In the past, my school administration said a calculus based physics course couldn't be run. They asked who would want to work harder, using more advanced mathematics, when a more basic course was all that was required? Who would take such a class?
I questioned why students should take algebra based AP Physics. If the purpose of advanced placement is to prepare students for college, why teach content at a basic level? Those of us interested in engineering would require physics courses that were based on calculus, and wanted the chance for our work to count towards college credit... After much determination and perseverance, I was instrumental in convincing our administration to give us a chance, and also helped recruit a teacher to help find the best curriculum to prepare students for the AP Physics C exam.
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We petitioned the administration for a calculus-based physics course, something that had never been done at our high school, and were able to help research the curriculum and design the class itself. Most students take regular physics or algebra based AP Physics - which tends to lose students the first week, as kids decide that the class isn't worth the effort - however, our class was different. The first day of school we had sixteen students- by the end of the week, we had twenty. Our classmates were excited and saw the value of a collaborative, student-driven course that would prepare us for the AP Physics C exam.
Because the course is experimental, it was formatted as a “Independent Study” with a staff “mentor”. Our Physics teacher knows the science, we know the math- the challenge is combining the two. We often make use of other calculus teachers, physics teachers, and science tutors as we solve challenging problems, working together for a much deeper understanding than we could achieve on our
I am a dedicated, focused student looking to push the boundaries of Engineering Physics with creative out of the box thinking. I have the drive to be successful and positively represent UBC Engineering Physics. I have a passion for physics and math which is why I believe this program is so appealing and a perfect choice. Having already started, run and sold a successful landscaping company, I have experience in entrepreneurship and have determined being an entrepreneur is something I want to pursue in the future. I believe Engineering Physics would give me the opportunity and breadth of knowledge to make my entrepreneurial vision a reality and allow me to find solutions to the issues that will impact the future of humanity. Being on UBC Supermileage
Ms. Kinney showed me the physics in everything from toys to poetry. We discussed Walt Whitman's "When I heard the Learn'd Astronomer" and Robert Frost's "Birches" along with Newton's Laws and Einstein's Theory of Relativity. She had an amazing ability to teach the most complicated concepts in physics without letting us lose sight of the simple wonder of it all. She made physics come alive for me.Ms. Kinney's class was one of the most rigorous and demanding courses that I have faced, but she gave me so much more than she asked of me. She taught me to love learning and physics, and to appreciate the magic and excitement of discovering and mastering new knowledge. Many students got so caught in the difficulty and high expectations of her class that they did not realize the opportunity we were being given.With Ms.
AP Seminar was my first experience in an environment that was completely dedicated to learning, without the fixation on the letter grades that ‘determine’ success. My peers were my teachers. I discussed, debated, and collaborated with peers that shared various viewpoints on thought provoking issues that challenged my own. I learned to ask the ‘Whys?,’ ‘Hows?,’ and ‘What Ifs?’ and dive deeper into discussion. The environment fostered differences in interests, mindsets, and intellect. My attraction drew me to seek an intellectually diverse learning environment that challenges my preconceived opinions and ideas. Columbia, through the Core system, acknowledges and uniquely accomplishes the same goals of learning as my AP Seminar class. The prospect
The teacher,presentation, and overall enthusiasm helped as well because without it all of the students motivation would have fallen off.
Although our schools had eleven out of the forty existing AP classes, most of the classes that are offered are higher math, science, history and language classes. Students need a variety
The process for a new AP physics teacher has begun underway with Eric Mazur, Walter Lewin, John Belcher, and David Hammer assisting me to find a new teacher to replace Dr. Navarra. Eric Mazur begins by stating how this new teacher should be good at explaining concepts. “The goal of every teacher is to make sure the students understand the concepts being taught to them only then will they truly enjoy and get the content of the course.” Everyone looks at professor Mazur with looks of agreement and David Hammer then says, “The teacher that we hire should be familiar with modeling instruction since it’s an effective way for students to understand the concepts.” John Belcher replies with, “The new teacher should be familiar with technology for two reasons.
Revenge is a fault many would admit to, due to the difficulty of forgiving someone from past experiences with them. Envision a young girl taking music lessons from an older, male, family friend a few blocks from her house. She was kidnapped and eventually tracked down several years later. The police gave up their search for the man, as too many years had passed. The young girl lived her teenage year’s recalling memories of the torture that was inflicted upon her in the past. Imagine being placed in this situation with this being your daughter, girlfriend or wife. After one reads Death and the Maiden, they will understand the atmosphere of torture, sexual knowledge, justice, and revenge. Seen throughout the lives of the three main characters was a similar atmosphere which this young girl was also put through. While observing the interaction of truth and injustice between Paulina, Gerardo, and Roberto one will see the effect that injustice from the past left on their present lives.
