Inquiry into Friction
One of the best lessons I’ve done in Physics was an introduction/inquiry into friction. It was one of those classes where the students were doing something meaningful and were part of a process of discovery. Certainly the lesson wasn’t perfect but being able to reflect upon it will give me the chance to not only improve it, but also transfer ideas and methodologies to other lessons and contexts.
I should definitely point out that the overall idea of the lesson was lifted from an article written by Campbell and Neilson (2009). I haven’t read the original article for about a year, so I can’t remember how much originality (if any at all) I put into the lesson.
One thing that I would like to change with the lesson is to incorporate whiteboarding. The overall structure of the lesson wouldn’t change much but the whiteboards would help with presentations. Another possible change would be to extend the lesson a bit and incorporate modeling. I don’t know exactly how this would be done, or how much benefit would come from it, but it’s something to think about.
Campbell, T., & Neilson, D. (2009). Student Ideas & Inquiries: Investigating Friction in the Physics Classroom. Science Activities: Classroom Projects and Curriculum Ideas, 46(1), 13-16.