Take-Out Physics

2. Take-Out Physics Supplementary Activities for Introductory Physics Courses

4. Why Take-Out Physics? • Supplement or perhaps replace traditional laboratories • Provides students with a greater variety of hands-on experiences • Gives students concrete experience in seeing and describing the relationships between general physics principles and everyday phenomena.

5. What kinds of activities? • Take-home “experiments” range from simple activities that more closely resemble demonstrations to fairly sophisticated measurements that produce good data with relatively simple apparatus • Criteria: Readily available equipment Not Time Consuming Fun!

7. What do students produce? • Each student must complete a brief report on each activity, including data tables and graphs when appropriate. • Students are required to explain in their own words how the applicable physical principles apply to the exercise.

9. What are the benefits? • Students perceive these activities more as “projects” than as “laboratory exercises.” • Students report that they enjoy doing them, and are often able to interest roommates and other friends in participating. • They actually do provide practical experience in thinking in physical terms.

10. Benefits, continued • They require little investment in terms of equipment—mostly meter sticks, stopwatches, and miscellaneous consumable supplies. They are definitely “low tech.” • Quiz or exam questions can be naturally and easily linked to these activities.

12. Drawbacks • The instructor is not “in control.” • The instructor cannot provide immediate feedback, as in the traditional laboratory. • More papers to read—particularly since you may have to comment extensively in order to re-channel misdirected beliefs.

13. Student Response • When students were asked to rate various aspects of the course, on a 1 – 5 scale, with 5 as the highest, their responses were consistently in the 4.6 – 4.7 range, significantly higher than the formal laboratory accompanying the course.