Introduction

I began teaching the way I was taught.  I followed the typical flow through physics:  start at the first topic on the course outline and try to make it to the end.  If I talked fast, used all of the lecture time and some of the lab time for lecture, and didn’t care about the ultimate results, I could almost make it through all of the relevant chapters in the text.  But, my first experience with the PEPTYC project and a TYC Physics workshop in ’94 started my transformation from a dynamic didactic deliverer of copious quantities of content to a constantly questioning champion of constructivism. 

MBL I & II and the CE/OCS workshops got me thinking about how I could do things differently.  I spent the next 6 years trying to integrate all of the tools an techniques that I learned at those workshops and AAPT workshops and personal research and… I’ve used MBL, CBL, Interactive Physics, Video Point, Electronics Workbench, Workshop Physics, Real Time Physics, ALPS kits, ActivPhysics, Modeling Physics, and Spiral Physics to deliver the content and develop the competencies required for our courses.  While my students began doing better on measures like the FCI, I still had the feeling that I was still presenting physics (as David Hestenes says) as “…just one damn thing after another.”  Enter the 11/’00 Physics In Context (PIC) workshop at Sinclair Community College in Dayton, OH…

After attending the PIC workshop, I decided that I wanted to make my courses much more project-based.  I dropped the topic-driven approach and focused on exploring the physics within specific contexts (mousetrap-powered cars for 1^st semester and digital control circuits and robots for 2^nd semester).  My students responded well and I know I enjoyed myself.  However, both courses have additional topics that I can’t fit into these contexts.  Furthermore, I didn’t do a thorough job of identifying all of the relevant physics nor did I do an adequate job of integrating the physics we did do into the contexts.  The purpose of this project was to design contexts that will accommodate all of the topics required by our two semester algebra/trigonometry based physics courses. 

I began with the assumption that physics is more about skills than subjects, techniques more than topics.  When I ask faculty of “downstream” courses (those that require physics as a prerequisite) and technical employers why they want their students/employees to take physics, they typically cite problem solving as the most important outcome.  Teamwork, technical communication skills and willingness to experiment also usually outrank content in my anecdotal interviews, but these results seem to resonate with other, more formal, surveys.  Therefore, I see my role primarily as helping students learn the process of physics within the contexts of the content. 

I teach at the Williams Campus of Chandler-Gilbert Community College (part of the Maricopa Community College District (MCCD)) in the Phoenix metro area.  I typically teach 3 sections of PHY 111 General Physics I and 2 sections of PHY 112 General Physics II each year to classes of 18-24 students.  Classes are usually limited to 24 students and we meet for roughly 3 hours twice per week in the physics lab.  We share the Williams Campus with Arizona State University’s College of Technology and Applied Science, so nearly all of my students are either aviation-related or technology majors with ASU.  While the courses that I teach are not Technical Physics per se, the student population is ideal for having a technical emphasis.  My administration has given me a great deal of support and latitude over the last decade as I’ve struggled to help students learn physics better.  Furthermore, my division chair, dean, and president are all located at another campus.  So, I have the near perfect environment to experiment with reform J

To implement this curriculum this semester, I have structured my classes into three five-week segments with presentations, reports and student notebooks due at the end of each segment.  During the workweeks, we will spend one day in guided exploration of fundamental physics concepts as well as modeling and technical tools and the other day will be devoted to project work.  I plan to run the project portion of the course in a Problem Based Learning format wherein I serve as a guide, not as a source of information.

I think that each of the projects will require some fine-tuning, but I am convinced that my students and I will all learn a great deal this semester.  Stay tuned… 

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