Reflection and Investigation from The Great Equations

 FINAL WORK: November 29, 2012





Last night, you presented on a chapter of Robert Crease's book, The Great Equations.
All work must be made as comments to this blog post.


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A. Each team will provide one response to the appropriate question below (between 300-400 words).
During class, you will present your response to your peers.
Due online Sunday, 11/18/2012 at/before at 9:00 PM


How is the nature of the atom as developed over time related to kinetic molecular theory and the Second Law of Thermodynamics?


What empirical evidence do we have that the Shrodinger Equation is a reasonably accurate model?


What is the connection between the phenomenon of relativity and the interchangeability of matter and energy? What are some practical applications of the equation?


Explain why a Newtonian model of the atom (with circulating electrons around a central nucleus) cannot be explained using Newton's Laws.




B. Each team member will provide a comment and at least two questions to one of the explanations.

Responses are due by noon on/before Monday, 11/26/12.

Comments and questions must be meaningful in scope and must reflect the discussion presented by  your peers.

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FINAL WORK: Nov 29, 2012
Please provide a scientific explanation to the questions below as a response to the blog post by your peer (200 words or more). Please cite your credible, reliable sources.
Some questions were split into two parts for clarity.
Also, do not assume that the way that a question is worded means that it is correct.

Did the second law of thermodynamics disprove the first one? (I kind of think it did, but please explain how) Hailey

"Thermodynamics uses energy in the form of work to convert colder matter to warmer matter...." so in its simplest form, would this be like a microwave? Kelly

How are electrons everywhere at once, yet we can determine where they are using Schrodinger's equation? Are they only everywhere in certain orbitals? Brianna

How does Newton's law of motion apply to Rutherford's gold foil experiment? I feel like there is a strong connection with how the alpha particles reacted when hitting the gold foil and Newton's law of motion. Maggie O’

What exactly does it mean by the entropy striving towards a maximum? Is there a maximum entropy? Jill

How are potential energy and kinetic energy of elements related to the first and second laws of thermodynamics? Madison

What are some real world applications of thermodynamics? ­­­­Missy

Why doesn't it [gravity] account for the effect of attraction between the protons and the electrons? Sara

Do electrons change in speed or remain at a constant moving speed? Casey C

What exactly is the concept of invariance? Does that mean that a moving object is never constant like the speed of light? Siobhan

The equation [E=mc²] is still a little confusing. Alexis

Why is the c squared?  Casey B

Why can't an object reach the speed of light? Nicole

What happens when the world reaches maximum entropy? Can it? Clay

What do you mean by this: “Atoms use energy to combine with other atoms”? Tynishia

What do you mean when you say atoms become more “disorganized” when they speed up? Are you referring to their motion? Maci

What exactly are the "electrostatic forces" that are providing the attraction between the nucleus and electrons? Tarver

Lab: Heating curve of water

Deadline: Dec 4, 2012

We inquired into how water behaves when heated from ice to steam.
Complete this lab write-up that reflects on your learning from this lab activity.

1. What did you expect the heating curve to look like?
2. Create a sketch of their experiment and explain what you did. 
3. Consider how you went about coming to this experimental set-up? What did you try? Why did you discard this approach?
4. Use the Science Writing Heuristic to frame your report.


Here are some resources to assist with the heat concepts:: 
http://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/thermalP/u18l2c.cfm
http://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/thermalP/u18l2a.cfm


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Reflection on the Heat homework discussion

Here is a reflective piece by Dr. Deneroff in her observation of class on Tuesday, October 30. We were looking at the heat homework problems that students had problems completing. The remainder of class was spent on a discussion.

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Dr. Richards was facilitating a lecture-discussion on heat, developing students' ideas about energy transfer and how to do problems. I noticed a couple of times that students would give the "right" answer, but when Dr. Richards probed further, the students didn't really understand what they were talking about. It would have been easy to accept the correct answer as proof of understanding and then move on. The depth of students' knowledge (ignorance, not meaning it in a judgmental way) was profound, and it took some time to uncover its true dimensions.

I'm reminded of diSessa's construct of p-prims, which he describes (to the best of my recollection) as conclusions about phenomena which are not linked to other ideas, but remain as islands. When Dr. Richards asked students to make connections or to follow a chain of causal reasoning, they were able to do so only with great difficulty and a great deal of prompting in the form of questions. She engaged individual students in extended questioning in order to scaffold putting together a cohesive whole.

I noticed that not all students were following the conversation and did not seem to understand that their colleagues' were being questioned publicly in this way in order to get ideas onto the table for everyone to consider. Earlier in the evening students repeatedly focused on the right answer, and when someone came up with an answer that was judged to be correct, it was quickly passed around. At the time Dr. Richards announced that we were not really interested in the correct answer, which the students seemed to shrug off. I think that they don't have any other perspective on science calculations, and the idea of viewing problems as a shorthand for science concepts is an entirely new idea they have little experience with.

