: How did Isaac Newton derive and verify the Universal Law of Gravitation?
Statement of Objectives: At the conclusion of this lesson, each student should be able to:
Physics Content:
A) Kepler's third law (the Harmonic law)
B) Acceleration due to gravity at surface of Earth
C) Centripetal acceleration
D) Universal Law of Gravitation
E) Roll of observation, hypothesis, and experimental verification of science.
Historical Content:
A) History of the derivation of Newton's Universal Law of Gravitation.
B) Supportive nature of Kepler's third law in Newton's work.
Alignment :
Alignment with ISBE's Application's of Learning -- Solving problems, communicating, using technology, working on teams, making connections. Additionally, the lesson aligns with the following goals and indicators:
11A. Know and apply the concepts and processes of scientific inquiry (specifically 11A5a and 11A5e).
12D. Know and apply concepts that describe force and motion and the principles that explain them (specifically 12D5a and 12D5b).
13A. Know and apply the accepted processes of science (specifically 13A5b and 13A5c).
Instructional Strategies:
Socratic questioning, short lecture, directed inquiry, small group work, and review will be used. The sequence and associated content can be found in the following section, Instructional Activities.
Instructional Activities:
Please note that this lesson is "over planned." It is note likely that all activities will be completed. The instructor might opt out of some of these activities leaving something for "the next day." The first thing to go probably will be the preconceptions which can be readily address during the next class period.
- Start with engaging activity, toss a ball up and down for instance.
- Ask the following questions and similar questions:
- What's happening here?
- Why?
- What is the nature of gravity?
- What does gravity do?
- What is meant by "acceleration due to gravity"?
- Is "g" a constant?
- How do we mathematically describe the effect of gravity?
- Where does the Universal Law of Gravitation come from?
- How was this law derived?
- How was this law first verified?
- Start telling the story of the study of planetary motion and tell about the work of Kepler and his derivation of the third law.
- Given planetary data, guide students in the use of Graphical Analysis to verify Kepler's third law.
- Determine the magnitude of "g" near the Earth's surface using ScienceWorkshop interface setup.
- Socratically question students in an effort to derive the relationship for centripetal acceleration.
- Direct students to follow in Newton's footsteps to derive a hypothetical form of the law of gravitation.
- Direct students to follow in Newton's footsteps to "verify" hypothetical formulation.
- Question students about preconceptions related to gravitation:
- provide listing of preconceptions taken from "Relevant Preconceptions" below
- ask students to tell if these statements are true or false, and why
- To begin closure, review day's objectives.
- Check with students to see if focus question has been addressed.
- Ask questions related to objectives in "Checking for Understanding" section below.
- Summarize, including comments about the nature of science and the roles of observation, theory, and verification.
Relevant Preconceptions:
- The Moon is not falling.
- The Moon is not in free fall.
- The force that acts on apple is not the same as the force that acts on the Moon.
- The gravitational force is the same on all falling bodies.
- There are no gravitational forces in space.
- The gravitational force acting on the Space Shuttle is nearly zero.
- The gravitational force acts on one mass at a time.
- The Moon stays in orbit because the gravitational force on it is balanced by the centrifugal force acting on it.
- Weightlessness means there is no gravity.
- The Earth's spinning motion causes gravity.
Checking for Understanding:
To begin closure, the following and/or similar questions will be asked:
A) Please state and explain Kepler's third law.
B) Where did Kepler's third law come from?
C) If P = 8, what is r for a planet according to Kepler's third law? What are the units?
C) How does Newton's prediction of Kepler's third law help verify the Universal Law of Gravitation?
D) What is the acceleratation due to gravity near earth's surface? Is this a constant? How will it vary with height?
E) Describe briefly throw the centripetal acceleration relationship is derived using vector diagrams and algebra.
F) Explain in words Newton's theoretical process for deriving the hypothetical form for the Uniform Law of Gravitation.
G) Explain what role, if any, Newton's three laws of motion had to do with the verification of the Universal Law of Gravitation.
