OAPT 2008 Ryerson University

1. OAPT 2008 Ryerson University Optics Can Give You the H.O.T.S. (Higher Order Thinking Skills, of course!)

2. Workshop Presenter Dave Doucette B. Sc. (cognitive psychology), B. Ed. Cedarbrae CI Scarborough chemistry Agincourt CI Scarborough chemistry physics Dr. GW Williams Aurora physics Assistant Head of Science Head of Science Richmond Hill HS Richmond Hill physics doucettefamily@sympatico.ca

3. Highly Tentative Workshop Agenda • A Flight of Fancy 2 min • Are you being diffuse, I might ask? 2 min • Traveling Lightly 5 min • Mira, mira on the wall 5 min • The real story of mirrors 6 min • Doing our homework (P.C.K.) 15 min • Lenses & images 5 min • Ray Diagrams – then and now! 5 min • Correcting for vision defects 10 min • The human fibre optic 5 min

4. Let’s have some phun with Physiks • Discovery Activity: Light Propagation worksheet • Plane Miras • Concave Mirrors and the real deal

5. …humans are pattern seekers. We try to relate new things into an existing system to ‘make sense of things. …we build our knowledge from what is presented to us. Learning is not the transfer of material from the head of the teacher to the head of the learner intact. Learning is the reconstruction of what the learner understands, or thinks she understands, tempered by the existing knowledge, beliefs, biases, and misunderstandings in the mind of the learner. Johnstone, A.H., Dep’t of Chemistry, Glasgow University,“Chemistry Teaching - Science or Alchemy”, Journal of Chemical Education, Vol. 74 No.3, March 1977.

6. Doing Our Optics Homework: PCK (pedagogical content knowledge) • Research reinforces the notion that misconceptions among students are the rule rather than the exception. • Some of the common misconceptions include not viewing light as something that travels but rather only as its source (the Sun, a light bulb, etc.). This leads to difficulty in understanding the formation of shadows and the direction they take. • The research shows that middle-school students (ages 10-13) understand that mirrors can reflect light. However, they often reject the idea that everyday objects also reflect light, according to Guesne (1985) and Ramadas and Driver (1989). • Similarly, many elementary and middle school students do not realize that their eyes receive light when they look at an object. The notion that the eyes generate light that radiates outwards is a common one. Using Misconceptions Research in the Design of Optics Instructional Materials and Teacher Professional Development Programs Stephen M. Pompea1, Erin F. Dokter, National Optical Astronomy Observatory, 950 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, Arizona, 85719 USA Constance E. Walker, and Robert T. Sparks Conceptual Astronomy and Physics Research (CAPER) Team, Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, Tucson Arizona 85721 USA

7. What homework tells us about… How students learn? • One must understand how a novice approaches light and appreciate the perspective a child brings to learning about optics. • Prior knowledge may impede progress in learning key concepts. • Novices differ from experts in that novices do not notice meaningful patterns in a given field of study. • The knowledge of an expert has a sense of context or conditions; it is not a set of facts, propositions, or theorems. • Experts are very flexible in their thinking processes and also have the ability to retrieve important knowledge sets with little efforts. [chunking] Using Misconceptions Research in the Design of Optics Instructional Materials and Teacher Professional Development Programs Stephen M. Pompea1, Erin F. Dokter, National Optical Astronomy Observatory, 950 N. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, Arizona, 85719 USA Constance E. Walker, and Robert T. Sparks Conceptual Astronomy and Physics Research (CAPER) Team, Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, Tucson Arizona 85721 USA

8. Homework answers the question: Are there Guidelines for Teaching? • 1. Students become aware of their own preconceptions about a concept by thinking about it and making predictions (committing to an outcome) before any activity begins. • 2. Students expose their beliefsby sharing them, initially in small groups and then with the entire class. • 3. Students confront their beliefsby testing and discussing them, initially in small groups and then with the entire class. • 4. Students work toward resolving conflicts (if any) between their ideas (based on the revealed preconceptions and class discussion) and their observations, thereby accommodating the new concept. • 5. Students extend the conceptby trying to make connections between the concept learned in the classroom and other situations, including their daily lives. • J. Stepans, Targeting Students’ Science Misconceptions: Physical Science Activities Using the Conceptual Change Model (2nd edition).Riverview, Florida: Idea Factory, (1996).

9. Enough homework already… Let’s do something cool! • Yajusgottaseethis – the real real image! And it is quantitative, too

10. Ye Olde Raye Diagram – sorry, Ray! PhET Computer simulations

11. The Eye & Correcting Vision Defects

12. “I can see clearly now…” Teaching Teachers • PhysTEC Physics Teacher Education Coalition Teacher Reform A)The goal of the program at Cal Poly is to produce science teachers who are student centered: * they believe that students must construct their own understanding and use activities that are consistent with this belief; * they make teaching decisions based on students’ current understanding (not content coverage); * they are providers of experience rather than the dispensers of knowledge B)Teachers must have a solid grasp of the material, they must know about alternative student conceptions, and they must be able to answer questions in a way that leads students without giving them the answer. These skills take time to develop so we must start to develop them well before our future teachers begin their first job. http://www.phystec.org/calpoly/annualreports/04-05/reform.html

13. Big Finish – Human Fibre Optic • Clean up, clean up, everybody clean up! • Thanks for coming! http://www.dailybubble.com/archives/humor/optical_illusions/