Living Physics Portal: Telling the story

Abstract: To develop complex problem solving skills, students need to learn to develop a coherent story about what the situation in the problem is, what the mechanism is, and what physics principles are appropriate to apply. This part of the module contains 12 problems about oscillations that require "telling the story" of what's happening, matching the physics to the math, and developing a solution path. Being able to think physically about what's going on in an oscillation is a critical pre-requisite for students to be able to make sense of wave motion. The problem "Dynamic vibrations step by step" is appropriate as a recitation.

Resource Types: Homework, Instructor supplement, Restricted access, In-class activity

Commercially available in:

ExpertTA

Authors:

Edward Redish (he/him)

University of Maryland, College Park

NEXUS Physics

Living Physics Portal Team

TOPICS

Physics Topics:

Classical Mechanics > Applications of Newton's Laws, Gravity, Motion in One Dimension, Motion in Two Dimensions, Newton's First Law, Newton's Second Law, Newton's Third Law, Work and Energy

Oscillations & Waves > Oscillations

Life Sciences Topics:

None

Chemistry Topics:

Intermolecular Forces

Math Topics:

Algebra; Geometry; Graphical Analysis; Trigonometry

FILES Download0

Telling the story - Oscillations problems

Diatomic vibrations.pdf

Diatomic vibrations step by step.pdf

Hanging mass on a spring problem.pdf

Oscillating energies.pdf

SHO energies.pdf

The damped oscillator - advanced.pdf

The online mass-spring lab.pdf

The online pendulum lab.pdf

The resonance simulation.pdf

Where is the energy.pdf

Where's the force.pdf

Diatomic vibrations.url

Diatomic vibrations step by step.url

Hanging mass on a spring problem.url

SHO energies.url

Oscillating graphs.url

The damped oscillator - advanced.url

The online mass-spring lab.url

The online pendulum lab.url

The resonance simulation.url

Where is the energy.url

Where's the force.url

Diatomic vibrations.pdf

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INSTRUCTOR GUIDE

IMPLEMENTATION

Equipment required: Computers / software

Specific equipment needed: A computer and web access is required to access the problems on line, but they can be printed and distributed on paper.

Basic implementation tips & tricks: Working through what's happening physically in an oscillation in terms of the various dynamic variables and energies can be an excellent capstone to the study of mechanics. Intuitions relating physical variables to the math and learning to tell the story can pull together many of the tools developed earlier for building physical intuition. The problem "Dynamic vibrations step by step" is appropriate as a group learning activity in a full class or recitation.

How does this resource fit into the flow of your course? Oscillations are done after a full treatment of Newton's laws and mechanical energy and before a discussion of wave motion.

PEDAGOGY

Pedagogical approach: Collaborative problem-solving; Conceptually-oriented activities; Context-rich problems; Mathematically-focused activities

Skills / Competencies: Multiple representations; Estimation; Intuition building; Building models; Evaluating models

What insights or realizations do you hope students gain from this resource? that solving mathematical problems in science, especially complex ones, is greatly facilitated by first thinking about what's happening — telling the story: understanding the physics principles that are relevant, and considering the mechanism of what's going on.

Why is this resource useful to life sciences students? Life science students often have developed the sense that much of science is about memorizing facts and procedures. This limits severely what they take from their later science courses and produces barriers to their developing strong scientific reasoning skills. This is particularly important for pre-health care students who may diagnose patients without considering context or mechanism. Such superficial diagnoses contribute significantly to medical error and unnecessary deaths.

DISCUSSION

SUBMISSION DETAILS

License: CC BY-NC-SA - Attribution, No Commercial uses and Share Alike. Derivative works must have the same license.

Last Edit Date: January 21, 2025