Field Trip

Physics Class at

Palmara Drag Way

As part of my EPL we took the Y12 Physics class to the drag strip to do some experiments. It was a great place to really engage your students. We did have to have safety in mind and to that end, the school contracted with a company called Safe Drive Training (Aust) Pty Ltd to provide the cars, the qualified racing car drivers, radar speed guns, stopwatches etc.





It is good example of how context can provide engagement for students. It brings real meaning to concepts such as coefficient of friction, vectors, acceleration, velocity, displacement.
I estimate that the students will learn and retain more from one day at the drag way than they would from a week in a classroom with "chalk and talk."
While ICTs are less effective that real life, they are still much more effective than "chalk and talk."

Learning Theory

Dale's Learning Pyramid

Dale's Learning Pyramid is an old idea now but it continues to hold true.

The one shown here is from Abiline Christian University.)

It was the first teaching concept I learnt as part of a Bachelor of Engineering degree in the 1980s. At that time the focus of the course was on presenting information to a group, whether they be peers, junior staff, the public or senior management.
In the 1990s while working for the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Sydney I used this theory as a guide to how to teach undergraduate engineers. As well as the theory, I instructed the students using laboratory classes in which the students examined the corrosion of metals, the compressive strength and indirect tensile strength of concrete cylinders, the tensile strength of steel, impact toughness of steel, tensile strength of bolted joints, tensile strength welded joints, flexural strength of timber, properties of concrete aggregates, properties of fresh concrete, concrete mix design, manufacture of concrete beams and flexural strength of concrete beams.

The Department of Civil Engineering had well equipped laboratories it used for research which were also a valuable asset in teaching - clearly aiming for that 75% retention rate in Dale's Pyramid.

Animations

Avatars

This is an Avatar I created from the Voki website

The Beginning

In the beginning, Murray created this blog. Well, I guess I have to start somewhere. This is it.