Introduction
Science is designed to discover information about the universe in which we live and to determine how this information can be organized into meaningful patterns. The ultimate purpose of science is to determine the arrangement that exists between the various facts. The most basic and first science is physics. At its core, physics is about understanding what lies behind everyday phenomena like rainbows, red sunsets, blue skies and bridges as well as the more revolutionary concepts of quantum theory, relativity and cosmology. One of the key ideas in physics is that, behind the complexity of the world around us, there is an underlying simplicity and unity in nature. The simplicity and unity in nature is expressed through comprehensive fundamental concepts, such as Newton's Laws of motion and the conservation of energy. Such concepts, when put to work using mathematics, provide explanations for every-day events. The application of the concepts of physics provides the platform for most of the other sciences and engineering.
The purpose of my curriculum unit is to use bridges as a structure to facilitate my students' understanding of the interconnectivity of all "things". How subatomic particles, protons, neutrons and electrons are joined in structures to make the elements. Elements are bonded using electrical forces to form molecules and compounds. All materials are made of these molecules and compounds and are engineered to form structures such as bridges, homes, trees and even humans. The students will learn to analyze the forces in the most basic static design and then extend that same principle to more complex structures until they can analyze the forces in a simple bridge design. My curriculum unit will include an inquiry laboratory element to design and construct a bridge structure and test the mechanical efficiency of the bridge structure.
Classroom Environment
I teach at an urban high school with a population that is about 46% African American, 39% White, 11% Hispanic and 4% other. I teach introductory algebra-based physics to tenth, eleventh and twelfth grade students on a semester block program. I have introductory physics students for ninety minutes every day for one semester. The tenth grade students are part of the International Baccalaureate (IB) magnet program at my school. I teach between forty and sixty tenth grade IB students who are self-selected for this program, they take introductory chemistry in the same year, therefore some students have completed chemistry, but not all. The upper classmen have all completed chemistry and are divided between honors and regular level, which they choose. The curriculum unit is developed for the introductory physics course. I also teach Advanced Placement (AP) algebra and calculus based physics courses and will use most of the curriculum unit materials in the algebra based AP physics class, expanding the portion of the unit on rotational statics.
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