List three things you learned, two things you found interesting and one thing you still have a question about. Comment on someone else's question.
For me, this has been a very educational course. The knowledge I have acquired in both assessment and curriculum is already been applied in my daily instruction. In addition, on a personal side, having come from CT and not familiar as yet to the required NJ standardized tests - I now know what is to come for my younger son and how best to prepare him.
What did I learn?
1. Identifying 21st century skills - knowing what skills are needed for our students future success helps me embed these skills in my current instruction. Although critical thinking has been key for me all along, knowing that this skill is important for future success of my students reinforces for me that my approach is in the right direction.
2. Exposure to the revised 2009 NJCCCS. As I update my curriculum for next year I will be taking these new standards and their strands into account.
3. The changes in standardized testing for NJ regarding particularly, the EOC and its future implementation. It is good to see that NJ is moving away from HPSA and into a more course related assessment. Last year the EOC for biology was introduced. The goal as mentioned above is to eventually eliminate the high school HSPA test and replace it with the EOC series.The EOC series will consist of three tests in science encompassing biology, chemistry, and physics. In addition three tests will be administered in math and three in language arts - the focus I for the latter two areas are unknown to me at this time.
Two interesting things -
1. Technology tools such as Web 2.0, Flickr, Slidelicious, etc. I am now teaching my students on how to use these tools for their presentations, particularly in reference to their projects for Q3/Q4.
2. Social networking tools such as Wikispace. My students all have facebook pages, but they are now learning how to communicate their understanding of physical principles to me and their fellow classmates on their personal classroom wikipage.
One question -
How does one truly judge the effectiveness of curriculum? This question is constantly on my mind. I am always looking for new approaches to curriculum and assessment of that curriculum.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
April 1st Peer Reflection - Week 10
Read through your classmate's blogs. Identify a post that has an impact on you. Why does it strike you? What will you change because of the post?
Response to Dan's Blog of March 19th regarding "reading by young men in and out of the classroom".
I found this particular post by Dan relevant to my experiences both in the classroom and in my personal life. I am an avid reading and prided myself into introducing reading to both my sons from an early age. We have a library full of books and each boy's room has its own library. Books are scattered throughout our home. My eldest took immediately to reading from his youth, but my youngest, now age 9 - resisted reading once he entered 2nd grade. It has been an ongoing struggle until the past few months. I agree with Dan, that the importance of the reading word must start at home. I have a similar experience with my male students that are now seniors. Many of my students do not have books at home. Also, for my young men, sitting home and reading is looked upon negatively by their peers and their fathers. So how do we convince these young men that their future success depends on the reading word?
Reading is very much key to education and future success. I do "reading across the disciplines" and have a difficult time convincing my young men (that are about to go off to college) the significance of all types of reading, both scientific and non-scientific. It has been a frustrating ride, particularly since they are required to do one paper every month - "Scientist of the Month" which requires reading a biography of a famous scientist. The resistance has been high. Statistically, my young men average a "C" at best on their monthly papers. It appears for some they never finish the book assiged. I too am trying to find a connection for them that would draw them into this committment.
Then my personal life offered a key to this constantly locked door. I have two sons and my youngest, although exposed to reading since infancy, is highly athletic and never found purpose in "reading a book". It has been a struggle until this year. I decided to monitor his interests and find books that he might be able to relate to. Since he loved baseball, I started there, but failed. He prefered to play the game. His brother introduced him to a video game based on history - WWII. He was fascinated by the events of this time period - I found my link. An age appropriate series - Dear America - drew him into reading. Today he is an avid reader and we read together every night. An nterdisciplinary approach to reading (bringing in the history lesson) allowed my son to see the relevancy.
This experience allowed me to try to find a connection to reading for my students. I have the luxury in science of not having a curriculum that dictates specific reading assignments. For the month of April, thanks to Dan, I have offered my students the choice to read and write about a scientist whose work and life they found interesting (personal choice instead of required). In addition, I told them to find a book that they would consider reading and that is not about a scientist per se, but discuss the physical principles in the story. One young man is reading Harry Potter and identifying and researching the possibility of "the invisibility cloak" for his paper. Another is reading Steven Hawking's "The universe in a nutshell" trying to understand the connection to Newtonian physics and relativity (his interest and a topic we still need to cover) . The books they were reading this month is not about the life and times of Kepler, but is applicable to physics.
Dan's post made me realize that relevancy - the connection to their lives - is key for these rather active non-readers. Reading a playbook might be more relevant, but limited, but if we can take it to the next step of reading the experiences of a famous football player as part of their education in sports, we might provide the link we need.
March 29, 2009 3:12 AM
Response to Dan's Blog of March 19th regarding "reading by young men in and out of the classroom".
I found this particular post by Dan relevant to my experiences both in the classroom and in my personal life. I am an avid reading and prided myself into introducing reading to both my sons from an early age. We have a library full of books and each boy's room has its own library. Books are scattered throughout our home. My eldest took immediately to reading from his youth, but my youngest, now age 9 - resisted reading once he entered 2nd grade. It has been an ongoing struggle until the past few months. I agree with Dan, that the importance of the reading word must start at home. I have a similar experience with my male students that are now seniors. Many of my students do not have books at home. Also, for my young men, sitting home and reading is looked upon negatively by their peers and their fathers. So how do we convince these young men that their future success depends on the reading word?
Reading is very much key to education and future success. I do "reading across the disciplines" and have a difficult time convincing my young men (that are about to go off to college) the significance of all types of reading, both scientific and non-scientific. It has been a frustrating ride, particularly since they are required to do one paper every month - "Scientist of the Month" which requires reading a biography of a famous scientist. The resistance has been high. Statistically, my young men average a "C" at best on their monthly papers. It appears for some they never finish the book assiged. I too am trying to find a connection for them that would draw them into this committment.
Then my personal life offered a key to this constantly locked door. I have two sons and my youngest, although exposed to reading since infancy, is highly athletic and never found purpose in "reading a book". It has been a struggle until this year. I decided to monitor his interests and find books that he might be able to relate to. Since he loved baseball, I started there, but failed. He prefered to play the game. His brother introduced him to a video game based on history - WWII. He was fascinated by the events of this time period - I found my link. An age appropriate series - Dear America - drew him into reading. Today he is an avid reader and we read together every night. An nterdisciplinary approach to reading (bringing in the history lesson) allowed my son to see the relevancy.
