Narrative of Amazing Teaching Moment:
This lesson was designed for a 9th grade physics class that has just finished learning about velocity and acceleration via experimentation, collecting and analyzing data, and finding relationships between two variables. The students were presented with the following question: Are traffic lights in Chicago properly timed? More specifically, are yellow light times long enough? Let's say you are in a car and up ahead you notice that the light has turned yellow. If you are far enough away, you can stop before entering the intersection. However, if you are unable to stop before entering the intersection, you must continue all the way through it. Are the lights timed in a way that you can be going the legal speed limit and not be stuck in an area that you cannot safely stop or go? |
The students were asked to brainstorm what data we would need to collect in order to answer these questions. Some information needed to be assumed, some needed to be researched and estimated, and some needed to be physically collected out in the field.
We collected data outside at a nearby intersection and spent some time discussing how it could be used and what we were trying to find. A "dilemma zone" is known as the region before an intersection that a driver may find themselves in where they are too close to safely stop in time, yet too far to clear the intersection before the light turns red. Their final product could vary but students had to demonstrate their knowledge of utilizing known calculations with collected data in order to determine if there was a dilemma zone present. Students also discussed the implications of this with respect to red light cameras that are set up across the city and shared their ideas for solutions to this issue. It was great to see the students faces light up when I was able to bring the physics so close to their everyday, local experiences. There were so many fresh ideas that came up in the brainstorming stage and it was easy and natural to adjust the flow of the class and the project based on what the students discussed. Though I feel that I can still improve the initial presentation of this lesson, it was powerful to see how quickly the students’ engagement rises when presented with a situation that they are familiar with in their daily lives. Hashtags (at least 7): #everdayphysics, #chicagotrafficlights, #realworldphysics, #funphysics, #freshmanphysics, #interdisciplinary, #ngss, #realphysics, #9thgrade, #physics |
Five Common Themes of an Amazing STEM Lesson:
- Real World Connections- students applying their classroom knowledge to a situation that they may encounter in their everyday life.
- Student engagement- sparks student curiosity through inquiry based activities that allows them to discover new content.
- Interdisciplinary- see the overarching connections between different subject areas by completing a project that integrates various disciplines.
- Bodily-Kinesthetic - lessons which allow learners to move around to explore, including their environment outside the classroom. Meets the need for non-traditional learning styles.
- TPACK- Merging our pedagogy and content knowledge expertise to repurpose a piece of technology that can transform a traditional approach to the content area.