H) Cite observational evidence that provides support for Newton's theoretical formulation of the Universal Law of Gravitation.
Closure:
Closure will be achieved with a series of rapid-fire questions and a brief summation by the instructor. Additionally, instructor will review objectives and focus question for the day.
Materials:
A) PASCO interface (2)
B) computer (2)
C) ScienceWorkshop software (2)
D) picket fence (2)
E) photogate (2)
F) object to be dropped
G) data about planets distances (AU) and periods (years)
H) information about moon's sidereal period and distance from Earth
I) information about radius of Earth.
J) calculator utility on computer
Statement of Focus Question:
The central focusing question for this lesson is the following. "How does one kinematically describe accelerated motion?"
Statement of Objectives:
The following are the objectives of this lesson:
Physics Content:
The following constitutes the physics content of this lesson:
Historical Content:
The problems of measuring accelerated motion without significant technology will be described. Attention will be paid to how Galileo used inclined planes, graphical representations, and vector analysis to determine the acceleration due to gravity.
Alignment :
Alignment with ISBE's Application's of Learning -- Solving problems, communicating, using technology, working on teams, making connections. Additionally, the lesson aligns with the following goals and indicators:
11A. Know and apply the concepts and processes of scientific inquiry (specifically 11A5a and 11A5e).
12D. Know and apply concepts that describe force and motion and the principles that explain them (specifically 12D5a and 12D5b).
13A. Know and apply the accepted processes of science (specifically 13A5b and 13A5c).
Instructional Strategies:
Students will approach this lesson through data collection, graphical representation, graphical interpretation. This will be a guided inquiry lesson rather than a free inquiry lesson. Socratic questioning will be used throughout.
Instructional Activities:
The following steps will be carried out during this lesson:
Relevant Preconceptions:
The University of Dallas Physics Department web site provides the following "alternate conceptions" associated with this topic. Not all are relevant to this lesson, so not all will be addressed.
Checking for Understanding:
Follow-up questions will be closely linked to the objectives of this lesson as follows:
Closure:
Closure will be achieved with a series of rapid-fire questions and a brief summation by the instructor. Additionally, instructor will review objectives and focus question for the day.
Materials:
The following materials will be needed to teach this lesson:
Sample Lesson Plan from "Dynamics"
Statement of Focus Question:
The central focusing question for this lesson is the following. "How can one create and conduct an experiment to determine the coefficient of static friction?"
Statement of Objectives:
The following are the objectives of this lesson:
Physics Content:
The following content will be involved in this lesson:
Historical Content:
TBA
Alignment :
Alignment with ISBE's Application's of Learning -- Solving problems, communicating, using technology, working on teams, making connections. Additionally, the lesson aligns with the following goals and indicators:
11A. Know and apply the concepts and processes of scientific inquiry (specifically 11A5a and 11A5e).
12D. Know and apply concepts that describe force and motion and the principles that explain them (specifically 12D5a and 12D5b).
13A. Know and apply the accepted processes of science (specifically 13A5b and 13A5c).
Instructional Strategies:
Students will approach this lesson through theoretical analysis, mathematical manipulation, data collection, data interpreation. This will be a free inquiry lesson rather than a guided inquiry lesson. Socratic questioning will be used as necessary.
Instructional Activities:
The following steps will be carried out during this lesson:
Relevant Preconceptions:
The University of Dallas Physics Department web site provides the following "alternate conceptions" associated with this topic. Not all are relevant to this lesson, so not all will be addressed.
Checking for Understanding:
Follow-up questions will be closely linked to the objectives of this lesson as follows:
The class will conclude with students making presentations, using white boards, of how they derived the theoretical basis for their experiement, explain the experiment, and describe results of the experiment.
Closure:
Closure will be achieved with a brief summation by the instructor. Additionally, instructor will review objectives and focus question for the day.
Materials:
The following materials will be needed to teach this lesson:
Return to PHY 312 Syllabus: Student Tasks/Assignments Section