Teacher Education at Illinois State University

DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS

PHYSICS 302 -- COMPUTER APPLICATIONS IN HIGH SCHOOL PHYSICS

Fall Semester 2019

(Subject to revision; last updated September 17, 2019)

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Catalog Description:

1 hr of PHY 270 req.
Applications of electronic technologies in the teaching of high school physics.

Instructor:

Name: Dr. Carl J. Wenning, Physics Teaching Specialist (retired)
ISU Physics Teacher Education Program (Director 1994-2008)
Office Location: Moulton 301B (small hall near elevator)
Office Hours: Thursdays 1:00-3:30 PM or by appointment
Office Phone: (309) 438-2026 (Thursdays, 1:00-3:30 PM only)
Mobile Phone: (309) 830-4085 (cell)
E-mail address: cjwennin@ilstu.edu (or carlwenning@gmail.com if you want a quicker response)

Meeting Days/Times/Location:

We meet on Thursdays from 4:00 to 6:50 PM beginning August 22nd in Moulton Hall, room 307-B.There will be no formal breaks as you may come and go as you please during open lab work.

Methodology:

The focus in this course is on the use of the laboratory experience as a pedagogical tool for demonstrating the nature of science and the processes of physics. Teacher candidates will encounter the computer and other electronic devices as adjuncts in both class and lab settings. In this course students become familiar with a variety of commonly used computer-based, calculator-based, and cell-phone-based applications for teaching high school physics. The course starts with introductions to hardware and software, and concludes with capstone and research symposium projects that allow students to demonstrate that they understand the experimental nature of science. PHY 302 is not a textbook-based course; it makes extensive use of web-based resources. Project guidelines, examples, scoring rubrics, and other resources will be found hyperlinked to this course syllabus.

Many sessions will commence with the instructor providing an orientation to hardware or computer applications. It is therefore imperative that students arrive on time for lab for orientations and be prepared to begin work at the start of the period. Following these orientations, students will complete associated projects separately or working in small groups. Students are permitted to work together to accomplish the various tasks in this course (with the sole exceptions of the capstone and symposium experiences). Each student must turn in his or her own unique reports and/or projects. Reports with multiple names on the sheet are not acceptable, and neither are separate identical reports.

In this course emphasis will be placed on an Assessment-for-Learning Policy. That is, assessments of student performance will be used not only to assign scores, but to improve student performance. Unsatisfactory work will be returned to the student for improvement. A student's score can be improved by appropriate revision and resubmission so long as all deadlines are met or extensions are given. Unapproved post-deadline submissions may be submitted with a 50% penalty for assessed revisions. This policy does NOT apply to quizzes, tests, and the capstone experience.

Submission of Assignments:

Because this course meets only once per week, no one can expect timely feedback for assignments if students have to wait a week for feedback. Therefore, all assignments (within reason) should be submitted electronically to carlwenning@gmail.com. When assignments are submitted, students should expect to receive feedback very quickly. The only way this is possible is if students submit work electronically in original files. (For instance, I cannot provide detailed comments on PDF document.) Submit lab reports in MS Word if possible. Students should submit assignments early if they want to take full advantage of the above Assessment-for-Learning Policy.

Required Electronic Textbook:

Wenning, C. & Vieyra, R. (2015). Teaching High School Physics (THSP), Volume 1. Available Google Play Books and Amazon.com (Kindle ebooks) $9.99 (N.B. This 3-volume series will also be an essential guide during student teaching and early career development, so you might want to consider acquiring volumes 2 and 3 as well.)

Hard-Copy Textbook and Other Readings:

A hard-copy textbook used regularly for reference in this course: Experimentation: An Introduction to Measurement Theory and Experiment Design (3rd edition) written by D. C. Baird. (1995). Students will be loaned a copy of this book on a semester-long basis. The book must be returned in good condition before final grade will be posted for this course. Please note that an Errata and Addenda sheet has been prepared for D. C. Baird's book; students are also responsible for this content as it relates to the Capstone Experience.

Assignments and Specific Criteria:

302A: Special Projects (5% of course grade)

Students must complete a number of small projects (e.g., MS Equation Editor, Tracker, Physics Toolbox, etc.).

302B: Reading Quizzes (15% of course grade)

Students will take reading quizzes that assume that teachers candidates have not only read (e.g., Student Lab Handbook, Teaching High School Physics, syllabus-linked PDFs, etc.), but have come to understand the substance of the readings through study.

302C: Student Teaching Web Page (10% of course grade)

Students must independently design and upload to a publicly accessible Internet server an html-based web page suitable for use during student teaching.

302D: Excel Spreadsheet (5% of course grade)

Students must complete a number of Excel-based exercises that deal with the use of descriptive statistics, data analysis, statistical testing, simulations, and graphing.

302E: Interactive Simulation Worksheet (5% of course grade)

Students must familiarize themselves with a variety of interactive simulations in Physics and then develop a simulation worksheet following specific requirements.

302F: Lab Reports (25% of course grade)

Students will complete labs and turn in lab reports on a semi-regular basis. To complete these lab reports, students need to familiarize themselves with and use guidelines provided.

302G: Inquiry Lab Guidelines Project (10% of course grade)

Students must convert a standard "cookbook" lab into a high school level guided inquiry lab using provided resources and specific guidelines. Student will have another students implement the lab in class. The writer will then revise the guidelines on the basis of this experience before submitting the assignment.