At the end of Dr. Richards's discussion of heat, I felt that I should call students' attention to what we had been doing. I had two purposes in doing this. One was to let students know that the structure of our lesson was deliberate, and that we had a particular pedagogical goal in mind. I also wanted to clue in those students who had not been paying attention that perhaps this was important. I reiterated that we were not interested in formulas, but that they should focus on understanding the problem; understanding makes the strategies for solving it obvious. Dr. Richards reiterated that she too is not interested in students memorizing formulas. I also explained that there had been several times during the lecture when students had appeared to give the correct answer, but Dr. Richards kept probing, and it was revealed that the students did not really understand. I tied this to the issue of accepting evidence of learning, and asked whether they had run into this phenomenon in their field placements.

I will say that we started the evening with a wide ranging discussion of the role of energy in the body, and the way chemical energy of food is transferred through digestion and metabolism. I was expecting students would not relate the process of combustion from the lab of calories obtained by burning Cheetos with the breaking of chemical bonds within food substances. I discovered this some years ago in teaching high-schoolers, when I would ask them why they need oxygen, and the students were unable to go beyond because you can't breathe. What a shame it is that we don't explore the big picture and assume that students have made connections such as the role of oxygen in both combustion and cellular respiration.

The conversation about heat contained within food revealed that students remember very little of any high school biology.

Last night in one of my graduate classes we started exploring the idea of the lack of connection between learning and completing assignments. Before Dr. Richards  came in, I decided to see what the undergrads had to say about this topic. They basically said they had to choose: either do the assignment and get the points, or study and try to understand. I raised the issue that doing assignments is designed to lead to learning. We didn't get farther than that.

We did not get very "far" in our discussion of heat, although we perhaps got deep. I come away from tonight's class with another piece of evidence I interpret as showing the need to explore ideas in depth, and the conviction that most science instruction merely papers over students' confusion.

Assignment#13: Cheeto Laboratory

You've inquired into how to measure the energy released from Cheetos.

1. Create a sketch of their experiment and what you did. Consider how you net about coming to this experimental set-up? What did you try? Why did you discard this approach?
2. Use the Science Writing Heuristic to frame your report.

Here are some other questions to consider:
3. What does it mean that the Cheeto "burns"?
4. What are the variables in your experiment?
5. How did your final set up assist you in measuring these variables?


Here are some resources to assist with the heat concepts:: 
http://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/thermalP/u18l2c.cfm
http://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/thermalP/u18l2a.cfm

Meet wth a Scientist, Present to A Scentist

Please post your team name, team members
As a comment to this post, indicate the scientist consultant and paper that you have received.

Activity
This year's presentation draws from Crease's book, The Great Equations.

Each team will present as a panel for 15-20 minutes to the class and scientists on the chapter that you received. You can prepare a one-page handout if you wish. You will not use PowerPoint as part of the panel presentation. A rubric for assessing the panel presentation, participation of each member of the team, the question/answer component, and your demeanor during the presentation is in the DropBox (to be updated).

Questions
Here are some questions that you can use in addition to your own:

1.     What is the “take away” point (main argument) of the chapter?  Why might this chapter be significant to the study and nature of science? 

2. How do the physical science models and theories that we studied apply to the content of the chapter (heat, atomic)?  Are there any models or theories presented in the chapter that we have not studied?  If so, do they seem like explanations for central concepts or concepts that are less crucial for understanding physical science? 
3. Describe 3 key features of the main model or theory presented in the article that would allow others to distinguish it from another competing model or theory.

4.      Can/Is the model represented mathematically and/or conceptually? What evidence do you have to support this claim?

5.      Identify any limitations of assumptions or boundaries of the model/theory identified in the chapter. How are they limitations of the model?

6.      What predictions, if any, can be made from the model/equation presented in the chapter?

7.      Can any predictions from an unrelated phenomenon be assessed from these models?

8.      What would you do to improve on these model/theory/equation?

9..  Find 5 physical science concepts that could be addressed in the chapter that are also identified in the National Science Education Standards.  Explain how each of the 5 concepts benefit from the equation in the chapter as well as more generally, how they relate to the natural world.   

10. What would you expect a middle school student to understand about these concepts and their relationship to “real life”?  How does this compare to what the middle school teacher should understand about these concepts and their relationship to “real life”?

From Now to Thanksgiving.... (sounds like a movie title?)

Find below our ideas for the second half of the course; these may change depending on the depth of our discussions. However, the goals remain the same.