This experience allowed me to try to find a connection to reading for my students. I have the luxury in science of not having a curriculum that dictates specific reading assignments. For the month of April, thanks to Dan, I have offered my students the choice to read and write about a scientist whose work and life they found interesting (personal choice instead of required). In addition, I told them to find a book that they would consider reading and that is not about a scientist per se, but discuss the physical principles in the story. One young man is reading Harry Potter and identifying and researching the possibility of "the invisibility cloak" for his paper. Another is reading Steven Hawking's "The universe in a nutshell" trying to understand the connection to Newtonian physics and relativity (his interest and a topic we still need to cover) . The books they were reading this month is not about the life and times of Kepler, but is applicable to physics.
Dan's post made me realize that relevancy - the connection to their lives - is key for these rather active non-readers. Reading a playbook might be more relevant, but limited, but if we can take it to the next step of reading the experiences of a famous football player as part of their education in sports, we might provide the link we need.
March 29, 2009 3:12 AM
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Current Events Susan's Article: March 11, 2009 Curriculum - Mapping Our Way to Relevance
Current Events March 11, 2009 Curriculum - Mapping Our Way to Relevance
This article reflects my current views on instruction. Traditionally, instruction was strictly subject oriented and based on root memorization. This appraoch might have worked in our generation, but will no longer works for our 21st century students. They live in a global world with a continuous information stream through many sources, including social networking. As adults we do not live our lives in subject based compartments - so why should be teach this way. A few years back, I had the wonderful experience of creating two interdisciplary units - one on Gas Laws in chemistry with my algebra 2 colleague and one on the Nuclear Chemistry with my history colleague. The students were exposed to the same concepts from two different perspectives in a collaborative effort. They realized the interdependence of the subject matter and performed better on our summative assessments than their counterparts involved in traditional instruction - our control group (this was a pilot program initiated by our administrator at the time who has since retired) . Griessman sets the stage for schools to rethink their approach to instruction. "Perhaps the school day ought to be divided into subjects more relevant to our lives: communication, problem-solving, and professional skills". "Better yet, what if the school weren't built around subjects at all? What is it were instead built around real-world problems and solutions? What if disciplinary content were so integrated that assessment could be based on genuine achievement, not on short-term retention of disparate facts and algorithms?" Imagine that, authentic instruction and assessment. This would be a major shift for schools and would require an enormous effort to rewrite curriculum to address this collaborative, interdisplanary, solution focused approach; but imagine the gift we would be giving our students - assessment based on "real solutions to real problems for a real audience" and "a learning environment more relevant to their future".
This article reflects my current views on instruction. Traditionally, instruction was strictly subject oriented and based on root memorization. This appraoch might have worked in our generation, but will no longer works for our 21st century students. They live in a global world with a continuous information stream through many sources, including social networking. As adults we do not live our lives in subject based compartments - so why should be teach this way. A few years back, I had the wonderful experience of creating two interdisciplary units - one on Gas Laws in chemistry with my algebra 2 colleague and one on the Nuclear Chemistry with my history colleague. The students were exposed to the same concepts from two different perspectives in a collaborative effort. They realized the interdependence of the subject matter and performed better on our summative assessments than their counterparts involved in traditional instruction - our control group (this was a pilot program initiated by our administrator at the time who has since retired) . Griessman sets the stage for schools to rethink their approach to instruction. "Perhaps the school day ought to be divided into subjects more relevant to our lives: communication, problem-solving, and professional skills". "Better yet, what if the school weren't built around subjects at all? What is it were instead built around real-world problems and solutions? What if disciplinary content were so integrated that assessment could be based on genuine achievement, not on short-term retention of disparate facts and algorithms?" Imagine that, authentic instruction and assessment. This would be a major shift for schools and would require an enormous effort to rewrite curriculum to address this collaborative, interdisplanary, solution focused approach; but imagine the gift we would be giving our students - assessment based on "real solutions to real problems for a real audience" and "a learning environment more relevant to their future".
3/25 - Week 9 - What knowledge, skills, and attitudes do you think your students will need to be successful?
What knowledge, skills, and attitudes do you think your students will need to be successful? Are you teaching to their needs? If not, what do you need to change?
Over the course of the last few weeks we have been exposed to a skill set called "21st century skills". This set of skills defines the student to come and the needs we must fulfill as 21st century educators. Educators such as Sir Ken Robinson, have been making efforts to communicate the need for revamping of our education initiatives to address these skills. In addition to content knowledge, we need to foster creativity. I agree in that creativity is key and with this focus in our instructional efforts, students will be engaged. My primary concern in my years of teaching is that my students walk away from my classes with the skill to "critically think". Although root memorization has its place, being able to evaluate a situation based on content knowledge, that is new and different, is not only a 21st century skill, but essential to future success. Application of knowledge is as important as obtaining knowledge. Over the years I have tried adapting various curricular models to be able to give my students this fundamental skill. Four years ago I adopted the UbD model because of its focus on "enduring understandings". What is it I would like my students to remember about topics we discussed in physics five years from now, is key for me.
In order to decide the best instructional approach through a preexisting curriculum model for our students ,we need to first answer the following three questions (taken from our essential questions from week 9) -
Over the course of the last few weeks we have been exposed to a skill set called "21st century skills". This set of skills defines the student to come and the needs we must fulfill as 21st century educators. Educators such as Sir Ken Robinson, have been making efforts to communicate the need for revamping of our education initiatives to address these skills. In addition to content knowledge, we need to foster creativity. I agree in that creativity is key and with this focus in our instructional efforts, students will be engaged. My primary concern in my years of teaching is that my students walk away from my classes with the skill to "critically think". Although root memorization has its place, being able to evaluate a situation based on content knowledge, that is new and different, is not only a 21st century skill, but essential to future success. Application of knowledge is as important as obtaining knowledge. Over the years I have tried adapting various curricular models to be able to give my students this fundamental skill. Four years ago I adopted the UbD model because of its focus on "enduring understandings". What is it I would like my students to remember about topics we discussed in physics five years from now, is key for me.
