Jeff's Expedition - Поехали!! Every ocean starts with tiny raindrops.

The paper talked embodied learning through geometry in mathematics. It is almost like linking math with arts in a sense as the author portrays the beautify in geometric shapes and elegance in mathematics equations that describes the surfaces and motion paths. In physics embodied learning plays a big role too. From student feeling momentum to physicists searching for the Grand Unify Theory. It is at times important for students to sense as a part of learning. I do argue, however, that it may not be the best method for everyone. Feeling is a very personal experience. Embodied learning requires student to feel the presence of beauty and elegance, some may not know how to feel. It is no question that for the students who have strong inclination for sensing that embodied learning is an important component; some other student, on the other hand,  can feel lost in the process. One of the embodied learning experience that strikes me is star gazing, the experience is in-comparable to wa...

The inquiry project, topics that I wish to explore: How to we make physics enjoyable to learn? How do we inspire student to have self-motivation to find out what they don't know in the unit? I hope to develop a process to motivate students to inquire the knowledge they have yet to understand. I plan to do a "test" and then work on the stuff students do not understand based on the result. It promotes a healthy attitude toward test mark and inspire students to explore knowledge on intrinsic motivation What is the most efficient setting to do group projects? While we talked a lot about the benefits of group inquiry project, one of the main constraint is the time it takes and the potential of uneven contribution from each group member. I want to experiment different variables such as class time and group size for each physics related topic so we can know the best settings to go about these topics and how we can distribute the groups. This will take some sampl...

Are the teachers misusing tests and grading to suppress students' learning motivation? The article discusses in many cases students are stressed about grades and feel that its not the best way to learn. Conducting tests for evaluation has long being practiced at schools. It is easy for the teachers to prepare and in theory an effective way to test on students performance. The quantitative nature of a standardized test is beneficial for the teachers to excess students' process. However the side effects of standardized tests were mentioned in the article. The tests themselves do not reflect how well the student's learnt. Many argue it forces students to memorize instead (I beg to differ on this aspect since in many cases its simply how the questions were made, in physics for example its almost not possible to do well on a well designed test without knowing the theories behind the learning units). More so than that many student use it as an indication for comparison. Coming...

In physics its very important to make student feel like help is available when they need it. Not spoon feeding the knowledge but to provide them guidance and direction in problems. It is easy for students to get lost and do not know where to start in physics as some ideas are abstract. I think that many ways of presentation should be included, as well as relate to everyday experience so that students do not feel that physics is unrelated to daily living. To build on their problem solving skills is to provide them ways to be curious about a problem and tackle it in many possible ways. Teacher should also encourage students to try and make mistakes, for in physics it is extremely rewarding to understand and find ways to solve problems by one selves. Yet the essence for students to feel included is to allow mistakes and perhaps even make mistakes intentionally to demonstrate the spirit of physics inquiry. Other Ideas: Uncover the curriculum, not to cover it Allow students to l...

In class we discussed about setting role models to break the stereotype/barriers of students ability and what they should be doing in school and career. In the video Venissa  uses pop culture to encourage young women to enjoy math in school. I think that it is important to create materials that students are interested in to spark motivation. In physics pedagogy class I take similar approach when designing physics problems, For example I would include materials from famous movies or celebrates to keep students engaged. I often imagine what I enjoyed in school (non-academic aspects) and try to make  connections with the students. I think a good role model will to be opened to different ways students present their interests in school. Showing your interest in understanding students creates a very welcoming atmosphere. I do believe there is a higher aspect of setting good role models beside fitting into the student's culture. Being opened to students culture is the first step to...

The garden's experience is extra special for us as future teachers to learn about the different aspects of such program. When students are exposed to garden space I think there are more room for imagination and connection to their environment. The activity of drawing natural/ man-made objects is an excellent example; how there no no ends of drawing a natural object- say a pumpkin. Being able to recognize the plants that grow in the garden can also create connections to everyday life. I remember having memory of my summer job in Chilliwack just from the mint we sampled at the garden, while others are excited to find their connections too. It relates to the article we read before class, the whole idea about slowing down is really important for students now day--where information cycles so fast yet many do not know where do the food we eat daily come from. With application to physics education, I think that garden will be an excellent location to do some testings of projects that re...

The article promotes the benefit of adding gardening to students' education and points out the numerous benefit of such program. I can relate and agree on author's observation of such program taking place. Learning about food and languages are the best way to be humble and learn about others culture in my point of view. Learning the language is a gesture of respect and equalizing the status of our language to the others, while taking the step is very inviting it is certainly not the most efficient way as language takes time to learn. Presenting/sharing  food on the other hand is universal as we all eat as human been, learning/sampling other culture's food is again a very welcoming sign and promotes culture exchange just like how the children shared their eating customs in the article. I really like the idea as food growing and gardening is something that brings the children all over the world together, it is a universal practice that transcend language barriers. It definite...

