Classroom Plan for Quarknet

Classroom Plan for QuarkNet July, 2002 Richard D. Saunders

Audience Description: This class is an elective, honors, physics course. The students are juniors or seniors that have had or are taking trigonometry. Most are college bound and are interested in engineering, preMed, or physical sciences. They are a very competitive group and many of them take physics because they consider it necessary for their college applications.

Classroom Description: The classroom contains 23 desks, two tables for demonstrations or experiments, shelves for storage, and 5 permanently placed desktop computers. Twenty-four laptops on a roll around cart are available for checkout as needed. The desks are arranged in rows for lecture, and are moved together (four to a island ) when we do labs. Presently, I have two classes of 20 students for physics. Roughly 40% of our students take physics.

Calendar Placement: This lesson will occur in the second semester about April.

Last year, the grant money was used to purchase an oscilloscope and the lessons were on oscillating circuits that the students made with, resistors, inductors, and capacitors. We will also look at circuits done with integrated circuit chips ( NE555, LM741 ). The students were successful in using the oscilloscope to see the electromagnetic waves they were making. This year, I hope to add more electric kits and electric components to build projects with speakers, LEDS, amplifiers, etc. The material covered before this will be simple electric circuits ( resistors and capacitors ) and electromagnetic waves. The material following this; will several units on light, as waves, optics, etc.

Intended Outcomes: 1. The students will successfully breadboard oscillating circuits. 2. The students will observe the effects of amplification, and changing the values of components on electrical circuits. 3. This experience will help them to conceptualize how electromagnetic phenomenon can be manipulated. The students will build an oscillating circuit and amplifier and use the oscilloscope to observe the wave produc1d by their circuit. They will also choose a project of their own to build and test.

Learning Standards:

The State of Florida has standards and benchmarks known as the Sunshine Standards. This lesson will address the following: SC.H.1.4.1 Know that investigations are conducted to explore new phenomena, to check on previous results, to test how well a theory predicts, and to compare different theories.

SC. A.2.4.6 Understand that matter may act as a wave, a particle, or something else entirely different with its own characteristic behavior.

SC.B.1.4.4 Know that as electrical charges oscillate, they create time- varying electric and magnetic fields that propagate away from the source as an electromagnetic wave.

Assessment Plan: The students will write a lab report on their work and build a short-wave receiver as a class project.