In order to decide the best instructional approach through a preexisting curriculum model for our students ,we need to first answer the following three questions (taken from our essential questions from week 9) -
- Who are the children we teach? These students are known as "21st century learners". They are social net workers that are technology savvy to some degree, but not necessarily critical thinkers as yet. Their global exposure is limited and needs to be expanded.
- What will they need to know and be able to do in 2020? To become an integral asset to the world of 2020 they need to think and interact globally. They will need to be able to express themselves in written and oral work. They will need to be able to work on teams collaboratively. They will need to use technology in their work environment and be easily adaptable to new situations and technology. They must be able to understand and interpret the tremendous information flow that they will be encountering. They will be voting for leadership, making decisions on policy, such as scientific and educational policy and make valid business decisions. To do the latter successively they will need an interplay of both content knowledge and critical thinking skills .
- What are the 21st century assessment skills that will address those needs? The skill set that these learners will need have been identified by many educators to include using creativity, making global extensions, becoming technology savvy, extending their content knowledge through critical thinking, and resolve issues through systematic and analytical problem-solving and learn to work collaboratively.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
3/11: Assessment and Evaluation in the 21st century by Konrad Glogowski
"Assessment is the tail that wags the curriculum dog" - if we want to see reform in curriculum we need to address making changes in how we assess and evaluate our students. Rather than perpetuating the traditional classroom where the student is given the time to complete a task by the teacher; the teacher evaluates the student's work; assigns a grade and the process stops - it is time to move to a new paradign of assessing in the 21st century classroom. This paradign sees the student as an independent researcher that engages an idea or topic; then interacts with others online is a chat format - a community- for additional information; which leads to a conversational assessment. The problem becomes how to evaluate the very 21st century skills that we value in education. Traditionally students learned by acquisition of knowledge. Today, in addition, our students need to learn by both participation or cooperative learning and knowledge creation (giving students the opportunity to build their knowledge). The latter helps build discerning learners and falls within the sociocultural paradign of assessment. The model for the future enables our students to grow up as competent learners that have a sense of place, good communicators, having a sense of belonging and making meaningful contributions to society. To properly assess students for learning, we the educators must consider the following criteria - timely and meaningful feedback, allow students self-assessment (give students the opportunities to look and ask questions about their work), and revisit episodes of competence, not incompetence. This creates an environment where conversations on learning can take place between the student and the teacher. It makes learning visible and deepens the understanding of both the teacher and the student. "Students learn when the see that their teachers, family, and peers see value in their work and what they do has meaning." So what is meaningful feedback for a student. Good feedback is more effective when it focuses and provides information on the correct or expected response. Its goal is to fill the gap between what is understood and is to be understood. In addition, good feedback builds on changes from the student's previous work. Good feedback addresses three primary questions for the student, namely, where am I going, how am I going to get there, and where do I go next. Unfortunately, 99% of teachers offer offer task-level or self-level feedback due to constraints in time and work overload. Dr. Glogowski points out their are four levels of feedback. The 1st level is called the "task level" which is a simple notation on student's work to indicate competion of a task. I tend to use this approach for grading HW. I use a check plus for superior work, a check for average work, and a check minus for limited work. The second level is called "self-level" and is a positive, personal evaluation such as "work well done" - again something I use on papers but I do elaborate more guided feedback. This brings us to level three called "self regulation" - this mode helps students become autonomous - it provides guided feedback to help make students independent learners. The final or fourth level is the "process level" where the feedback focuses more on the student's understanding of the processes needed to accomplish the task. Organization of the processes is also reviewed.
Where it often becomes difficult to assess performance is in
the arena of blogging. To help students understand the strength of their blogs, their written
blogs are graphed on a graph where the y-axis represents the frequency of posts and the xaxis
the personal investment of the writer. An addicted blogger - someone who writes about
everything with no merit, for example, would have a high y -value but a low x-value. The
best contributor would exhibit both a high x and y-value. A high contributor would have a
high ripple effect - in another words, would command highly respected responses. The
students would plot their position on the graph based on their self-evaluation. In evaluating
students' blogs four categories are considered as recommended by Dr. Glogowski:
1. Evidence of Data Gatheiring
2. Evidence of Understanding
3. Evidence of Reflection/Analysis
4. Evidence of Creativity
The creative and discerning thinker would obtain high scores on reflection and analysis.
Writing in your own words leads to high performance in understanding and finally,
discussion of the topic at hand with a different media such as a podcast which presents the
student's own take on the material would score high in creativity. The question asked is
"does this blog entry have a ripple effect in the community? The session ended with one
final question posed to the attendees, namely, "how do we make the sociocultural approach
work so we do not feel guity about giving grades?".
Where it often becomes difficult to assess performance is in
the arena of blogging. To help students understand the strength of their blogs, their written
blogs are graphed on a graph where the y-axis represents the frequency of posts and the xaxis
the personal investment of the writer. An addicted blogger - someone who writes about
everything with no merit, for example, would have a high y -value but a low x-value. The
best contributor would exhibit both a high x and y-value. A high contributor would have a
high ripple effect - in another words, would command highly respected responses. The
students would plot their position on the graph based on their self-evaluation. In evaluating
students' blogs four categories are considered as recommended by Dr. Glogowski:
1. Evidence of Data Gatheiring
2. Evidence of Understanding
3. Evidence of Reflection/Analysis
4. Evidence of Creativity
The creative and discerning thinker would obtain high scores on reflection and analysis.
Writing in your own words leads to high performance in understanding and finally,
discussion of the topic at hand with a different media such as a podcast which presents the
student's own take on the material would score high in creativity. The question asked is
"does this blog entry have a ripple effect in the community? The session ended with one
final question posed to the attendees, namely, "how do we make the sociocultural approach
work so we do not feel guity about giving grades?".
3/11: Mitch's (article #3) Current Events: Is Social networking killing you?
