Introduction Welcome to Physics! In many ways, your experience in this class will be no different from your experience in other high school classes. You will listen to your teacher give the lessons, you will ask and answer questions, you will do homework and laboratory investigations, and you will take tests.
But this class also will be very different from any other you have taken. Your classroom will be stocked with state-of-the-art technology and, as your teacher, I will appear on videotape. You will control the clicker... I will share my duties as teacher with a CD-ROM written especially for this class. When we need to talk, we will use the telephone or the Internet. And since I can't be in the classroom with you-except on the television screen-you will have a classroom facilitator to work with you directly.
This course will be different from conventional physics courses, and in many ways better. It will introduce you to people who do physics and take you to places where physics is done. It will demonstrate physical principles to you using much more elaborate equipment than most high school programs can afford. Also, thanks to the camera, each of you will have the best view possible of classroom demonstrations. And you won't have to imagine a physical situation your teacher describes to you-you will see it on a professionally produced video. The result of all this should be a class that is unusually rewarding and entertaining.
What we will be doing this year is revolutionary. The classroom techniques and technology we will use is some of the most advanced in education; and together we will be pioneers in the field of interactive video/Internet instruction. To make our project succeed, you must be self-motivated and committed. And I will do my best to make physics exciting-full of surprises, challenges, and discoveries.
Don't be shy. Call me. Send me messages. Tell me who you are and what you think. I want to know you as individuals, and I don't want to be just a television image for you. So let's talk to one another as often as we can. And together we will make history in education while also, I hope, making Physics a valuable and enjoyable experience.
-Chuck Duncan
Picture yourself watching the dawn launch of a NASA space shuttle. The air is cool, damp, and still; your breath forms a visible cloud as you stare toward the east at a sky whose stars are gradually traded first for a deep blue, then purples and reds and oranges as your spot on Earth makes its way toward the sun. A magnificent blaze overwhelms your view, and seconds later the thunder of the shuttle engines drowns out even your thoughts.
No thoughts are necessary to enjoy such an experience, but the event you came to watch represents the culmination of thousands of years of insatiable human curiosity. Think about the everyday events in that scene. Why is the still air just before dawn replaced by a morning breeze? Why the foggy breath? Why does the sun come up? And what is the source of the glorious colors of the sunrise? The lure of these everyday puzzles and their eventual solutions led steadily to the next question and the next, till today we consider it our destiny to make sense of everything.
Physicists today continue this quest for an understanding of our universe, from the quarks within the atomic nucleus to the clusters of galaxies that fill the heavens. But the first step to that knowledge is still the study of the everyday events around us; that is, the study of physics. And since the laws that govern the flight of a baseball also guide electrons, planets, and galaxies, learning a little physics goes a long way.
KET Star Channels Physics is a one-year high school course with the goal of providing the student with an appreciation and understanding of the physical world. An equally important goal is to prepare students for college courses and careers that require an understanding of physics. These include the sciences, engineering, medicine, pharmacy, education, agriculture, transportation, meteorology, and many other fields.
One essential tool in developing an understanding of physical principles is mathematics. Mathematical descriptions of motion, force, energy, electricity, magnetism, and light allow us to describe what we observe and predict what we have yet to observe in the most efficient manner possible. So in physics we use mathematics as a tool to summarize and extend our observations.
So is physics just another mathematics course? No, physics is about concepts and real events around us. Mathematics is just a very useful part of the language of physics. We ultimately want to know why the sky is blue and what gives a saxophone its brash sound. Math just helps us describe what we see. The preparation you need is two successful years of algebra. Also a good dose of curiosity and good study habits wouldn't hurt.
We will use a number of types of activities to help students learn physics. Students will watch lecture/demonstration sessions on tape, work through labs and activities on the Physics Companion CD-ROM, participate in live lab activities, and take frequent short tests. The sequence of activities is outlined in the agenda provided on the Physics Web Site. Students are encouraged to talk frequently with each other, their facilitator and the teacher. Discussion is very important in learning concepts.
Primarily due to issues of cost and difficulty in setting up sensitive equipment, most activities done during the first half of the course are done using the CD-ROM, rather than with "live" equipment. There is some disadvantage in this due to the non "live" nature of these activities. However, this method does have many advantages. We can do many more activities because of gains in speed and efficiency. Many of the activities are more sophisticated than those done in most physics classrooms. We can also do more sophisticated analysis of our data using the tools that come with the CD-ROM.
During this course, you will:
A. Mechanics
A limited amount of time will be spent exploring the 20th century's contribution to our understanding of the atom.
Chuck Duncan
Kentucky Educational Television
600 Cooper Drive
Lexington, KY 40502-2296
E-mail: cduncan@ket.org
Physics web site:
In addition to regular e-mail through your Internet service provider, you will have access to a simpler form of messaging through the Physics web page. When you log in you can send messages to me through our own special message system. If I have sent you a message, you will see an icon to click on to read it.
