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Force and Motion: Stop Faking It! |
The NSTA Symposium: Force and Motion: Stop Faking It! took place in room 303 of
the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, MD, on Thursday, November 2, 2006.
Forty-five educators were in attendance, representing the states of Arizona, California,
Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania,
Rhode Island, Vermont, and Virginia.
The presenter was Dr. Bill Robertson, author of the NSTA Press publication Force
and Motion: Stop Faking It! Finally Understanding Science So You Can Teach
It. The symposium focused on the topics of constructivism, the learning cycle, and
the concepts of position, speed, velocity, acceleration, mass, forces, and Newton's
laws of motion. NSTA would like to thank all the participants and the presenter
for a job well done!
The program started with an introductory administrative session during which Flavio
Mendez, Symposia and Web Seminars Program Manager at NSTA, familiarized participants
with the contents of their folders, including the agenda, the talent release form,
the pre-assessment form, and the session's learning outcomes. Dr. Robertson began
his presentation with thought-provoking questions to discern participants' level
of understanding of constructivism and the learning cycle. This discussion was followed
by hands-on activities and discussions that worked through Newton's laws of motion.
During the program, participants made observations of speed, velocity, and acceleration
using simple objects like golf balls, rulers, and HotWheels tracks confronting their
previous ideas of these concepts. To better understand Newton's second law, for
example, Robertson tasked the teachers to build an apparatus using a straw, balloons,
a fishing line, paper clips, an index card, tape, and washers. The teachers were
able to change the mass of the system by adding or taking away washers, and the
system's force by adding or taking away balloons. Then they observed the changes
in acceleration as the balloons moved across the fishing line.
After the hands-on activities and demonstrations, Robertson showed the audience
several computer simulations from the Force and Motion Science Objects and asked
the teachers to make predictions and to give explanations as he changed variables
on the simulations. Participants were engaged throughout the entire program, asked
many questions, and seem to enjoy Dr. Robertson's enthusiasm and practical knowledge.
The core content of the symposium was drawn from the NSTA Press book Force and Motion:
Stop Faking It! and the Force and Motion NSTA Science Object, both of which
Robertson authored. All participants received a copy of the NSTA Press book.
Want to see more photos taken during the program? Check out the photo gallery below
and feel free to browse the program's agenda and read the presenter's biographical
sketch.
For more information contact symposia@nsta.org
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Underwritten in part by NSTA Press
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