Why Do I Study Physics?

A film by Shixie (Xiangjun Shi)
Graduation Project at Rhode Island School of Design 2013
A Science Communication Project at Brown University Department of Physics
NYC ACM SIGGRAPH MetroCAF 2013 Jury Award
10th NYC Downtown Short Film Festival



Why Do I Study Physics? (2013) from Xiangjun Shi on Vimeo.

Rutherford Scattering - A Classroom Demo

A simple way to demonstrate back-scattering in a classroom. For more information on this and many other demonstrations of physics and astronomy, please visit us at:
http://www.ap.smu.ca/demos

Wave changer

Are your students forgetting that sound is a longitudinal wave? Maybe this is the answer.

 

Mecanika - An Introduction to Newtonian Physics

Mecanika is a great game:  it helps to understand how forces affect motion.

The game.

Author's blog.

Khan Academy and the Effectiveness of Science Videos

It is a common view that "if only someone could break this down and explain it clearly enough, more students would understand." Khan Academy is a great example of this approach with its clear, concise videos on science. However it is debatable whether they really work. Research has shown that these types of videos may be positively received by students. They feel like they are learning and become more confident in their answers, but tests reveal they haven't learned anything. The apparent reason for the discrepancy is misconceptions. Students have existing ideas about scientific phenomena before viewing a video. If the video presents scientific concepts in a clear, well illustrated way, students believe they are learning but they do not engage with the media on a deep enough level to realize that what was is presented differs from their prior knowledge. There is hope, however. Presenting students' common misconceptions in a video alongside the scientific concepts has been shown to increase learning by increasing the amount of mental effort students expend while watching it.

Other Veritasium videos

Afterschool Universe: Life Cycle of Large Star

Kinesthetic activity about the life cycle of a large star (learning astrophysics while dancing?).

Other Afterschool Univervse videos

Salman Khan: Let's use video to reinvent education

Salman Khan talks about how and why he created Khan Academy, a carefully structured series of educational videos offering complete curricula in seversl subjects. He shows the power of interactive exercises, and calls for teachers to consider flipping the traditional classroom script -- give students video lectures to watch at home, and do "homework" in the classroom with the teacher available to help.

OK, there is no physics in this video...but using videos to teach something is the goal of this blog...

Other TED Talks

Physics of Surfing

Students who take UC San Diego's Physics of Surfing class get to go to beach, ride a board into the waves and see how physics works in the real world. Back in the classroom, they learn about how waves form, how they travel through the world's oceans and that surfboards follow the laws of fluid mechanics.

Confessions of a Converted Lecturer: Eric Mazur

Eric Mazur is the Balkanski Professor of Physics and Applied Physics at Harvard University. In this video, he talks about his teaching method, peer instruction, and why it is better than the conventional way of teaching physics.