As the old adage says, I suspect that "anything in excess is bad for you". Whether you are answering 100 emails or conversing on Face book with your friends- the end result is the same - isolation from people (family and friends) around you. As a society entering the digital age our tools and social interactions will be of a different nature yet human one-on-one interactions need to be included to some degree - a balance is always the best approach. The article itself raises the question but does not give significant arguments as to why social networking is negative for users. It is definitely more opinion than fact. Like all new technologies and practices, negative press is common. The digital age promises new challenges to social, mental, and physical well being. Some of the bloggers asked for evidence that social networking can have a negative impact on steady users. Such evidence is more long term than short term. A sedimentary lifestyle needs to be infused with physical and social activity for sustenance of long term health. But this is just as applicable to the so called "couch potato" and video gamer. Going back to my original premise - anything in excess has a negative impact on our well being. Social networking is no worse or different than sitting on a sofa and talking on the phone for hours. It is just a different communication process. Social networking is the new form of human interaction. Is it detrimental - time will tell. For now, understanding the modes of communication of our youth helps us keep in touch.
3/11 - Week 8 - What do the curriculum documents for your subject area or grade level look like?
What do the curriculum documents for your subject area or grade level look like? Are they easy to use?
Characteristics of Sound. As beings that hear, we should be thankful for three things that make it all possible; sound waves, air (as a medium), and our ears to receive the sound waves. Sound CANNOT travel in the absence of matter. Without a medium, we wouldn’t be able to hear a thing.
Speed of Sound – related to both the elasticity of the medium and the density of the medium.
v = √(B/ρ)
where B is the elastic modulus and ρ is density.
In air, as the density increases, the velocity decreases. The speed of sound at 20 degrees Celsius is 343 m/s where as at 0 degrees Celsius it is 331 m/s.
Other speed of sound examples at 20 degrees Celsius and 1 atmosphere include:
Water 1440m/s
Seawater 1560m/s
Glass 4500m/s
Aluminum 5100m/s
Although sound slows down in colder air, if we move to a denser medium and much more elastic medium, (such as a liquid or solid), the speed of sound increases a lot.
Sound travels fastest through very elastic solids.
IQ question: If the speed of light is 3 x 108 m/s and the speed of sound is 340 m/s, then how can we tell how far away a thunderstorm is based on this information?
There are two aspects of sound; loudness (related to amplitude) and pitch (related to frequency).
Loudness – related to the energy in the sound wave.
Pitch – sound refers to whether it is high, like the sound of a violin, or low, like the sound of a base drum. The pitch is the frequency of the sound.
Audible Range – the range of frequencies that the human ear can hear (20Hz – 20,000Hz).
Ultrasonic – frequencies above 20,000 Hz.
Example: dog whistle
Infrasonic – frequencies below 20 Hz.
Example: earthquakes, volcanoes
Pressure waves – another name for longitudinal waves due the compressions (high pressure) and rarefaction (low pressure).
Intensity of Sound: Decibels
Intensity (I) – a physically measurable quantity of the energy transported by a wave per unit time across unit area. (it is proportional to the square of the amplitude of the wave). The units are Watts/meter2 or (W/m2)
Our intensity range is 10-12 W/m2 to 1 W/m2 (very painful and damaging to hear)
The loudness increases proportionally to the intensity. If the sound is increased by a magnitude of 10 W/m2, then it sounds twice as loud to our human ear.
Decibel (dB) – scale name after Alexander Graham Bell, used to describe the loudness in terms of intensity.
Intensity level (β in dB) is defined as
β(in dB) = 10 log (I/Io)
where I and Io represent the final intensity and initial intensity, respectively.
Amplitude Related to Intensity
A = 1/πf (I/2ρv)
Below is a list from the Noise Center of decibels we are exposed to:
Home
50 refrigerator
50 - 60 electric toothbrush
50 - 75 washing machine
50 - 75 air conditioner
50 - 80 electric shaver
55 coffee percolator
55 - 70 dishwasher
60 sewing machine
60 - 85 vacuum cleaner
60 - 95 hair dryer
65 - 80 alarm clock
70 TV audio
70 - 80 coffee grinder
70 - 95 garbage disposal
75 - 85 flush toilet
80 pop-up toaster
80 doorbell
80 ringing telephone
80 whistling kettle
80 - 90 food mixer or processor
80 - 90 blender
80 - 95 garbage disposal
110 baby crying
110 squeaky toy held close to the ear
135 noisy squeeze toys
Work
40 quiet office, library
50 large office
65 - 95 power lawn mower
80 manual machine, tools
85 handsaw
90 tractor
90 - 115 subway
95 electric drill
100 factory machinery
100 woodworking class
105 snow blower
110 power saw
110 leafblower
120 chain saw, hammer on nail
120 pneumatic drills, heavy machine
120 jet plane (at ramp)
120 ambulance siren
125 chain saw
130 jackhammer, power drill
130 air raid
130 percussion section at symphony
140 airplane taking off
150 jet engine taking off
150 artillery fire at 500 feet
180 rocket launching from pad
Recreation
40 quiet residential area
70 freeway traffic
85 heavy traffic, noisy restaurant
90 truck, shouted conversation
95 - 110 motorcycle
100 snowmobile
100 school dance, boom box
110 disco
110 busy video arcade
110 symphony concert
110 car horn
110 -120 rock concert
112 personal cassette player on high
117 football game (stadium)
120 band concert
125 auto stereo (factory installed)
130 stock car races
143 bicycle horn
150 firecracker
156 capgun
157 balloon pop
162 fireworks (at 3 feet)
163 rifle
166 handgun
170 shotgun
Sound
Sources of Sound: Vibrating Strings and Air Columns
In music we make sound by striking, plucking, bowing, or blowing. Standing waves are produced which cause the air (or medium) to vibrate and the sound waves reach our ear and we hear the music.
When we talk about music, each octave is simply doubling the frequency.
Pitch directly relates to frequency. The musical scale is generally called an “equally tempered chromatic scale.”
Fundamental Frequency – the lowest resonant frequency.
Remember that v = λf. As we decrease the wavelength, the frequency gets higher.
If we place a node directly in the middle of the fundamental frequency, then we get a harmonic or overtone. These are higher-frequency standing waves.
