Conceptualizing physics

Choose your role: [[Teacher]] [[Student]]

Your physics teacher explains how a projectile moves through the air. He draws a diagram, and then labels a few parts of it things. </style> <img src=https://study.com/cimages/multimages/16/horiz_launch4152165452246933050.png </div> He asks if you understand, and you say "yes" even though you aren't sure you fully understand. [[He continues to explain.]]

He adds some calculations to describe the motion of the diagram. </style> <img src=https://study.com/cimages/multimages/16/horiz_launch4152165452246933050.png </div> </style> <img src=https://media.cheggcdn.com/media/5ad/5adaf515-45a0-4312-aa52-fb5afe81dce2/phpLeG2Sk.png width="500" height="200" /> </div> You can see the calculations, and you can see the diagram, but it just isn't clear how they fit together. While you stare at the board, your teacher wanders over to a bin of junk and picks up a softball. [[He throws you the ball.]]

You consider going to the counselor to drop physics. You don't have confidence that you can get a high mark in physics, and that will hurt your chance of getting into the university you want to attend. You decide to ask your teacher to explain the concepts once more before asking your parents if you can drop the class. [[You go to morning tutorial before class starts]]

You stare solemnly at your formula sheet. Somehow, you never thought physics would be so frustrating. You always did okay in math class, so why is this so confusing? You have been doing your homework, listening in class, but when it comes to solving physics problems, everything just gets jumbled. The bell rings and you [[head to your next class.]]

You finish your explanation and give class some practice questions. You've been teaching physics for two years now, but the same difficulties continue to come up. Some students in every class tend to memorize the steps to solve physics problems, instead of truly understanding the situation described in the problem. The bell rings and students leave while you [[prepare for your next class.]]

[[You go to morning tutorial before class starts]]

Your confidence is getting lower. You try your homework as usual but quickly give up. The next class you feel even more lost. [[Something has to change]]

You feel anxious about speaking to your teacher because you've never fallen this far behind in a class before. You admit you are feeling lost despite listening well in class and trying to complete the practice questions each day. Your physics teacher doesn't seem surprised. He calmly asks what is giving you the most trouble. "Projectiles," you say. [[He begins explaining.]]

With the diagram and calculations together, Mina starts to look overwhelmed. </style> <img src=https://media.cheggcdn.com/media/5ad/5adaf515-45a0-4312-aa52-fb5afe81dce2/phpLeG2Sk.png width="500" height="200" /> </div> </style> <img src=https://study.com/cimages/multimages/16/horiz_launch4152165452246933050.png </div> You stop for a moment to let her think. You look around the room while she anxiously looks at the board. A bin of assorted physics-ish objects sits to the side of the room. It has a few rulers, a roll of string, some pulleys, and a few softballs. You walk over and [[grab a softball from the bin.]]

In the following days, you are are determined to help students ''understand'' physics, and not just memorize steps they saw in the notes. Later in the week you are happy to see a student named Mina come to tutorial time. She is a hard worker and has strong math skills, but when she starts an unfamiliar problem she stares at her formula sheet rather than considering the situation. She says she is feeling lost. Despite trying her best, projectiles are not making sense. [[explain projectiles using a diagram on the board]] [[explain projectiles using calculations]]

You sketch the path of a hypothetical projectile on the board, explaining that the horizontal velocity does not change throughout the motion, but the vertical velocity increases due to gravity. </style> <img src=https://study.com/cimages/multimages/16/horiz_launch4152165452246933050.png </div> You ask Mina if that makes more sense. She hesitates, then says yes, but you don't believe her. [[You try to re-explain]], including calculations with your diagram.

You outline some equations on the board, explaining that the horizontal velocity does not change throughout the motion, but the vertical velocity increases due to gravity. </style> <img src=https://media.cheggcdn.com/media/5ad/5adaf515-45a0-4312-aa52-fb5afe81dce2/phpLeG2Sk.png width="500" height="200" /> </div> You ask Mina if that makes more sense. She hesitates, then says yes, but you don't believe her. [[You try to re-explain]], including a diagram with your calculations.