302H: Capstone PowerPoint (5% of course grade)

Students must develop a PowerPoint presentation for use with their Capstone Seminar Presentation (see 302I below). PowerPoint appearance will be judged separated from the presentation. See below.

302I: Capstone Seminar Presentation & Lab Report (20% of course grade)

Students must independently design and conduct a bounded-inquiry capstone experiment and complete detailed written and oral reports (including a PowerPoint presentation). Students will be limited to 10 minutes for the presentation, and this will be followed with up to 5 minutes of questions and answers from the class members and instructor. Presentations will be scored by both peers and the course instructor.

Scores and Grading:

The course grade will be determined on the percentage of total score points earned according to the following schedule:

The above grading scale might seem a bit high to the student, but it assumes that students will maximize both learning and accomplishments by taking regular advantage of the instructor's Assessment-for-Learning Policy. Meet with your instructor at any time to see where you stand relative to submitted assignments.

Instructor's Expectations:

As can be seen from the Scores and Grading Section above, the instructor expects nothing but the highest quality work from each student. Low-quality work will not be accepted; it WILL be returned with a temporary score for improvement. If the student chooses not to improve and resubmit an assignment, the temporary score will stand.

A responsible teacher educator must be assured that each teacher candidate can perform at the highest level of expectation. Students in high schools deserve no less than the best possible teachers.

Click here for an important note dealing with student academic behaviors and their relationship to academic success. Learn more here.

Watch YouTube video I am worried about my grade.

Academic Integrity:

Each student must do his or her own work; taking advantage of others' work through plagiarism (presenting others' work as your own) will be dealt with according to university policies. Respecting intellectual property rights of others in this course is expected.

Students are expected to be honest in all academic work. A student's name on any in academic exercise shall be regarded as assurance that the work is the result of the student's own thought and study. Offenses involving academic dishonesty include, but are not limited to the following: cheating, computer dishonesty, plagiarism, grade falsification, and collusion. For more information about this important topic, visit the Student Dispute Resolution Web site.

As you work your way through the the course projects, you will encounter a large amount of proprietary software. This means that the software that you will be using is the intellectual property of someone else. Much of this software is copyrighted, and may be used only after the appropriate fees have been paid and agreements consented to. ISU has obtained a license for each of the programs that you will encounter in this course. It is expected that students will comply with both legal and ethical obligations while using this software. This implies that students will not make unauthorized copies of or disseminate proprietary software. Students are expected to comply fully with the directives addressed in this requirement.

Resources used in this course (applications, books, CD's, sensors, calculators, computer interfaces, etc.) should not be removed from the MLT 307B under any circumstances without the instructor's permission. Course materials are limited, and a number of students have need for these materials at various times outside of the usual and ordinary lab hours. These resources must remain available to all students at all times.

Course Outline:

Important Caveats:

Please make a habit of regularly backing up your computer work -- e.g. make multiple copies. Missing computer files or crashed hard drives are not legitimate excuses for lost work or missed deadlines. Backup, Backup, Backup! When updating versions of work, avoid overwriting earlier versions. The later version might be flawed in some significant way. When making updated versions, label successive projects Job1, Job2, Job3, Job4, etc. You can throw away the very earliest versions if you run out of memory, but be certain to retain the latest two versions at a bare minimum. Make backups of diskettes or flash memories that you will be carrying around. A little bit of effort at the right time now can save a lot of extra effort later (and even a poor grade). Please back up regularly! There is no excuse for doing otherwise.

Also, consider bringing a flash memory to every lab session for backing up course work. If you don't have one, you might want to purchase one. Alternatively, be prepared to save you files to a remote server or copy onto a 100 Meg ZIP disk or similar. Contact your course instructor for a ZIP disk if you would like to borrow one.

Caution: Keep in mind as you progress toward student teaching that as a student teacher your students will have an interest in finding out about you. This will lead them to Internet searches. Don't put anything on a web page, YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, etc., that you wouldn't want students, parents, teachers or administrators to see.

Disposition Concerns: The College of Education, in an effort to ensure top quality graduates, provides faculty members and interested others with the opportunity to provide input into the teacher preparation process. One of these inputs is in the area of disposition concerns. Education faculty, in particular, are encouraged to bring to attention of CECP any significant problems associated with the following major areas. If three or more filed dispositions concerns have not been resolved, the teacher candidate will be blocked from advancing in Professional Studies.

• Collaboration Issues: The ability to work together, especially in a joint intellectual effort.
• Honesty/Integrity: The ability to demonstrate truthfulness to oneself and to others; demonstrate moral excellence and trustworthiness.
• Respect: The ability to honor, value, and demonstrate consideration and regard for oneself and others.
• Reverence for Learning: Respect and seriousness of intent to acquire knowledge.
• Emotional Maturity: The ability to adjust one’s emotional state to suitable level of intensity in order to remain engaged with one’s surroundings.
• Reflection: The ability to review, analyze, and evaluate the success of past decisions in an effort to make better decisions in the future.
• Flexibility: The willingness to accept and adapt to change.
• Responsibility: The ability to act independently, demonstrating accountability, reliability and sound judgment.

Continuing Education/Professional Development for Teacher Candidates:

• Science News

• Scientific American

• Discover Magazine

• Science Friday

• Education Week