Oct 9, Entrance slip

A bodily experience is an experience, so I could definitely be a learning opportunity for a classroom. Using your arms as a gesture for increasing and decreasing sections of a velocity-time graph can help students associate the graph with simulations which builds confidence that the simulations are trustworthy. Today during a presentation, TC's expressed how resistance can be taught by having students jump from point to point with large gaps in between, analogous to a wire with high resistance. They were tired from jumping from point to point, there was difficulty moving down the line. By adding spots in between where  they could jump then resistance is decreased, and they felt less tired when they finished. Students that experience these analogous activities will benefit the most, the more participation the better the comprehension. Other students that do not participate may get confused or not understand the activity, so I could see that this kind of teaching may not be for every student. 

Its interesting that having students sit and cram through problems and lectures is the standard teaching method can change, and activity could be the next level of learning. It requires commitment and dedication, but I believe it could be done. The level of engagement is higher but to learn how to keep the activity and the content relevant is the goal. 

This is a figure I came across a website one day, and I think it could be used as a learning tool for some students. Though it would be out of my comfort zone to teach this kind of material to students, but it would be fun to eventually incorporate it with the right class. During a school visit this week, a student refused to do his physics worksheet and said he would do it at home. He had confidence that he could do it so I asked him to answer a graphing problem by using his arms to explain what happens to the slope of a distance-time graph as the velocity increases and decreases. He laughed, his friends laughed and I was able to see that his kinematics knowledge. We were able to have a conversation through action about his understanding about physics and it will become a memorable teaching moment for me.

PS. As for sensory experiences and taste, even minor events such as Pi day can excite students about math. It just has to begin somewhere