Working Within a Curriculum
“The school of hard knocks is an accelerated curriculum”Menander of Athens
Some preliminaries…
• A warm-up puzzle…
• A “mini-lesson”
“Mini-lesson Post Mortem”• What aspects of
“scientific literacy” were introduced in the mini-lesson?
• What curricular emphases did you “detect”?
• When did the “mini-lesson” start?
• Was there an aesthetic aspect á la Seerveld?
Curricular Emphases in the Alberta Science Curriculum
• Group task: identify how curricular emphases are addressed within the Alberta Curriculum. What are the ones identified
• Group task: what are the “foundations” upon which the Alberta Science program of studies is built?
Curricular emphases are identified as “unit emphases” and fall within the STS foundation
An interlude…
• Looking at textbooks from the past 160 years!
Discussion…• How can we craft a lesson to
“honour” the curriculum for this!!?
2 2 2ifv v aX
Develop 2 (at least) different scenarios in which you:•block-out the lesson with a flow-chart•Identify what foundational aspects you are addressing•What emphasis could (or should?) you give this•How can you address some of Seerveld’s aesthetic dimensions here?
•Problem: You need to craft a 30 minute lesson in physics (motion) that teaches the acceleration-distance formula
Useful links
- The King’s Centre for Visualization in Science
– Modular Approach to Physics
Here’s one way…
Central “problem” – In Jules Verne’s Voyage to the Moon the proposal is to
fire a space capsuleFrom a 300 m long canon so that the speed is 12 km/s as
it leaves the canon.Would the inhabitants survive?
Rich context, STS and a hook!
Unpack the physics, either derive or explain why this is the easiestapproach for the information providedAmplify by several practice instances
Address motivating problem
answer
Summarize – recap why we have differentformulas and when to use them
But Officer!…
the physics of intersectionsthe physics of intersections
2 2 2f i
v v ax
( ) ( ) ( )tf
f
ti
x t x ti v t dt
v a t
A Rich Context Problem
Have you ever...
• Approached an intersection when the light changed from green to yellow and:– knew you couldn’t stop– knew there was no-way that you could make it
through
• Are there real “dilemma” zones in all or some intersections?
Do Dilemma Zones Exist?• What condition would tell us whether or
not dilemma zones really do happen?
I don’t know what to do! I’m too
close to stop and too far away to get through -
YIKES!
Negotiating an Intersection...
• There are two scenarios we must consider:– stopping safely– making it through safely
Safe Stopping...• Parameters that will affect this:
– maximum rate of deceleration (ad)
– reaction time (tR)
• Variables to consider:– initial speed of car (vi)
– distance from the intersection
• Put this into EXCEL
Safe “Going-For-It”...• Parameters that will affect this:
– maximum rate of acceleration (a)
– reaction time (tR)
– duration of yellow light (tY)
– length of car (L)– width of intersection (W)
• Variables to consider:– initial speed of car (vi)
– distance from the intersection
• Put this into EXCEL