Workshop Physics: Seeing Physics in Action

Frederick Moore
Associate Professor of Physics
Department of Physics
Whitman College
Walla Walla, Washington
moore@whitman.edu

Why did I turn to learning technology? Because - flat out - the students were not learning.

Technology is a means to an end.... it helps us implement teaching strategies that are substantially different from the traditional methods of teaching introductory physics. When I say traditional strategies, I mean the talking head lecture with a few demonstrations, combined with a confirmation-based laboratory in which students are told to make certain measurements and try to get the right number. The problem with those strategies is we just don't believe they work. Our students could give answers to problems they'd seen before, but they could not solve new, sometimes even slightly different problems.

So we adopted a new model, loosely based on the Workshop Physics model, whichÉuses

Workshop Physics Workshop Physics Computer Software Pasco Scientific Gravitation 5.0 Center for Science and Mathematics Teaching - Tufts University

activity-based learning, both in the classroom and the laboratory, to teach introductory physics. Students do real physics, taking measurements, making predictions, and evaluating data they've gathered. There are a variety of software packages and tools available to facilitate the laboratory portion of our course. We've also developed course logistics software, plus simulation software programs that we're making available to anyone who asks.

How is it working? The folks in our revised first-year curriculum do as well compared to students in other reform-minded first year courses and better than most students in a traditional curriculum, including the one formerly taught at Whitman College. We get very good feedback about the lab component - the students like the lab, they like the instrumentation. They like seeing physics in action....

If you have any questions about our project, you can contact me at:
moore@whitman.edu