You get Mina's attention and gently toss her the softball in a slow arc-ing throw. She catches it and seems pleased with herself. You ask her to throw it back. You say, "Pay attention to the motion at the highest point of the ball's path." She throws it and you throw it back once more while she looks intently at the path of the ball. "It seems to move only forward at the highest point, not up or down." she says. "Excellent!" you reply. You then walk her over to the board and point out how that relates to the image and the calculations you discussed previously. "So what is the ''vertical'' velocity of the ball at the peak?" you ask. "It must be zero!" she says. You congratulate her on her keen observation and ask her a few more questions to confirm her conceptual understanding is sound. [[She leaves looking a little less stressed than when she came in.]]

The next day.... [[You are determined to do better in physics class]] [[You are dreading going to physics class]]

You slowly walk to English. At least you can wrap your head around English. Physics seems to be another language (pun intended). Something as simple as a throwing a football becomes a mess of variables. You just can't seem to connect the movement of the football to the numbers and formulas on the page. English class goes by quickly as your work on your persuasive essay. Writing is nice. You are confident in your writing. The bell goes again, ending the school day, and you [[head home.]]

1 dimensional motion </style> <img src=https://stickmanphysics.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Y-Axis-1D-Motion.gif> </div>

The next group of students trickles into the class as you erase the whiteboard. You are still thinking of the students who seem motivated and capable, and yet struggle in physics. Something as simple as throwing a football becomes a battle with their formula sheet, when it could be so much easier if students stopped for a second and visualized what a throwing a football actually looks like. The next class goes smoothly, and after the bell you grab your marking pile and [[drive home.]]

At the end of the semester, you think to yourself, "Wow, that softball was pretty helpful." //Thank you for reading. This story is more fully experienced if you [[Choose]] the other role to experience the second perspective.// </style> <img src=https://i.imgur.com/8qGSM2V.jpg width="300" height="400" /> </div>

You are caught off guard by the ball arcing towards you but you manage to catch it. You are glad you didn't drop it, but you are a little confused why your teacher is throwing something at you. He asks you to throw it back. "Pay attention to the motion at the highest point of the ball's path," he says. You throws it back, looking intently at the ball as it traces a curve up towards the ceiling, and then back down to his hands. He throws it back to you again, and you notice at the highest point, it is coming straight at you, before it starts to descend. You say, "It seems to move only forward at the highest point, not up or down." "Excellent!" He replies. He walks over to the board, and points out how the diagram, the calculations, and the movement of the ball you just threw are all connected. Thinking of yourself throwing the ball helps you visualize what the diagram really shows. You suddenly feel like you are seeing what the diagram represents for the first time, and not just shapes on a page. He asks a few more questions and you answer them hesitantly, but correctly. [[You leave feeling a little more confident in yourself.]]

You wonder how many other students are struggling to connect numbers or diagrams to the situations they represent. You see yourself as a teacher who does a fair amount of hands on activities. Well, as much as you can while still covering all the content. You think of Mina having a breakthrough when she could see the ball moving in real life. If other students could benefit from that, surely you should try to do something similar with the whole class. You quickly write up an activity where students throw a ball to each other, collect some data, and answer some analysis questions. [[The lab is a success.]]

The day after your discussion with your physics teacher, the whole class does a lab throwing tennis balls or softballs to each other. Students measure the time and distance of the throw, and answer analysis questions based on their data. You notice after throwing the ball and using the data your group collected, your lab partner is more comfortable selecting the right formulas to use. [[Through the rest of the semester, you notice your teacher keeps the softball on his desk. ]]

You can see a few students are understanding more, instead of just regurgitating steps that they've memorized. As the semester continues, you try in each unit to demonstrate concepts in the real world as best you can. For concepts like Newton's Laws, Conservation of Energy, and many more, you find yourself picking up the [[softball]] to demonstrate or have a student demonstrate.

He sometimes picks it up to fidgit with while speaking, but he also uses it frequently to demonstrate concepts during lessons, such as Newton's Laws, and Conservation of Energy. Your confidence improves with each unit. You find yourself understanding more and more how the formulas relate to the world around you, frequently by visualizing a [[softball]] in the various situations your teacher demonstrated.