Workshop: Using Visualization in Teaching Introductory
E&M
AAPT National Summer
Meeting, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Organizers: John
Belcher, Peter Dourmashkin, Carolann Koleci, Sahana Murthy
DESIGN AN ACTIVITY BASED ON A
VISUALIZATION
The TEAL visualizations are a
representation-rich tool that can be used in a variety of settings – lecture,
recitation/discussion, group-work, lab, homework and so on. Students can work
on different kinds of activities centered on animations and interactive
applications. Examples of such activities are concept questions, in-class
discussions, collaborative problem-solving, pre-lab exercises, multiple
representation tasks, and analytic problems. These activities can have
different formats ranging from a structured exercise, to a guided inquiry, to a
free exploration.
In this part of the workshop, you
will work in groups of three to design an activity for your class based on a
visualization of your choice. We provide brief guidelines to help you get
started. Below that is a list of topics. Click on a topic to find
visualizations related to that topic. We then provide detailed guidelines and general
suggestions.
GUIDELINES
- Individually go through visualizations
using the links below, and choose a topic.
- Form groups of three.
- Choose visualization(s) to design your
activity around.
- Define learning objectives.
- Decide context, format, type of activity
and degree of open-endedness.
- Design your activity. Record on computer
or poster-board.
- Present a summary of your activity.
TOPICS
1.
Charging by Induction
2.
Vector
Fields and Fluid Flow
3.
Electrostatics
4.
Sources of Magnetic Fields
5.
Magnetic
Forces
6.
Electromagnetic
Waves
Detailed guidelines
1.
Individual activity. Click on each link on the list of
topics to find visualizations related to that topic. Play with a few
visualizations until you choose a topic.
2.
The center table has place-cards for topics. Put your
name tag against your chosen topic. Form a group of three with other
participants who choose the same topic.
3.
Working with your group, browse the list of
visualizations in your chosen topic. Choose a visualization around which you
will design an activity. You may if you like, choose more than one
visualization from a topic to design your activity.
4.
Define specific learning objectives – these are goals
that you want your students to achieve after they have worked through the
activity. These objectives can be centered on concepts, or processes or both
(ideally). How will you measure the success
of your objectives? What student outcomes would satisfy your objectives?
5.
You may want to consider the following aspects:
a.
Decide in what setting you want students to work on the
activity – in class, lab, homework etc. Do you want students to work
individually or collaboratively?
b.
Think about how you will connect this activity to
students’ prior knowledge. How will this activity fit into the concept / topic
they are studying?
c.
Decide how open-ended you want your activity to be.
Your choice should reflect your learning objectives. However, avoid recipe-like instructions.
d.
How will you assess student learning? Include questions
that students can use to formatively assess their learning, and questions for
summative assessment.
6.
Design and record your activity. You can use up to two
pages of a poster board or type it on your computer. Include learning
objectives, visualization used, course, setting, type of activity, guidelines
for students and assessment.
7.
Present your activity to the rest of the participants.
Give and get feedback.
Some general
suggestions
Try to have students interact with the visualizations as
much as possible.
Try to have students interact with each other. Students
learn to communicate, reason through, and defend their ideas when they work in
groups.
Include questions that require students to explain and
reason.
Include different representations of the visualization in
your activity – words, diagrams, graphs, equations and so on.
