Physics Class

I just finished my week long class at UNI. It was on Ramps and Pathways. The idea of the class is to get us to teach our students the concepts of simple physics through inquiry and through the constructivist approach. Students will be able to construct their own learning about these concepts through exploration with different lengths of cove molding, wooden blocks, and a variety of marbles, ball bearings, and little cars.

The class had a lot of great things to say and it gave me the opportunity to get down and to build things for myself. It was a great class and I believe that my students will get a great understanding of how they can help themselves learn new concepts. These days many kids don't get out of the house to explore life. Many are trapped inside playing video games all day. How do you learn how to build a fort if you never attempted to build one? When we experience error, we are driven to correct for that error. I remember putting a blanket over the top of my fort when I was a kid and finding out that it was sagging down when I got inside. I figured out that I need to have something to raise it up. From that point on I had a mental relationship that when items expand over great distances they need to be supported. This is what we are trying to get our students to do through this project.

I am excited to get things rolling!