Theresa Considers
Theresa reflects on things to improve activities and processes during the project.

During the Phase 1 Lab activities, Theresa wanted students to manipulate, and observe many examples of phenomenon related to Laws of Motion. She minimized requirements for written lab reports but set aside time at the end of each period to communicating findings orally.

"This year I did not have the students complete any paper work for these activities unless they were recording data. I wanted the students to move through as many activities as quickly as possible. "Doing" and "verbalizing" was the emphasis rather than completing the worksheets through writing. . ."

"At the end of the period each group of students summarized results orally. After the first group or two, it seems redundant, but I beleive this redundancy is necessary for the knowledge to really sink into their brains; students need a chance to verbalize their findings orally. The group discussions at the end provided closure that cemented their knowledge. But next year, I am allowing more time for these activities so that students can complete journal entries about each of the activities in a reflective manner as well." --Theresa Maves

Theresa thought she had been very thorough when she remembered to define size criteria for the home roller coasters. Having learned from doing this home project the year before she knew that student coasters tended to be too small and students had difficulty designing track that worked.

This time she set a minimum size--75 cm square. On the day the coasters began to arrive she was overwhelmed by parents and students carrying in enormous structures--some needed disassembling to fit in the door!

Next Year, we set a maximum! --Theresa Maves