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Friends and family assignments were first implemented by a graduate teaching assistant, Michele Crowl, to promote informal science teaching and learning experiences. These assignments require students to take what they have begun to learn in Physics 111 and teach others about physical phenomena. Sometimes the students are asked to teach their peers or parents, but they are always encouraged to teach children of the age they would like to teach in the future if they are able to do so. Depending on the type of assignment, students may be asked to interview their friends and family members, conduct experiments or activities with them, and/or explain science concepts to them in easy to understand language. By breaking down science concepts and activities, and by sharing them with friends and family, the students in Physics 111 get the opportunity to solidify knowledge and gain new insights about science and teaching. In this way, friends and family assignments become more than just teaching others; they become a process of self-discovery and learning! Students not only gain knowledge about science, but they also gain confidence in their teaching skills and abilities.
After conducting each friends and family assignment, students in Physics 111 write reflections about their experiences. Reflecting on the friends and family interactions can be beneficial to future teachers because it often helps them conceptualize the process of learning and teaching. Thinking about these strategies will likely enhance their future teaching practices.
| Week | Physics Topic | Activity | Example Student Response |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Light and Shadow Explorations | Use your cardboard to cut out a shape with which to explore shadows with a friend or family member. Post the questions you explore and your findings on the discussion board by midnight Wednesday and submit here as well. | This was an interesting experience for me. To be completely honest I wasn’t even thinking about physics, or homework for that matter. I was sitting on the couch with my roommate Chloe and we noticed three shadows coming off the television. That’s when the idea struck me. After much explaining and convincing, Chloe agreed to let loose and play with shadows with me. The first thing we did was decided what shape to make; we felt an owl would be appropriate. Then we determined what question we would explore. We decided: What causes multiple shadows on a single object? We started with one light source shining on our owl; this cast a single shadow, just as we expected. Then we added another light source, which cast another shadow! After this we went back into the living room and I asked Chloe to apply what we just learned to the real life situation. She quickly put it together and said, “There are three lights in the ceiling, causing three shadows off the TV!!” It felt really rewarding to start with a real life question, explore and cumulate an answer! |
| Week 2 | Thermal Phenomena | Invite a friend or family member to explore thermal phenomena with you in terms of thinking about how materials differ in the rate at which they transfer heat energy. Post a reflection on BlackBoard in which you describe what happens and reflect on what you learned about learning and teaching through this process. | I taught my roommates about thermal phenomena while I was cooking dinner. I told them to touch the wooden handle of our pot, and then to touch the metal of pot itself while it was still cool. Then I asked them which felt cooler them. Of course, they said the metal felt cooler. I explained to them what I learned in class about how each object conducts heat differently. I asked them, once everything was heated up, to touch the wooden handle of the pot, which they did. Then, I asked them to touch the metal, and they wouldn't. They already knew that the metal would be very hot, so they had the knowledge that metal was a good conductor of heat. This meant that the metal would get very hot, very quickly. They were amazed by the fact that metal was in fact the same temperature as the wooden handle while they were both cool, but metal conducted heat from our body and felt cooler though it really wasn't. It was interesting to explain this to them, because they had never thought about such every day phenomena before, and now they know why metal always feels so cool. |
| Week 3 | Light: Mirrors | With at least one friend or family member, explore and explain a property of mirrors. It can be something that we have already explored in class or something new. You choose how and what to explore. Please summarize your experiments and comment on what you learned about teaching and learning. | Today, I did the mirror experiment that asks, where in this room would you be able to stand and see the object in the mirror? At first, my roommate was reluctant to participate, but once I told her the experiment, she was very intrigued and curious as to what would happen. As we started doing the experiment, her prediction was that she would be able to see the object if you were the same distance from the mirror. With a little guidance and support, I explained the powerful ideas about light and showed her the different angles at which the object was from the mirror. She then understood that it did not matter if you were at the same distance from the mirror, it was only important that the angle at which you were to the mirror was the same as the object. She was so happy to figure something out, and she was eager to find out more, asking questions and making more predictions. I learned that it is very hard to explain something without giving the answer away. I also learned that patience and understanding play a big role as the educator. You have to remember that students are learning this for the first time and that it will take some time to fully grasp the concept. |
| Week 4 | Moon | Moon dancin' with friends and family: Do the moon dance with friends and family and describe what happens. Engage at least two people in your production. In your post, please describe what you did and reflect on how it went. | To practice the moon dance, I asked my two trusty roommates Chloe and Izzy if they would like to do the moon dance. of course the said yes! So we set up the living room so that there was a lamp in one corner and I asked Izzy if should would like to be the sun. After she agreed I told her to stand next to the lamp and pretend like she was the light source. Then I found a basketball out in the garage and asked Chloe to hold it, making her the moon; I would play the role of the earth. After our roles had all been discussed, I asked the moon to position itself so that the there was no shaded parts on the ball. I asked them what this would be called, and after a little guidance they figured out that this would be a full moon. Then I asked the moon to revolve around to the side of me, the earth. I then asked Chloe and Izzy what they saw. They said that one side was shaded and the other wasn’t. I said this is what is called a half moon. Then I told the moon to revolve so that she was standing right in front of the sun. They said that the whole thing was shaded and Chloe actually knew that this is called a new moon. So we revolved one more time until we had another half moon and then completed the full cycle of the moon! After this I let them switch, making me the sun, Chloe the earth and Izzy the moon. |
