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