Linking Environment and Physics
At Rensaleer (rpi) an online physics course for college students, using the environment as a testbed, has been adapted for high schools...
Links
At Rensaleer (rpi) an online physics course for college students, using the environment as a testbed, has been adapted for high schools.
Toys in Space (ISBN) by Carolyn Sumners (TAB books, McGraw-Hill, 1994)is filled with dozens of toy-building activities that simulate experiments NASA astronauts perform on space shuttle missions. Students compare principles of physics on earth and in space. This gem includes reports from astronauts. The use of familiar toys has proved motivating.
NASA also had fun, taking a number of children's toys into space. Check out what they found.
Fun stuff at the Grand Rapids museum encourages downloading instructions for making classical learning toys, such as Boy in A Tub.
The Lawrence of Hall of Science (lhs)has synthesized concepts in biology, chemistry, earth sciences and, especially, physics with dimensions of environmental studies. GEMS, a study of global warming, is one of the more recent projects in a long history of school curricula. The LHS offers summer institutes, too.
At Cyberia Expo at NCSA also known as Science for the Millenium, contains images and text about some of this century's major debate topics in physics, such as black holes and the big bang.
Particle physics is the prime topic at the Lawrence Berkeley Library (lbl). While many physics resources can be found on the Web, the interesting feature of this site is the focus on investigation techniques and models. Such alternatives can be compared with models in other science domains.
Lawrence Livermore National Lab (llnl)and Los Alamos National Lab offer many summer workshops for teachers and partnerships between scientists and technologists.
See Also
Annotation
These sites highlight the development of principles of physics. Within the various projects in environmental studies the approach to physics varies very widely and often reflects assumptions about the targeted age group (Older students are presumed to be able to handle more complex topics.). A disconnect, however, is evident; some elementary and middle school students learn descriptive physics while others are exposed to more quantitative approaches. It is important to actually inspect the materials and strategies. The key, of course, to avoid student confusion is to align your selection with national, state and local guidelines and promote articulation across grades in your district. BTW (by the way) in order to accommodate the variety in school physics preparation Harvard freshmen can choose among ten courses in "basic" physics.
(See also Knowledge Integration.)