· Sound
Quality of Sound, and Noise When we hear a sound, we are aware of its pitch, loudness, and quality. We’d say some sounds are better quality than others. You can never mistake a guitar for a piano even if you play a note at the same loudness and pitch.
Quality (or timbre): tone distinctive to a particular voice, instrument, or sound.
The quality depends on the amount of overtones
the number of overtones
their relative amplitudes
You can affect the tone quality also by the way you play the instrument. For example, if you pluck the violin or use a bowstring, you get very different sound because of how long the note lasts or is held.
Noise – sounds of many frequencies together that have no comparisons to one another.
When a sound is a quality sound, the overtones relate to the fundamental tone. With noise, none of the frequencies relate.
Noise can relate to psychological problems or annoyance of the mind. We can also lose hearing if we hear too much noise.
Although noise hurts our hearing, it is very difficult to control. Ear protection is our best defense against it.
Interference of Sound Waves; Beats
When two waves pass through the same region at the same time, they interfere with one another. If you stand in one spot and two speakers are facing you, there’s a chance that you may hear them or not hear them at all depending on where you are standing. If the waves meet in phase with one another where you are, then you will hear a loud sound due to constructive interference. If you are standing where the waves from each speaker are out of phase, you will hardly hear anything because you’re standing in a deconstructive area.
Beats – the phenomenon that occurs if two sources of sound – say, two tuning forks – are close in frequency but not exactly the same. Sound waves from the two sources interfere with each other and the sound level at a given position alternately rises and falls; the regularly spaced intensity changes are called beats.
Beat Frequency – the difference in frequency of the two waves. (time it and invert the time).
Sound
· Doppler Effect
Doppler Effect – When a source sound is moving towards an observer, the pitch is higher than when the source is at rest; and when the source is traveling away from the observer, the pitch is lower.
Perform ball demo here to show how the pitch changes. The pitch increases as it is approaching an observer because the source is catching up to the sound wave traveling away from it. Since it is catching up, it decreases the wavelength between the waves, and therefore increases the pitch. On the other hand, when a the source is moving away from the observer, the source is pulling away from the sound wave as the sound wave travels towards the observer. This increases the distance between each wave and therefore lowers the frequency. To calculate the new frequency, we need the speed of the observer, the source of the sound, and the frequency of the source when it is not in motion.
f’ = f ((v +- vobs)/(v+-vsource))
· Shock Wave and the Sonic Boom
Supersonic speed – faster than the speed of sound
Mach number – ratio of the object’s speed to that of sound in the medium at that location. For example – a plane traveling 680 m/s in air where sound travels 340 m/s has a speed of Mach 2.
Shock Wave – when a source of sound moves faster than the speed of sound.
Sonic boom – the phenomenon that occurs when the speed of sound is broken. All of the compressions of the sound waves being produced are on top of each other since the plane or object is moving with the sound waves at the speed of sound. When all of the compressions are on top of one another, it creates a boom due to the constructive interference.
· Applications; Ultrasound and Medical Imaging
Sonar (sound navigation and ranging) – pulse –echo technique is used to locate underwater objects. A sound pulse is sent through the water and a detector receives its reflection or echo a short time later. This is timed and based on the speed of sound, a distance is calculated.
Ultrasonic – used in medicine to destroy unwanted tissue in the body, to create an image of internal organs, for pregnancy images.
A pulse-echo technique – like sonar, it’s used as an imaging technique to see into the body. It’s a way to see if there are growths on organs or pockets of fluid in the body.
Elaboration
Some of the items listed above can be used to explain what they have learned in the labs.
Application of new knowledge to how bats and dolphins find food is key to earlier biological lessons.
The chemical bond makeup becomes paramount to understanding how the sound moves through materials.
Defining mathematical relationships and graphing will link strongly to prior trigonometry skills, and equation building is really the first venture towards becoming an aware physicist.
Evaluation
Ongoing assessments of students will be made, including discussions, homework assignments, lab reports, quizzes, lab notebook checks, chapter tests and unit tests to continuously evaluate the comprehension and development of all students.
Additional Information
Formative evaluation of students is an ongoing process, not limited to one phase of the learning cycle.
Tests should provide students with opportunities from the lab experience, including interpreting data tables, performing lab-based calculations, designing lab experiments, etc.
Extend
Is light capable of moving in a medium?
Have students tune up wine glasses with water, and play a song like Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.
D. Required Resources
· PVC pipes
· Water containers
· Tuning forks
· Beat Box Tuning Forks
· Sound microphone
· Glasses
· Vacuum Jar
· Balloons
· Rulers
· Computers with microphones
E. Suggested Additional Activities & Resources (including technology integration, if applicable)
· Have students tune up wine glasses with water, and play a song like Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star using Logger Pro and microphones.
Our curriculum documents for physics given here are more traditional in their format and are divided into six categories which are -
As an additional point, I tend to use my own version which is based on the UbD curriculum model. I incorporate both essential questions and enduring understandings at the beginning of each unit. This guides the assessments I develop and then in turns leads me to my activities.
A segment of our curriculum documents for physics - on the unit I am currently teaching, sound, looks as follows: (taken from the physics curriculum)
Unit 13: Sound and Music (1 week)
A. Instructional Goals and Objectives
Instruction Goal #1: To show that sound is longitudinal and mechanical wave motion.
Objective #1: To find the speed of sound in air.
Objective #2: To see that echo is important property of sound.
Objective #3: To find that reverberation is a property of brains, not sounds.
Instructional Goal #2: To demonstrate the quality of sound as it pertains to music
Objective #1: To learn about timbre.
Objective #2: To demonstrate resonance.
Objective #3: To see beats and interference in action.
Instructional Goal #3: To learn about the properties of sound that are important to biological creatures and the physical environment.
Objective #1: To learn about loudness in terms of decibels.
Objective #2: To see how creatures can use the Doppler Effect to locate and describe objects using sound waves.
Objective #3: To identify that the speed of sound is determined by the composition of a material.
