Engaging Your Students Outside the Classroom

1. Engaging Your Students Outside the Classroom Presented By Zak Knott Riverside – Brookfield H.S. ILTCE March 2, 2005

2. My Background • Riverside – Brookfield H.S. • 3rd Year of Teaching • Currently Teach • 4 Honors Physics • 1 Physics • Other areas of interest • Student Designed Labs • Physics Through Projects

3. Rationale • A traditional school day limits contact time with students to only 45-55 minutes per day. That time can be expanded by embracing technology that keeps students connected after the school bell rings.

4. Overview • My experience with physicsmonkey.com • How to start your own message board (in 5 minutes or less!) • How to start your own class web page. • Student feedback and plan for the future

5. History • As a new teacher I found catching up students who had missed class one of the most tedious parts of my job. • Originally wanted to create a place for students to download missing or lost worksheets from. • As the site went “live” the interactivity of the bulletin boards increased and the site evolved into its current role • www.physicsmonkey.com was born!

6. Physicsmonkey.com • Established an online presence for the class • Divided into two main sections. • Class Homepages • Bulletin Boards

7. A Message Board Sample • Well, I've opened the door. I guess we may as well run through it. . . In class last week I mentioned that there are a group of people known as the "Flat Earth Society" who truly believe that we live on a flat earth. Now, before you immediatly laugh it off lets look at their arguments. Visit their webpage at: http://www.alaska.net/~clund/e_djublonskopf/Flatearthsociety.htm and read about the evidence they offer for a flat earth. Also, I wanted to point out that the site http://www.flat-earth.org/ is a joke intended to mock the flat earthers (for example, it claims that Australia does not exist, but the author is from Australia). So please do not comment here on that site. You will find other information by performing a Google search, just be careful that you've chosen a reputable source. What I'd like to see in your post this week is an argument for or against a round earth. The flat earthers provide some pretty convincing arguments so please use what you know about physics to support one side or the other.

8. Sample Responses • Honestly, I went to the website with as clear a mind as possible, but I found the arguments less than convincing. First of all, even before I looked at the arguments I noticed that the use of language was far from sophisticated . . . • That was very, um, creative I guess. I don't completely buy it, however. I think the whole water argument was pretty well thought out, and that if the earth was round, we'd be falling off of it from the north pole. I don't know. I'm sure I would believe it if I didn't really know any better, but the whole geocentric thing really doesn't make sence, and we really shouldn't think the universe revolves around us. . .

9. Another Question • For the question of the week this week you have two options: 1) Compose a poem that could be used to explain energy to a third grader. 2) Create an experiment about energy that could be completed by a third grade class.

10. Student Responses • It can do work, and it can play. It lights your room, as bright as day. It cooks your food, and heats your tea, It comes from the sun, and beneath the sea, and all it could be, is energy.

11. Other Topics • Create a mnemonic device to help remember the resistor color code • Write an email to the president explaining your position on a mission to refurbish the Hubble Telescope • Use an interactive web site to predict the likelihood of life existing on other planets • Discuss the U.S. energy policy after conduction some independent research

12. Free Group Discussions • www.network54.com • groups.yahoo.com • Search for “free bulletin boards”

13. Your Own Site – Free! • There are many sites who will host your web page for you at no charge. • www.geocities.com • Your School or District • Try a google search for “free web hosting”

14. Advantages of a Free Server • Provides a chance to learn how to create a web page • Fast & automated setup • Little management needed • Provides an opportunity to “try before you buy”

15. Limitations • Free servers often place advertising on your pages. • Do not include advanced options such as bulletin boards or chat rooms. • Limits on both site size and usage. • URL’s are often long (www.geocities.com/zknott@sbcglobal.net rather than physicsmonkey.com

16. Pay Server Advantages • The cost is not high! • $8.00 or less per month • No ads • High Storage and Usage Limits • Maximum Flexibility • Price includes extras • E-mail addresses • Management tools • Bulletin boards • Chat rooms

17. My Server – Lunarpages.com • There are hundreds of web servers available, please do your own research! • That being said my experience with lunarpages.com has been only positive.

18. Pitfalls • Takes dedication (though not a lot of time) to update the site daily. • Message boards require frequent monitoring • Time commitment is need to educate oneself about technical details

19. Future Changes • Addition of a chat room (provided to me by lunarpages) • Email groups by class • Fun Physics fact of the week • Include class notes on the web page