Young Adult Literature
In Dr. Pope's young adult literature class, I have studied the possibility of applying young adult literature to teach science. In the conclusion part, I fully admitted the feasibility of using young adult literature in elementary school, but I have a little doubt about its usage in high school physics class. Physics is a highly organized subject. Students need to learn it systematically in order to understand it fully. Within the framework of flipped classroom, I see the possibility of use it in my classroom. Before the class, I will make a series of online videos for students to learn by themselves. In the classroom, I will care more about the applications of the knowledge they have learned. Therefore, it is possible to integrate YAL into my classroom activities.
Physics is the study of the natural world around us. All of our daily activities are closely related to physics, like energy, speed, temperature. We can't avoid these concepts. In literature works, the character's life may be more dramatic, but still their life is related to physics. My online video is free fall, so I will give an example of how can we use a young adult literature work to start a class discussion. I will use a scene in the hunger games by Suzanne Collins to start my classroom discussion. At the last chapter, there is a scene that Katniss and Peeta were chased by a bunch of wolves. By cooperation, they climbed onto a high platform.
My discussion question was let students to determine the minimum initial speed of the wolves so they could jump onto the platform. I will divide the students into different groups and let themselves to figure out the height of the platform. Through careful reading or watching the movie clip, they should estimate the approximate value of the height of the platform. Then I will let them share their results and discuss how they reached their result.
To get more information on the benefit of applying Young Adult Literature to teach science. You can click on the following link.
https://drive.google.com/a/ncsu.edu/file/d/0BwgAxigEC8m2TlZvZExRc3JPOUk/view?usp=sharing
Physics is the study of the natural world around us. All of our daily activities are closely related to physics, like energy, speed, temperature. We can't avoid these concepts. In literature works, the character's life may be more dramatic, but still their life is related to physics. My online video is free fall, so I will give an example of how can we use a young adult literature work to start a class discussion. I will use a scene in the hunger games by Suzanne Collins to start my classroom discussion. At the last chapter, there is a scene that Katniss and Peeta were chased by a bunch of wolves. By cooperation, they climbed onto a high platform.
My discussion question was let students to determine the minimum initial speed of the wolves so they could jump onto the platform. I will divide the students into different groups and let themselves to figure out the height of the platform. Through careful reading or watching the movie clip, they should estimate the approximate value of the height of the platform. Then I will let them share their results and discuss how they reached their result.
To get more information on the benefit of applying Young Adult Literature to teach science. You can click on the following link.
https://drive.google.com/a/ncsu.edu/file/d/0BwgAxigEC8m2TlZvZExRc3JPOUk/view?usp=sharing
Videos games
According to an article written by Dr. Spire, The Twenty-first Century Learner and Game-based Learning, she talked about the possibility of using video games to teach K12 students. She related the learning process with 21st century abilities. That article changed my view of teaching. Before that,I thought using digital tools to facilitate education was good, but we needed to prevent students from indulging in the video games. According to the article, the learning environment and the requirement for learners have been changed.
The following is an example of simple video games that can be used to teach free fall and projectile motion. The purpose of this game is let students have the feeling of motion in two dimensions. From my experience, the two dimensional motion is very hard to understand. When we say we can break motion into x and y axis, and the motion in the two dimensions are independent. They may memorize what we say, but they don't what does that mean. Through this games, students can change the motions in vertical and horizontal directions in order to finish the game, thus they get the feelings of motions in different directions.
The following is an example of simple video games that can be used to teach free fall and projectile motion. The purpose of this game is let students have the feeling of motion in two dimensions. From my experience, the two dimensional motion is very hard to understand. When we say we can break motion into x and y axis, and the motion in the two dimensions are independent. They may memorize what we say, but they don't what does that mean. Through this games, students can change the motions in vertical and horizontal directions in order to finish the game, thus they get the feelings of motions in different directions.
Movies
Movies is also one of the great resources that can be used to start a topic. Take Gravity as an example, we can use it to discuss many interesting physics concept, for example gravitational acceleration, Newton's Law of universal gravity, circular motion, centripetal force. In terms of free fall, we can show students a clip of the movie and let students discuss the difference of gravitational acceleration between outer space and on the surface of earth. When an object falling towards earth in the out space and on the surface of earth, or object falling through outer space onto the surface of earth, what is the change of its gravitational acceleration and speed.
Lab experiments
Students have already learned the knowledge during the video part. They should have the basic idea of what gravitational acceleration is. I don't need to spend time again to repeat the knowledges on the video. Instead I like to use the time to do more experiment activities. Through experiment students can get experiential knowledge.
The gravitational constant g is given in the video part. Students may wonder why this value is constant and how to determine its magnitude. In the classroom we can divide the students into different groups. I will guide them to devise a method to actually measure this value. Students may have different method. I will encourage them to share their idea with other groups. I can prepare the experimental apparatus that they will need, but I encourage them to find the necessary tools around them to measure this value. Science comes from life and serves our lives. At last, students need to figure out the uncertainties of their measured value. Physics values without uncertainty is meaningless.
The gravitational constant g is given in the video part. Students may wonder why this value is constant and how to determine its magnitude. In the classroom we can divide the students into different groups. I will guide them to devise a method to actually measure this value. Students may have different method. I will encourage them to share their idea with other groups. I can prepare the experimental apparatus that they will need, but I encourage them to find the necessary tools around them to measure this value. Science comes from life and serves our lives. At last, students need to figure out the uncertainties of their measured value. Physics values without uncertainty is meaningless.
Incorporating Global Topics
Reference
Spires, H. A., Lee, J. K., & Lester, J. (2012). The twenty-first century learner and game-based learning. Meridian, 11(1).
https://21stcenturyhawthorne.wikispaces.com/file/view/21graphic.png/64658770/810x520/21graphic.png
https://latimesherocomplex.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/la_ca_1023_hunger_games_078.jpg
https://21stcenturyhawthorne.wikispaces.com/file/view/21graphic.png/64658770/810x520/21graphic.png
https://latimesherocomplex.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/la_ca_1023_hunger_games_078.jpg