A meaningful extracurricular activity that I have done in high school is the Physics Tutoring Program. AP physics 2 is one of the most challenging AP subject tests that students are facing in our school. After conquering AP Physics, I launched the tutoring program of AP Physics 2 in our school, trying to solve people’s difficulties in studying physics. Teaching a 40-minute lesson on the white-board was challenging for me, as it required scientific pedagogy, organizational skills and endured interaction with various students. For instance, I made up a sample condition of electron distribution and taught students how to figure out the direction of the electric wave, and the magnitude of electric potential, and the potential energy.
Ever wonder how scientists figure out how long it takes for the radiation from a nuclear weapon to decay? This dilemma can be solved by calculus, which helps determine the rate of decay of the radioactive material. Calculus can aid people in many everyday situations, such as deciding how much fencing is needed to encompass a designated area. Finding how gravity affects certain objects is how calculus aids people who study Physics. Mechanics find calculus useful to determine rates of flow of fluids in a car. Numerous developments in mathematics by Ancient Greeks to Europeans led to the discovery of integral calculus, which is still expanding. The first mathematicians came from Egypt, where they discovered the rule for the volume of a pyramid and approximation of the area of a circle. Later, Greeks made tremendous discoveries. Archimedes extended the method of inscribed and circumscribed figures by means of heuristic, which are rules that are specific to a given problem and can therefore help guide the search. These arguments involved parallel slices of figures and the laws of the lever, the idea of a surface as made up of lines. Finding areas and volumes of figures by using conic section (a circle, point, hyperbola, etc.) and weighing infinitely thin slices of figures, an idea used in integral calculus today was also a discovery of Archimedes. One of Archimedes's major crucial discoveries for integral calculus was a limit that allows the "slices" of a figure to be infinitely thin. Another Greek, Euclid, developed ideas supporting the theory of calculus, but the logic basis was not sustained since infinity and continuity weren't established yet (Boyer 47). His one mistake in finding a definite integral was that it is not found by the sums of an infinite number of points, lines, or surfaces but by the limit of an infinite sequence (Boyer 47). These early discoveries aided Newton and Leibniz in the development of calculus. In the 17th century, people from all over Europe made numerous mathematics discoveries in the integral calculus field. Johannes Kepler "anticipat(ed) results found… in the integral calculus" (Boyer 109) with his summations. For instance, in his Astronomia nova, he formed a summation similar to integral calculus dealing with sine and cosine. F. B. Cavalieri expanded on Johannes Kepler's work on measuring volumes. Also, he "investigate[d] areas under the curve" ("Calculus (mathematics)") with what he called "indivisible magnitudes.
...nd physics, as well as improving my analytical and programming skills before engaging in research will make this a more worthwhile experience.
This class has opened my mind to the incredible impact that STEM Education can have on our society. I do not work in an institution that has a STEM program. I work at a preschool; this makes my practice of any type of STEM program extremely limited. However, it is a private school. All my students come from households where one or both of their parents are professionals. These professionals want their children to be academically prepared for school. This means we must academically, mentally, and emotionally prepare them for their future schooling. I teach my students how to be a functioning participant in a classroom while exploring mathematics, science, art, history, literature and pre-writing. Puzzles, counting, shapes, measuring, etc. are on the daily agenda. Science is a huge part of our curriculum. Science in the
This evaluation has not only allowed me explore calculus more in depth, but also physics, and the way the world works. This has personally allowed me to explore the connections between math and real-world situations, which is hard to find in textbooks.
During my school and college, I was very sharp in analytical problem solving and this quality made physics and mathematics one of my favorite subjects. I was very keen on performing the physics practical. My inclination towards physics and mathematics compelled to choose electrical engineering for my Bachelors degree.
I was really impressed on how well organized Alexia Hall was with the class she seem to know where she wanted to the class to be at the end of the semester. We were past out with the class policies and a syllabus of what we were going to do the whole semester. I thought this was very convenient so that there was no mixed signals in the group.
As an educator, there is always room for reflection and growth. Being in this class has provided an opportunity for both. From my knowledge gained in this class I believe that I have become smarter and have learned how to implement different tool into my teaching as well as general life as a teacher. Of the topics discussed in this class, commitment to students, avoiding burnout and reflective practices had the biggest impact on my professional growth.