B. Unit Overview
Introductory Demonstration: Bell in a Jar
Lab#1: Title: Speed of Sound
Activity #1 Title: Tuning fork spun in a circle
Worksheet: Title: Speed of Sound
Quiz 1: Title Sound Basics
Lab #2: Title: Doppler Effect
Worksheet #2: Title: Bats and Dolphins
Quiz 2: Title: Doppler Effect
Test: Sound
C. The Learning Cycle
Elicit
Find a tuning fork set and make beats with them. Do you know what is happening?
Engagement
How can one tuning fork affect another?
What is the speed of sound in air?
What is the speed of sound in water?
How loud is an airplane from 10m, 100m, 1000m away.
What is the concept of Intensity of sound?
How can the speed of sound be found in class?
Do the Echo/Reverb demonstration outside.
Spin the tuning fork in a circle
Play the sounds of police sirens coming at us and away from us.
Exploration
Hands On Activity/Laboratory Title: PVC pipe and tuning fork
Pre-Lab Discussion: How can this apparatus be used to find the speed of sound?
The lengthening of the air column will elicit amplitude matching and therefore a relationship in the length of column and frequency of pitchfork can be established
The relationship can be used to develop a graph of f v wavelength.
The students may not realize that it is only ¼ of the wavelength, but the relationship exists nonetheless.
Additional information
Draw a picture on the board of 2 dimensional wave inside pipe.
Students marking the pipe with pencil and measuring separately will get the best results.
Explanation
Characteristics of Sound. As beings that hear, we should be thankful for three things that make it all possible; sound waves, air (as a medium), and our ears to receive the sound waves. Sound CANNOT travel in the absence of matter. Without a medium, we wouldn’t be able to hear a thing.
Speed of Sound – related to both the elasticity of the medium and the density of the medium.
v = √(B/ρ)
where B is the elastic modulus and ρ is density.
In air, as the density increases, the velocity decreases. The speed of sound at 20 degrees Celsius is 343 m/s where as at 0 degrees Celsius it is 331 m/s.
Other speed of sound examples at 20 degrees Celsius and 1 atmosphere include:
Water 1440m/s
Seawater 1560m/s
Glass 4500m/s
Aluminum 5100m/s
Although sound slows down in colder air, if we move to a denser medium and much more elastic medium, (such as a liquid or solid), the speed of sound increases a lot.
Sound travels fastest through very elastic solids.
IQ question: If the speed of light is 3 x 108 m/s and the speed of sound is 340 m/s, then how can we tell how far away a thunderstorm is based on this information?
There are two aspects of sound; loudness (related to amplitude) and pitch (related to frequency).
Loudness – related to the energy in the sound wave.
Pitch – sound refers to whether it is high, like the sound of a violin, or low, like the sound of a base drum. The pitch is the frequency of the sound.
Audible Range – the range of frequencies that the human ear can hear (20Hz – 20,000Hz).
Ultrasonic – frequencies above 20,000 Hz.
Example: dog whistle
Infrasonic – frequencies below 20 Hz.
Example: earthquakes, volcanoes
Pressure waves – another name for longitudinal waves due the compressions (high pressure) and rarefaction (low pressure).
Intensity of Sound: Decibels
Intensity (I) – a physically measurable quantity of the energy transported by a wave per unit time across unit area. (it is proportional to the square of the amplitude of the wave). The units are Watts/meter2 or (W/m2)
Our intensity range is 10-12 W/m2 to 1 W/m2 (very painful and damaging to hear)
The loudness increases proportionally to the intensity. If the sound is increased by a magnitude of 10 W/m2, then it sounds twice as loud to our human ear.
Decibel (dB) – scale name after Alexander Graham Bell, used to describe the loudness in terms of intensity.
Intensity level (β in dB) is defined as
β(in dB) = 10 log (I/Io)
where I and Io represent the final intensity and initial intensity, respectively.
Amplitude Related to Intensity
A = 1/πf (I/2ρv)
Below is a list from the Noise Center of decibels we are exposed to:
Home
50 refrigerator
50 - 60 electric toothbrush
50 - 75 washing machine
50 - 75 air conditioner
50 - 80 electric shaver
55 coffee percolator
55 - 70 dishwasher
60 sewing machine
60 - 85 vacuum cleaner
60 - 95 hair dryer
65 - 80 alarm clock
70 TV audio
70 - 80 coffee grinder
70 - 95 garbage disposal
75 - 85 flush toilet
80 pop-up toaster
80 doorbell
80 ringing telephone
80 whistling kettle
80 - 90 food mixer or processor
80 - 90 blender
80 - 95 garbage disposal
110 baby crying
110 squeaky toy held close to the ear
135 noisy squeeze toys
Work
40 quiet office, library
50 large office
65 - 95 power lawn mower
80 manual machine, tools
85 handsaw
90 tractor
90 - 115 subway
95 electric drill
100 factory machinery
100 woodworking class
105 snow blower
110 power saw
110 leafblower
120 chain saw, hammer on nail
120 pneumatic drills, heavy machine
120 jet plane (at ramp)
120 ambulance siren
125 chain saw
130 jackhammer, power drill
130 air raid
130 percussion section at symphony
140 airplane taking off
150 jet engine taking off
150 artillery fire at 500 feet
180 rocket launching from pad
Recreation
40 quiet residential area
70 freeway traffic
85 heavy traffic, noisy restaurant
90 truck, shouted conversation
95 - 110 motorcycle
100 snowmobile
100 school dance, boom box
110 disco
110 busy video arcade
110 symphony concert
110 car horn
110 -120 rock concert
112 personal cassette player on high
117 football game (stadium)
120 band concert
125 auto stereo (factory installed)
130 stock car races
143 bicycle horn
150 firecracker
156 capgun
157 balloon pop
162 fireworks (at 3 feet)
163 rifle
166 handgun
170 shotgun
Sound
Sources of Sound: Vibrating Strings and Air Columns
In music we make sound by striking, plucking, bowing, or blowing. Standing waves are produced which cause the air (or medium) to vibrate and the sound waves reach our ear and we hear the music.
When we talk about music, each octave is simply doubling the frequency.
Pitch directly relates to frequency. The musical scale is generally called an “equally tempered chromatic scale.”
Fundamental Frequency – the lowest resonant frequency.