Tests .........................................50%
Labs and Activities ....................25%
Homework ................................25%
Your work will be monitored by your classroom facilitator and by me. Your facilitator will keep a record of your scores electronically. The grading software allows your facilitator to print out progress reports at any time for you or for the purpose of establishing a letter grade at the end of a grading period. Your actual letter grade for a given grading period will be determined by your facilitator using your school's grading procedures.
Because of my direct link to your classroom computer, I will also be able to monitor your progress during the year.
If you miss an assignment, your facilitator will decide whether your absence was excused. If it is, you will either be allowed to make it up or have the assignment disregarded in the calculation of your grade. This decision will be a judgment call by the facilitator, possibly with my input. I have suggested to your facilitator that he/she be very cautious in this area because attendance and regular work habits are very important.
Tests (50%)
Many tests questions will be given during each chapter. Rather than save all questions for the end of a chapter, most questions will be sprinkled throughout the chapters. In this way we can check for mastery before we go on, so give your assignments your close attention.
Many test questions will be multiple choice and true/false, others will ask you to demonstrate a more involved procedure or skill that you have been developing. Tests will cover anything covered since the previous test, including material presented in labs, activities, and lectures. There will be a comprehensive midterm and final exam. Each of these will count the same as an ordinary test, but please remember that they will be comprehensive. The midterm will cover the first half of the course, and the final will cover the second half of the course.
Your facilitator has been provided with a copies of old exams. You may use these to help you study. As this course is undergoing a very big change this year, you should expect to find that the old tests indicate only a part of what you'll be tested on. Just keep this in mind as you work. For example, if you are working with a piece of software to evaluate data from a video clip, you will probably be asked to show that you know how to perform this procedure. So don't assume that all is well if one of your group members has mastered the technique. You need to learn the same skills.
Labs and Activities (25%)
We will do as many labs as possible in this course. These take three basic
forms. In the second half of the course, and sometimes during the first half,
you will have regular lab equipment to use for taking data. Sometimes you will
watch me work with a piece of equipment on video. On other occasions you'll
take data from your CD-ROM. Regardless of how you make your observations, you'll
follow up by doing calculations, answering questions, etc.
You will have a lab report to fill out or write from scratch. Your facilitator
will judge your work based on my suggestions. I encourage you to talk to your
classmates while you do these. As I will emphasize in class, I believe you learn
the most when you try to explain something to someone else. Just ask any of your
teachers. Most will say they really began to understand their subjects when they
started teaching them. So I want you to try this, too. Whenever possible, work
with someone. Of course, it must be an equal give and take; everyone must take
a turn in the discussion.
Homework(25%)
Nearly every night you will have some sort of homework assignment. As learning physics is a cumulative process, it is essential that you stay up with this work. Of course you have a thousand other things to do with your time, so you're going to need some "encouragement." You will usually be asked to turn in this homework for a grade. In addition, once or twice a week I will ask you test questions on what you have learned. Got that? These are not quizzes. They are part of a test that is spread throughout the chapter.
Occasionally these questions will pertain to a lab you just finished or are about to perform. I have found that many students will rarely study a lab before they actually perform it. For these students, lab is not a very rewarding experience.
Great care and attention to detail have been given to this course. In order to gain the maximum possible benefit from it, you as a student have certain duties and responsibilities:
As soon as we get the rest of the course up and running, we will start interacting over the Internet by audio, chat (typing) and by video. You will be able to call me using a microphone attached to your computer. You will be able to see me and I will be able to give you assistance using audio & video.
With your agreement and consent, KET will feature your Physics class on the Internet. This helps to establish a sense of community in our virtual classroom. In order to accomplish this, we will need information about you, your students, school, and community that other members of the class might find interesting.
For this feature, the facilitator and the students should consider sending print material or photos of school realia (caps, picture of mascot, T-shirts, etc.), students participating in activities, community events, local geography, etc.
Education:
M.S. (nuclear engineering), University of Kentucky; B.S. (physics), Morehead State University; Christa MacAuliffe Fellowship, U.S. Dept. of Education/National Education Association
Work Experience:
SERC/KET satellite physics teacher 1989-present; physics teacher, Fayette County Public Schools (Lexington), 1976-1989; special physics courses for pre-meds, Kaplan Educational Centers, 1992-present, and the Health Careers Opportunity Program, 1985-present; physics instructor, University of Kentucky, 1973-present, and Transylvania University, occasional summers; nuclear waste analysis, Institute for Mining & Minerals Research, 1974-1975, and the Environmental Protection Agency, 1974; physics lab instructor, Morehead State University, 1972-73; Boy Scouts of America and other camping organizations, 1966-1973
In addition to his regular satellite Physics course, Chuck has produced many hours of televised professional development seminars for high school and middle school teachers. As a part-time instructor at the University of Kentucky, he works with pre-service elementary and middle school teachers to prepare them for the physics component of their future teaching careers. In 1994 and '95 he served as the classroom presenter in NASA video conferences.
Memberships:
Kentucky Science Teachers Association, Kentucky Association of Physics Teachers,
American Association of Physics Teachers, Kentucky Academy of Science, National
Audubon Society
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