UtSTA 2024: Out-Of-This-World Science Teaching

This presentation delves into a SEEd storyline lesson sequence where students take charge of their learning through model-based and student-designed investigations around a homemade electric speaker. Participants will make their own electric speaker to investigate and take home. Participants will also learn how to guide students across a storyline that bridges the electromagnetism and waves strands in a natural way. This will be accomplished through students developing cause-and-effect models based on the speaker phenomenon, designing and carrying out experiments, using evidence to refine models, and collaborating to build a class consensus model. All attendees will receive a detailed instructional guide to know how various ambitious science teaching strategies and science practices are sequenced for this unit.

We are told that we are to have students engage in argument from evidence. What does this look like and where do they get the evidence? Could the ability to engage students in wanting to be in class, having students look forward to attending class, students excited to be in class everyday, be found in the ability to have classroom discourse on ideas that are being taught, models that are being thought through, methods that we use to reach the students?

What we've learned so far from trying to move from online, simulation-created data collection to more physical, hands-on data collection by utilizing smart carts in some of our labs involving motion, forces, momentum, energy etc. Our physics team has been implementing these smart-cart labs for all of our physics classes. We'll talk about what we've learned so far - the good, the bad, and the never-do-this-agains. We have Pasco carts, so we've been learning the Pasco interface (SPARKvue) now a free web-based app. We'll bring some carts, you bring a bluetooth-capable device, and we'll try some stuff. Pasco.com claims that SPARKvue now works on iOS, Android, Windows, Mac, and Chrome as a web app on laptops, phones, and tablets. We haven't tried everything yet, but we can in the session.
SEEd Strands PHYS 1, PHYS 2

Phenomenon-based science instruction is used to teach learners the Disciplinary Core Idea Newton's 2nd Law related to Utah SEEd Physics Standard 1.1. The Science and Engineering practice of Analyze and Interpret Data and the Cross Cutting Concept of Cause and Effect will be used to derive the equation.
Participants will also learn how Technology Mediated Lesson Study was used to develop the lesson plan.

This presentation will build quantum ideas- starting with what is a photon and how can we control what state it is in and moving on to using photons in cryptography for quantum key distribution, quantum cloning and finishing up with quantum teleportation.

Teachers will leave with a digital copy of the support materials and activities used in the training (and hopefully then used in their classes). Quantum Information is highly relevant to our future and connects as an extension on the 8th grade standard 8.2.5 - as this is essentially just a model of light waves. The content of this presentation also connects with SEEd standards phys.4.4 and phys.4.5

The presentation will include content created as part of a NSF sponsored summer research opportunity with the BYU physics department and the Quantum for All summer camp with the University of Texas at Arlington. These materials were also used at a workshop for AAPT national conference in Boston, summer 2024 and at the Utah-Idaho chapter meeting of AAPT in April 2024.