Remember that v = λf. As we decrease the wavelength, the frequency gets higher.
If we place a node directly in the middle of the fundamental frequency, then we get a harmonic or overtone. These are higher-frequency standing waves.
· Sound
Quality of Sound, and Noise When we hear a sound, we are aware of its pitch, loudness, and quality. We’d say some sounds are better quality than others. You can never mistake a guitar for a piano even if you play a note at the same loudness and pitch.
Quality (or timbre): tone distinctive to a particular voice, instrument, or sound.
The quality depends on the amount of overtones
the number of overtones
their relative amplitudes
You can affect the tone quality also by the way you play the instrument. For example, if you pluck the violin or use a bowstring, you get very different sound because of how long the note lasts or is held.
Noise – sounds of many frequencies together that have no comparisons to one another.
When a sound is a quality sound, the overtones relate to the fundamental tone. With noise, none of the frequencies relate.
Noise can relate to psychological problems or annoyance of the mind. We can also lose hearing if we hear too much noise.
Although noise hurts our hearing, it is very difficult to control. Ear protection is our best defense against it.
Interference of Sound Waves; Beats
When two waves pass through the same region at the same time, they interfere with one another. If you stand in one spot and two speakers are facing you, there’s a chance that you may hear them or not hear them at all depending on where you are standing. If the waves meet in phase with one another where you are, then you will hear a loud sound due to constructive interference. If you are standing where the waves from each speaker are out of phase, you will hardly hear anything because you’re standing in a deconstructive area.
Beats – the phenomenon that occurs if two sources of sound – say, two tuning forks – are close in frequency but not exactly the same. Sound waves from the two sources interfere with each other and the sound level at a given position alternately rises and falls; the regularly spaced intensity changes are called beats.
Beat Frequency – the difference in frequency of the two waves. (time it and invert the time).
Sound
· Doppler Effect
Doppler Effect – When a source sound is moving towards an observer, the pitch is higher than when the source is at rest; and when the source is traveling away from the observer, the pitch is lower.
Perform ball demo here to show how the pitch changes. The pitch increases as it is approaching an observer because the source is catching up to the sound wave traveling away from it. Since it is catching up, it decreases the wavelength between the waves, and therefore increases the pitch. On the other hand, when a the source is moving away from the observer, the source is pulling away from the sound wave as the sound wave travels towards the observer. This increases the distance between each wave and therefore lowers the frequency. To calculate the new frequency, we need the speed of the observer, the source of the sound, and the frequency of the source when it is not in motion.
f’ = f ((v +- vobs)/(v+-vsource))
· Shock Wave and the Sonic Boom
Supersonic speed – faster than the speed of sound
Mach number – ratio of the object’s speed to that of sound in the medium at that location. For example – a plane traveling 680 m/s in air where sound travels 340 m/s has a speed of Mach 2.
Shock Wave – when a source of sound moves faster than the speed of sound.
Sonic boom – the phenomenon that occurs when the speed of sound is broken. All of the compressions of the sound waves being produced are on top of each other since the plane or object is moving with the sound waves at the speed of sound. When all of the compressions are on top of one another, it creates a boom due to the constructive interference.
· Applications; Ultrasound and Medical Imaging
Sonar (sound navigation and ranging) – pulse –echo technique is used to locate underwater objects. A sound pulse is sent through the water and a detector receives its reflection or echo a short time later. This is timed and based on the speed of sound, a distance is calculated.
Ultrasonic – used in medicine to destroy unwanted tissue in the body, to create an image of internal organs, for pregnancy images.
A pulse-echo technique – like sonar, it’s used as an imaging technique to see into the body. It’s a way to see if there are growths on organs or pockets of fluid in the body.
Elaboration
Some of the items listed above can be used to explain what they have learned in the labs.
Application of new knowledge to how bats and dolphins find food is key to earlier biological lessons.
The chemical bond makeup becomes paramount to understanding how the sound moves through materials.
Defining mathematical relationships and graphing will link strongly to prior trigonometry skills, and equation building is really the first venture towards becoming an aware physicist.
Evaluation
Ongoing assessments of students will be made, including discussions, homework assignments, lab reports, quizzes, lab notebook checks, chapter tests and unit tests to continuously evaluate the comprehension and development of all students.
Additional Information
Formative evaluation of students is an ongoing process, not limited to one phase of the learning cycle.
Tests should provide students with opportunities from the lab experience, including interpreting data tables, performing lab-based calculations, designing lab experiments, etc.
Extend
Is light capable of moving in a medium?
Have students tune up wine glasses with water, and play a song like Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.
D. Required Resources
· PVC pipes
· Water containers
· Tuning forks
· Beat Box Tuning Forks
· Sound microphone
· Glasses
· Vacuum Jar
· Balloons
· Rulers
· Computers with microphones
E. Suggested Additional Activities & Resources (including technology integration, if applicable)
· Have students tune up wine glasses with water, and play a song like Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star using Logger Pro and microphones.
Our curriculum documents for physics given here are more traditional in their format and are divided into six categories which are -
- Instructional goals and objectives.
- Unit Overview which includes suggested demos, labs, activities, and assessments.
- The Learning Cycle - an explanation of the specifics of the unit that covers engagement, exploration, explanation, elaboration, and evaluation.
- Extend - application of material - critical thinking skills.
- Required resources such as technology integration.
- Suggested additional activities and resources.
As an additional point, I tend to use my own version which is based on the UbD curriculum model. I incorporate both essential questions and enduring understandings at the beginning of each unit. This guides the assessments I develop and then in turns leads me to my activities.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
3/4 -Week 7 - KK Question and Answer
How does school /community culture infleunce instruction in science in K-12?
Over the past few years some schools are moving on improving their science instruction by expanding their science offerings to lower primary school grades and by aligning these offerings from K-12. As such, science is becoming a key focus area for primary schools. The reaction from school principals has been mixed. Some have embraced the opportunity to expand and deepen the learning opportunities for science for their teachers and students. Some have cited the crowded curriculum as an issue preventing exploration of science curriculum within their sites. And others have been angry that they are expected to stretch resources, already strained by the need for literacy and numeracy support, to cover another learning area, especially in schools where very little science has been taught in the past and foundational work will be needed to support change. Thus the culture of a school may be one of positive embrace of science, status quo or down right rejection of science.