| Week 5 | Thermal Phenomena | Interview two people about their understandings about heat and temperature. If possible, one should be a student of the age you would like to teach and the other should be an adult. Report: a. brief description of your interviewees (gender, estimate of age) b. your “protocol” (questions you asked) c. example responses for each individual as accurately as you can d. summary of your findings | Chloe, age 19 1. If you were to touch a piece of metal and piece of wood, which would feel colder? Metal 2. Why do you think this? Because of the components that make up metal. 3. Do you think density has anything to do with the temperature? Yes, because it effects the way it absorbs heat. 4. How does a thermometer work? “um… I have no idea… I just know that some have mercury in them.” Calvin, age 7 1. If you were to touch a piece of metal and a piece of wood, which would feel colder? metal 2. Why do you think this? Because usually metal can get really cold, the wood can stay warmer and wood keeps us warm in our house. 3. Do you think density has anything to do with the temperature? Yes, it kind of does. 4. How does a thermometer work? It’s got a little red thing in it and when it goes up it goes up to the highest point of how hot you are. Summary: Well neither age group seemed to know a whole lot about this topic, which must mean we don’t spend a lot of time on this in elementary school, and we must take this for granted in our daily lives. |
| Week 6 | Thermal Phenomena | Design your own experiment! Design your own experiment about thermal phenomena and try it with at least one other friend or family member. Post a summary of your experience on Blackboard. Include a description of your experiment and reflect on the process you went through. Questions to think about: What did you plan? What did you say? How did your friend/family respond? Did it go exactly as you planned? | I did an experiment with my 8 year old cousin. We did one of the experiments from class. We used hot and cold water to change the temperature of one cup of water. We used a thermometer an started with cold tap water which was about 23 degree Celsius. Then we added a little of hot water to watch how the temperature would change. My cousin liked watching the red line move on the thermometer. She would choose a certain temperature that she wanted the thermometer to be at, then she would try to add the correct amount of water of either hot or cold water to get to that temperature. I asked her if she knew why the temperature was changing when the different temperature waters were added. And she said because the cold water was too cold so it steals warmth from the hot water. Then she said it was just like how in the winter when we are cold we stand next to a heater or fire and steal the heat coming off of that to warm up. We worked with the water for over half an hour because she was having so much fun change the temperature of the water and watching the thermometer change. |
| Week 7 | Thermal Phenomena | How often do you experience thermal phenomena in your life outside the classroom? While you are with a friend and/or family member, have a discussion about the thermal phenomena during one of your daily experiences. This could happen while cooking a meal, walking barefoot on a cold tile floor, filling a bathtub, etc. Describe what happened, what questions were asked, and what interesting ideas or learning came out of the conversation! | We experience thermal phenomena every day and lots of people do not know it. From when you walk on linoleum in the morning and it feels freezing or when you are cooking or making tea. My friend came over to my apartment and when she walked in she said my apartment felt so cold. I did not feel cold at all but I had on sweats and a sweat shirt and she just had on jeans and a little over coat. We started to talk about how clothing effected out temperature. So we started discussing different types of clothes and why some kept us warmer than others. Then my friend was asking me about if it makes a difference if you have been in the place for awhile if your body just gets use to the temperature so you feel like it is the perfect temperature after awhile. She expected me to have some kind of cool answer because she knew we were talking about this is class but I really did not know the answer. Then we decided to make tea and she started asking me questions about how heating water works and if water continues to keep getting hotter and hotter, so we ended up getting out a thermometer and doing the experiment we did in class just watching as the water got warmer and warmer and then when it started to boil it stayed the same temperature. She found this pretty cool and when my other friend came over she thought she sounded all smart telling me other friend what we had done and found out because she did not know about it either. |
| Week 8 | Moon | Put “moon phases explanation” into Google search and browse among websites that purport to explain the phases of the moon. Choose the one that you like best. Invite a friend or family member to explore the website with you. How well does this website work as a source of information about the phases of the moon: What aspects of the website help your friend/family member to understand the causes of the phases of the moon? What aspects of the website hinder learning? What did you learn about learning and teaching from this experience? Also check out the navy website you can get to by putting “moon rising and setting times” into Google search. By entering a date and location you can find out what percent of the moon is illuminated as well as when it rises, is high in the sky (transit) and sets. | http://moonphases.info/moon_phases.html This website shows a really cool diagram that shows the phases of the moon as seen from earth and then as seen from the solar system and breaks it down nicely. This helped my friend see all the different phases and be able to understand that just because of what we are see on earth does not mean that is actually how the moon looks. She found it interesting seeing the view from the solar system and seeing how there is always half of the moon lit up no matter what. The diagram also shows all the different angles of the moon and explains very well how the angle works with the Earth being the angle vertex. It also talks about the diameter of the sun and the distance compared to the drawing. This website talks about the months without full moons and blue moons and moon rise times corresponding to the phase at which the moon is in. I think it possibly could explain all the phases of the moon a little better but its still really good. I found out that although I already knew a bunch of this stuff going through it and talking about it with my friend helped reinforce this information into my head. And I also got really excited about looking at this website and explain stuff to my friend even though it was mostly what I already knew. The navy website was cool because it gave you exact times throughout the day for the moon and the sun. This website also told you the phase of the moon that it is at today and what percent of the moon is lit up. It also told me when the new moon had occurred. |