Praises can come in many form. While it is extremely important to keep students motivated, there are many aspects teachers may have to keep in mind for the best results. It is very important to not single students out and put them in an awkward positions. Praises should also be with content, empty praises can be detrimental and even result children to be less welling to perform well without the reward. In class though some people provided example of positive reinforcing with extrinsic reward with skittles. I think that a good teacher should try different methods to see what reward method works the best for each class as the audience plays an important role as well. A good teacher should also be mindful of how students will receive the message by imagine being in their position. I also really like the idea of group praises and let peers encourage themselves. Students feel much more comfortable between each other than in contrast, from a top to down position such as teacher (Teacher ...

"It is important that teachers understand the positive as well as the possible negative consequences of praising students" It is a very interesting idea as we often associate praises as a positive thing. Between friends and family we often do it naturally, but when it comes to teaching there seems to be an art behind it. I think that high school can be a sensitive age where peer pressure and socialization among fellow students play and huge role in students lives. Teachers should avoid situations mentioned in the text, and  instead of singling a person to out we can share ideas to the class. If we work as a "we" group, the praised student will be more comfortable, as well as creating s positive learning experience where students are comfortable to share their ideas. "Only aloof and “detached” teachers (who I described as “mere instructors” in the opening paragraph above) may be able to adopt a more or less calculating or rationally deliberative relational a...

I think that flipped classroom is a great supplement for teachers. Students will be able to watch the videos on their own pace and re-watch them whenever revisions are needed. It also promotes peer learning and gives teacher a lot more insight about how well the students are understanding the materials. This concise and readily available should certainly be an important part of future classrooms. However like most good things there are downsides of flipped classrooms. The classrooms rely on students to actively participate in the video watching. Many may forget or simply do not want to watch the videos. Some rewarding systems may be needed to address this potential downfall (when teachers give student reward for watching the videos, or some sort of quiz on the videos). Also there are aspects of in class participation and discussions that cannot be replaced by flipped classroom, there are still many important and helpful benefits from traditional classroom teaching such as attending t...

On "Becoming a Reflective Teacher" the author Carl discusses the importance of being open minded, responsible, and wholehearted. The article explains in detail about what is expected and should be done as an effective and reflective teacher in which students can learn in the best way possible. I find that many aspects that the article talks about are expected in today's teaching. In other words the expectation of teaching has grown, much better education qualities are expected, which is positive for students. Example such as Mary Smith in the text will certainly be not acceptable in today's teaching practice. The principles are still very relevant today and are parts of the core concept of teaching. In our classes we are contently looking for ways to be more reflective and promote dynamic interactions with pupils. For me being open minded is to be learning with the students as well (similar to Frank McCourts' ideas we visited last week), I would let to invite st...

 A teacher is also learning just like the student. Every classroom provide a learning opportunity to learn about the students. In the videos we saw how Frank merged with the high school students and embraced their frustrations with the learning materials. He also used his immegrarion stories to empathized with students with difficulties. I think that Frank's approach on teaching is very inspiring. He had to adapt to the foreign circumstances and make the best of what he had. We as teachers will not always be best equip with materials for the class, what is important is to have the will and motivation to better ourselves as much as we can. I agree with Frank when he said you stop being a teacher once you stopped learning. Franks humbling attitude toward teaching is very important for us to look up to. As a teacher he never tried to have a up-to-down attitude while facing students, he mentioned about unmasking as a teacher and instead bringing out his true personalities While tha...

Entrance Slip Possibility After the first week I have formulated three possible inquiry question: 1. How can we encourage students to think physics as a fun subject and have self motivation to solve the problem? 2. How can we encourage peers to help each other out in group setting? (How they can self teach) 3. How we can promote critical thinking and apply the scientific methods to physics classrooms. (Question their "intuition") ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Comment from peers: 1. Open ended question, great! 2. Focus on strategies:  How can we encourage peers to help each other out in group setting? (What are the strategies we can in-plant in classrooms) 3. Elaborate on "scientific methods": How we can promote critical thinking and apply inquiry/hypothesis to physics classrooms. (Question their "intuition")

9/7 The discussions today touched on very interesting topics about what is practical math and how we can apply to teaching. Many argued that "efficiency" is the key that limits our ability to deliver the background/method/logic behind the math we teach, hence for many fields math is just a tool and the traditional view is that the practical usage of math should be emphasize more. Then there were interesting arguments of how much of the background/history of math should be included since they actually serve very important values not only in math but to education a world view as well (it promotes a more globalize view and shows that math in many ways are connected to different civilization/ one pointed out that Islamic world have important value in the history of mathematics and many students nowadays do not know about it). We came out with a important point that different students in different classes may not benefit the same way with the same amount of introduction to the...

Vamos!!