Spring 2015 Phys 131 Reminder from 2-6


Phys 131, Reminders from 2/06/2015 TA Training (Lab 1, Part 1) 

 

0) Email notice to students:

I have sent a notice to all 131 students reminding them to bring their laptops to lab, to bring a flash-drive for file-saving between weeks, and to READ the lab documents before coming to class.

 

 

1) Recitation: The cat and the antelope

Link: The cat and the antelope

 

Students should NOT write on the "room copies" of the recitation paper.  Please collect the room copies between recitation and lab.  If supplies are running low, email Head TA John ASAP.

 

TAs and LAs: Please remember that the general goals of recitation are group discussion, communication of ideas/logic, and reconciliation of individual perspectives.  We'd love for the students to get the "right" answer, but that is less important than the exchange of ideas and negotiation of meaning among group members.  Please encourage the students to think deeply about what they are doing, rather than rushing through the worksheet and stressing about how "correct" their answers are.

 

TAs: Don't forget the wrap-up/summary at the end of recitation!

 

 

2) Lab 1, Part 1: Motion of an Amoeba and Intro to Excel

Link to Student & TA documents: http://umdberg.pbworks.com/w/page/68933700/NEXUS%20Physics%20Labs%2C%202013-2014

 

** If the computer is "logged out" for some reason, please reboot the computer and it will automatically log-in.

 

*** I will be gathering data on how the students perceive and interact with the curriculum.  To that end, I would like to SCAN the work that students submit to you.  When you have reached the end of your lab sections, please bring their lab report/work to me (room 1322) and I will scan it and return it to you (either the next day or by Friday's lab training).  Additionally, I will be videotaping some groups in some sections for all of the labs this semester.   I will be starting this week.

 

a) There are no "roles"/"jobs" for this one week of lab.  I do suggest that the student in the group most afraid of Excel be the student primarily in charge of using it.

b) There are TWO "amoeba track" sheets per group--do not exceed this or there will not be enough materials for all labs.  This paper they can write on and keep.  All other lab papers are "do not write on/do not remove."  Please collect and neatly stack the lab papers at the end of lab.

c) Please talk with the student to model the kinds of thinking (e.g., reasoned justification for their experimental design and data collection choices) they will need to engage in for writing the lab reports next week in Lab 1, Part 2.

d) Please help the students to learn Excel (show them if they are stuck), but please let students struggle with the physics (correct them if their expressions are incorrect, but do not do the physics for them).

e) Something I warned you of in our training that is worth re-iterating here....  At this stage in their learning, it is common for students to calculate speed as position divided by time (rather than change in position divided by change in time).  Keep a look-out for this common error and help them think past it to the correct idea!

f) TAs should collect one set of graphs and data tables from each group, along with short sentences describing the meaning of the data and features of the graphs and the biological implications.  These should be scored out of 15 points and recorded in ELMS, with special attention paid to the conventions/features/formatting in representation of the data table and graphs.  (Please leave the assignment in ELMS "Muted."  If you need help with ELMS, bring your scores to our next TA meeting and I will help you.)  When you are grading, try not to use red ink.  Please have this work graded by next week's lab, as you want the feedback to students to inform their work in the Lab 1, Part 2 lab report.

 

 

3) Other Logistics:

 

a) Please let me/John know if recitation/lab papers are running low in quantity.  (There are 48 copies--which should be sufficient for a classroom set of 24 students, provided papers are not written on or taken away.)

b) Please straighten up the room between recitation and lab and following lab.  Collect, sort, and stack student documents.  Make sure each table has the appropriate equipment (for this week, two rulers), etc.

c) Do not erase the blackboard at the front of the room.  Feel free to add to it, if you think important information is missing, but don't erase it!  If you need space to communicate information to your students, use the extra white boards at the front of the room.

d) If a student "logs out" of the Lab computers, you will need to RE-BOOT the computer (and it will automatically "log in").  We do not have the passwords for these computers.

 

Good luck!

~KIM