Teaching activities

[Slothrop]

If this should rather be placed under the favorite home experiments thread, I apolgize - please just delete it.

I'm a high school teacher who's lucky enough to teach science and physics. I especially enjoy the physics bit, but I have what seems like a common trait for a new teacher - I'm whiteboard-bound. I'm starting to get some confidence in my own teaching style, but I acknowledge that I have too few experiments. I'm looking for both "starter" activities and more "please hand in a report on this" sized things.

Are there any teachers here who'd like to share some tips?

We're doing work and energy this week, and I'd rather have them dragging some object around with a force measure-thingy than me up in front chalking the board full of equations and definitions.

Thanks.

[Izawwlgood]

When you say 'science and physics', what science do you mean? Is chemistry or biology included?

[Slothrop]

Yes, biology and chemistry are included. High school (or the closest thing to it) spans three years in Norway. In the first year, the pupils are required to take a general science course. This covers some physics, some chemistry and loads of different biology related themes. Physics is a separate course they can choose to take in their second and, hopefully, third year (unfortunately, way too few choose this at my school.)

[Izawwlgood]

Cool. How much money is available for putting stuff together?
At the very least, you can grow mustard plants under different variables to run an experiment.

[Slothrop]

Hm. I'll probably need to keep things as cheap as possible. We already have a fairly extensive pile of different experimenty things, it's just that I'm no good in thinking of stuff to do with it. And, perhaps more importantly, as soon as I try to do anything, one of the classes (the science one) turns into complete mayhem.

What's been most successful so far is sending groups into the elevator with a force measuring step-on plate, not entirely unlike a bathroom scale, and having them find the elevator's acceleration.

(Maybe the question should be: how do I keep a group of kids on their best behavior while trying to show them how we can make a moisturizer out of some basic chemicals? (The perfume smell didn't leave the room for a week.)

[Ulc]

Former high school teacher here - and I'm not going back*

Personally I mostly used experiments to break up the whiteboard time, a typical 45 min. class would for me look something like this

15 min. Getting the class in order and explaining the core idea of the days lesson at the whiteboard
5 min. wake them up with a practical experiment
15 min. a small exercise where I walked around in the class and helped anyone that looked confused.
10 min. wrapping up the lesson and explaining parts that many people had trouble with.

Things burning and exploding usually went really well - titrations is much less successful (unless it explodes) for the demonstrations.

For the force and energy thing, yeah, it's better to give them a hands on feel for it, but the equations are important as well, don't forget them.


*I found out to my regret that the balance of caring about the students doing well, and being able to distance enough to not feel personally hurt when they don't, is not something I could do.