Physics teaching responsibilities:
As part of my teaching responsibilities, I had to teach several topics in Physics that were best broken down into seven different units. These units also build upon each other. Physics could also be broken down into two sections, the first half can be summed up as to objects move, from kinematics, force and motion to momentum. Following momentum, we transition into work and power, before doing conservation of energy which is the second half of physics as thermodynamics, waves, and electricity and magnetism are all just different types of energy. One caveat to this was the time spent introducing Modern Classroom to the college level classes.
Unit 0 – Introduction:
With a new class of students, this was the time we spent getting to know them, create those initial connections, and introduce them to the Modern Classroom concept as needed. While I was just observing during this time, I could truly get to know students as I floated around the classroom to help.
Unit 1 – Motion
This was the first true unit of the physics year, an introduction to the vocabulary, equations, and units that we use in physics. Here, I got to see how lessons are created and taught differently between college level and honors level classes. I was even able to create a lesson, and the unit test for this unit without having the full responsibilities of teaching. While there were several mistakes that I made, it gave me insight on how to improve once I started my own teaching responsibilities.
My first set of tests that I created.
Unit 2 – Newton’s Laws and Forces
As we transition into Quarter 2, and unit 2, I started teaching my period 3 class. This was also the unit where I was fully into the Modern Classroom style of teaching. me and my mentor took a different route than Emira Senko, we focused on the types of forces before moving into Newton’s laws of motions. Near the very end of this unit, when we covered gravitational Force, was when I began teaching my period 6 class.
Unit 3 – Momentum
It was during this unit that I started moving away from the Modern Classroom style of teaching, but it was still at the core style I was using. Only at the end, when we started covering the conservation of momentum was when I pulled away from the modern classroom style of teaching. The theme of this unit was on car safety, teaching the students as to how car manufacturers design cars to “crunch” during collision to reduce the force that the passengers feel.
Unit 4 – Energy
total energy is always conserved, and energy is required to perform work. Beginning with what is work and power, we started to define that energy before moving onto how energy is transformed. There are nine different forms of energy, and our day-to-day life uses that energy transformation to do work, while keeping total energy conserved.
Unit 5 – Thermal Energy
One of the types of energy is thermal energy, relating to the laws of thermodynamics. Some of the key points were the direction in which thermal energy is transferred, and the concept of what heat capacity is. The theme of this unit ended up being food, from how different foods cool at different speeds, and how to make ice cream.
Unit 6 – Waves and Oscillation
How does our everyday lives used waves, and parts of the electromagnetic spectrum to function? And why is the sky blue? These are some of the questions answered in this unit, point towards the electromagnetic spectrum as a whole before narrowing down to the visible spectrum. There is also the added focused on sound, from the speed of sound to the doppler shift.
Unit 7 – Electricity and Magnetism
This is the final unit in the physics curriculum, culminating in the final energy type where we defined why the electromagnetic spectrum is composed of both electricity and magnets. Part of the unit will involve the students in learning about static electricity, and circuits.