Parents’ views range from the belief that science education in the early years is of paramount importance, to believing that science should be taught only in secondary schools and that it should be the acquisition of reams of facts – perhaps a reflection of their own science education. Parents’ views are powerful drivers of school culture through school councils, participation in classroom activities and other formal and informal interactions with teachers and school leaders. Any teacher seeking to change the way science is taught and learned in primary schools will need to pay attention to the views of the extended community and work with parents in particular to foster the very best science education outcomes for our young people.
When asking quite a few teachers when they taught science during the week the answer has often been that it is scheduled in the afternoons, when students are restless, and that it will entertain them, and that it might be dropped from the program if other imperatives arise.
A common culture in school timetabling structures is that literacy and math tend to be taught in the mornings and other subject areas, perhaps deemed to be less important, are taught in afternoons.
During a recent conversation about primary science education, a classroom teacher commented that the majority of teachers in our primary schools have an arts or humanities background. Low confidence in teaching science through teachers’ perceptions of their lack of knowledge in the subject is often cited as a reason not to teach science.
Perhaps a culture in which it is regarded as being acceptable to learn with students rather than know all facts and skills before them may support and promote higher participation by both teachers and young people in scientific investigations through an inquiry approach.
Over the past few years some schools are moving on improving their science instruction by expanding their science offerings to lower primary school grades and by aligning these offerings from K-12. As such, science is becoming a key focus area for primary schools. The reaction from school principals has been mixed. Some have embraced the opportunity to expand and deepen the learning opportunities for science for their teachers and students. Some have cited the crowded curriculum as an issue preventing exploration of science curriculum within their sites. And others have been angry that they are expected to stretch resources, already strained by the need for literacy and numeracy support, to cover another learning area, especially in schools where very little science has been taught in the past and foundational work will be needed to support change. Thus the culture of a school may be one of positive embrace of science, status quo or down right rejection of science.
Parents’ views range from the belief that science education in the early years is of paramount importance, to believing that science should be taught only in secondary schools and that it should be the acquisition of reams of facts – perhaps a reflection of their own science education. Parents’ views are powerful drivers of school culture through school councils, participation in classroom activities and other formal and informal interactions with teachers and school leaders. Any teacher seeking to change the way science is taught and learned in primary schools will need to pay attention to the views of the extended community and work with parents in particular to foster the very best science education outcomes for our young people.
When asking quite a few teachers when they taught science during the week the answer has often been that it is scheduled in the afternoons, when students are restless, and that it will entertain them, and that it might be dropped from the program if other imperatives arise.
A common culture in school timetabling structures is that literacy and math tend to be taught in the mornings and other subject areas, perhaps deemed to be less important, are taught in afternoons.
During a recent conversation about primary science education, a classroom teacher commented that the majority of teachers in our primary schools have an arts or humanities background. Low confidence in teaching science through teachers’ perceptions of their lack of knowledge in the subject is often cited as a reason not to teach science.
Perhaps a culture in which it is regarded as being acceptable to learn with students rather than know all facts and skills before them may support and promote higher participation by both teachers and young people in scientific investigations through an inquiry approach.
2/25 - Week 6: What are the conditions when it is acceptable to "teach to the test"?
I suspect this phrase is often misused and may apply only to drills that are not practiced by most teachers. I had the opportunity 3 years ago to work on the physical science questions for the newly revised 2006 CAPT - or the Connecticut Aptitude Performance Test (equivalent to NJ's HSPA, but the science segment). We spend two weeks in the summer reviewing materials to insure that the questions truly reflected content taught. Having been one of educators who have written the questions for the state tests I would tell you that our objective was the same as the classroom teacher's: to help kids learn. Most teachers treat the state test as nothing more than another useful guide and motivator, with no significant change in the way they present their lessons. In some classes, such as the Advanced Placement courses that are available in most high schools, the need to prepare for a challenging exam outside of the teacher's control has often produced a remarkable new form of teamwork. Teacher and students work together to beat an exam that requires thought and analysis, not just memorization.
3/4: KK Rubric for Standardized Test Assessment Paper
To complete the Rubric we are to use for our standardized test assessment paper, I have added the following line for my rubric -
Categories: Making Connections
Does not meet expectations : Little or no evidence that the author can connect the information given regarding district policy with impact on teaching strategies and practices.
Meets Expectations: Some evidence that the author can connect the information given regarding the district policy with impact on teaching strategies and practices.
Exceeds Expectations: Clear evidence that the author can connect the information given regarding the district policy with impact on teaching strategies and practices.
Categories: Making Connections
Does not meet expectations : Little or no evidence that the author can connect the information given regarding district policy with impact on teaching strategies and practices.
Meets Expectations: Some evidence that the author can connect the information given regarding the district policy with impact on teaching strategies and practices.
Exceeds Expectations: Clear evidence that the author can connect the information given regarding the district policy with impact on teaching strategies and practices.
Monday, March 2, 2009
2/25 - Week 6: How has NCLB and testing affected your classroom?
How has NCLB and testing affected your classroom? Teaching upperclassmen physics implies that my students have taken and passed the HSPA. Although standarized testing does not directly impact my classroom setting, NCLB does. "NCLB is the latest federal legislation from 2001 which enacts the theories of standards-based education reform, formerly known as outcome-based education, which is based on the belief that setting high standards and establishing measurable goals can improve individual outcomes in education. The Act requires states to develop assessments in basic skills to be given to all students in certain grades, if those states are to receive federal funding for schools. " (Wikipedia, 2001). The goal is to have compliance of all school districts by 2014. The concept of NCLB is a good one and falls in line with a differentiated classroom. In an effort to support both reading and writing skills - writing across disciplines has been initiated at many schools at all grade levels including seniors. One of the shortcomings of NCLB is that the school districts can determine what needs to be done to avoid noncompliance. Often in order for school districts to avoid failing they search for short-term solutions—test preparation, for example—rather than longer-term, more powerful solutions, such as curriculum-focused professional
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