October 2
-Discussion:
---Meet with/Present to a Scientist (articles will be approved by scientist then placed in DropBox or a URL given)
-Evaluating your Concept Maps (a rubric will be handed out to assist you in assessing your maps)
-Lecture: The development of ideas on the nature of the atom (atomic theory): 2 PPTs
-Models/Nature of the Atom project (see blog: goal is to educate middle grades students about the development of ideas of the atom)
-Energy Lab: What's Cookin'? Burning A Cheeto! (introduction to heat)


October 16
-Science Talk: development of ideas on the nature of the atom and the nature of science
-MidTerm Quiz
-Moon Journal discussion
-Science in the Media
-Introduction to heat
-Energy Lab: What's cookin'?
-Meet with a Scientist: create teams
-HWK



October 23: Heat
-Science in the Media
-Team Time: Meet with a Scientist: articles distributed
-Conversations about Heat and Models of the Atom
-Energy Lab: What's cookin'? Science Writing Heuristic
-MidTerm Quiz Discussion
-HWK: Heat Problems; (assigned reading: bring Primary Science (first 2 chapter); bring text to class
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-MidTerm Quiz
-Moon Journal discussion
-Museum Exhbit discussion
-Introduction to heat



October 30: Happy Halloween
-Halloween Costume Competition
-Science in the Media
-Team Time: Meet with a Scientist
-Conversations about Heat and Models of the Atom
-Heat Problems
-Concept maps
-MidTerm Quiz Discussion
-HWK: bring Primary Science text to class; bring in Moon Journal and artifacts



November 2
NSTA Regional Conference (Atlanta, GA)



November 6
-Science in the Media: several teams

-Heat Lab: Boiling water lab
-Primary Science conversation
-Team Time: Meet with a Scientist
-Concept maps
-Moon Journal Activity/Lab
http://www.winkatthemoonnight.com/
http://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/lunar-lander
-Chalk Talk
-HWK:Preparation for Present to A Scientist event

 

November 13: Panel discussions
-Meal (4:30 PM)
-Present to a Scientist (panel)
-HWK: Science News Jigsaw articles; Newton's second law of motion (Great Equations)/Chapter in Bryson's book Newton's Laws reading and responses to prompts; reading from Primary Science; Atom Exhibit



November 20: No class
-The Physical Science of Thanksgiving



November 27: Informal Science Education (ISE)
-Science in the Media
-Science Writing Heuristic/Models of the Atom/Newton's second law of motion (Great Equations)/Chapter in Bryson's book
-Museum Exhibit: final plans

-Lab: Newton's Laws
-HWK: bring Primary Science text to class
-Evaluating Science News: Science News Jigsaw
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-Science in the Media
-Primary Science text to class
-Creating an interactive museum exhibit (L. Chandler)  
-Museum Exhibit: final plans 
-Moon Journal Activity/Lab
http://www.winkatthemoonnight.com/
http://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/lunar-lander


December 4-Museum Exhibit: exhibit on display
-Informal Science Education 
-Chalk Talk


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November 27: 
-Creating meaningful, interactive museum exhibits (L. Chandler): Natural History Museum (1st floor Hery Hall)
-Museum Exhibit: final plans
-Science in the Media 
-Lunch (30 minutes)
-Moon Journal Activity/Lab
http://www.winkatthemoonnight.com/
http://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/lunar-lander
HWK: bring in researched responses to your questions

December 4 
-Museum Exhibit: exhibit on display
-Bring it all together: The Nature of Science and the Nature of the Atom: hypotheses, theories (including Shrodinger's, Newton's, etc.), models, light, heat, KMT, 
-Informal Science Education 
-Chalk Talk
-SALG 

MidTerm Quiz

1. Prepare an index card for each activity; these cards must have lab activities, computer simulation and science talk activty
2. On each card, please summarize the data that you collected and a one sentence statement of the scientific meaning of the data an index card; you may want to crate several duplicates of each card
3. On a different index card, copy the statements from question 1 of the mid-term exam
4. Create a matrix/grid of the index card with test prompts on side and data from each activity next to the appropriate statement (see below).

TEST PROMPT	DATA from activity	DATA from activity	DATA from activity
A molecule is simply two or more….	Electrolysis Lab; we learned that the decomposition of water occurred when current were placed in the tubes; Gas bubbles formed in the tube were likely from hydrogen gas  released because the gas popped when a flame was applied; colors changed for the pH indicator; the other tube was supposed to relase a gas (likely oxygen since water is composed of hydrogen and oxygen).
One puzzle had to do with spectral readings of the wavelengths of hydrogen…	Spectral Tubes and Science Talks: In our science talk, we discussed how there was no medium ground for energy levels, like a ladder; only one wavelength or another; this expalained the gaps in the spectral tubes….	Light Tour: We also observed these color gaps during the light tour of Milledgeville….	PHET Simulation: The simulation in Dr. Richards' lab we began to see when the e;ectron jumped; we brought this up in the Science Talk…