Maximizing the Effectiveness of your Physics Labs

Maximizing the Effectiveness of your Physics Labs  (Free Event for Members)

Saturday, October 15   9:30-12:00  Montclair High School

This meeting will be free for all members.  Refreshments will be served.

The purpose of this meeting is to exchange ideas about how to make our labs as effective as possible.  We run Physics labs with many different purposes and styles.   The goal of this meeting is to share our approaches and learn from each other.  This meeting will be helpful for both new physics teachers and experienced physics teachers looking to hone their craft.

Some different styles of labs include:

•     multi-station exploratorium labs in which the students are exposed to a set of short experiences, especially used early in a curriculum unit
•    traditional labs where the students perform experiments and compare their results to theoretical computations
•    practicum labs in which the students must use their physics knowledge to achieve a specific target

•  the degree that the lab is already setup for the students
• how critical/difficult the data taking will be
• how much care will be required by the students to achieve a successful outcome
• the expectations and requirements for the lab report (formal, simple, worksheet, ...)
• the areas where we want the students to struggle vs. information provided
• the number of students in a lab group
•  group lab reports vs individual reports
  

For this meeting we will have a variety of labs setup so that the teachers can explore them.  We will then discuss the factors listed above plus any additional areas that  teachers want to explore.  Teachers who would like to bring materials to share will be welcomed as well.