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Newsletter Volume 3 |
Spring 1999 |
Mesa Community College Physics Workshop
Mangala Joshua
Physical Science Department
Mesa Community College
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Newsletter Volume 3 |
Spring 1999 |
Last year the Mesa Community College (MCC) Physical Science Department identified a need to incorporate calculator based laboratories (CBLs) and microcomputer based laboratories (MBLs) effectively into the Physics curriculum. In order to accomplish this goal successfully, it was essential that the Physics teaching staff learn the full capabilities of this technology and receive some hands-on training to use it effectively in their physics classes. This was accomplished through a four-day workshop, sponsored by ACEPT, during the summer of 1998 at MCC.
At MCC, as in many community colleges, part-time faculty carry out a substantial fraction of the physics instruction. Therefore, to succeed in full conversion to effective use of CBLs and MBLs in the MCC physics curriculum, it was important to include the part-time as well as the full-time faculty. The success of any effort to effect systemic change in the MCC physics instruction would rely to a large extent on how well these part-time as well as the full-time faculty effected these instructional technology changes into their own courses. For this reason, part-time faculty were encouraged by me, the Workshop Leader, and by the Department Chair , Ray Grant, to participate in the workshops. As an incentive ACEPT provided stipend for each instructor who participated in the MCC ACEPT Physics Workshop. All six of the part-time Physics faculty participated in the Workshop. Although the participants received training in technology the emphasis was on how to do inquiry-based experiments using the technology effectively.
Participants were first introduced to the graphical problem solving capabilities of the TI-83 graphing calculator as well as the interface with the CBL and associated probes. The participants were then provided with opportunities for hands-on experience working with the CBL's and probes to measure motion, force, temperature, pressure, light etc. After each probe was introduced with a specific experiment, the participants were given time to explore ideas/applications as to what could be done with these probes. They were also introduced to the MBLS using a few probes. On the last day of the workshop participants were briefly introduced to: a) computer simulations using the software Interactive Physics, and b) video analysis of physics experiments using the software Video Point.
As a result of the training received during this Workshop, the participants became confident and had acquired enough skills to begin incorporating changes into their own classrooms in the 1998 fall semester. During that semester the MCC Physical Science Department had replaced nearly half the experiments in the introductory physics courses PHS110 and PHY101 with new inquiry-oriented calculator-based experiments. We are incorporating MBL experiments in all other physics courses during the spring semester in 1999.
ACEPT student teacher liaison Jeff Turley, workshop consultant Eugene Judson, and former ACEPT workshop participant and part time math teacher at MCC, Nancy Topoozian assisted in the workshop sessions. The faculty participants, both part-time and full-time, indicated a high level of interest in learning more about the effective use of CBLs and MBLs in their physics classrooms.
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