Day 2

Yea! I can finally blog. Today was very trying because I had great difficulty getting this whole thing to work. This is the second time I am typing this because the first time it didn't post because of my stupid internet. Well, here goes a second time. Overall, I really enjoyed the day. Many things were familiar to me but the concept were reinforced and this gave me a better understanding of electricity especially. The new thing for me was the calculas portion. I have never taken a calculus class so at first I was intimidated by the whole idea. Finding out the pattern for the derivatives was fun and was easy for me to follow. I think I could use this technique to explain it to others even though I am not a math major. The motion detector activity was not new to me but is was good to refresh my memory about this. The lab that I found most rewarding was the one concerning Ohm's law. The relationship between resistance and the slope of the line was something I never explored. I think this would be very applicable to students and something that they could comprehend with great ease. The use of the christmas lights and batteries is a type of lab that I have already done with students. I especially like the exercises dealing with determine the order of brightness for a group of bulbs. This greatly reinforced my understanding and I feel more confident with series and parallel circuits. One thing that should be stressed is that you should make sure your directions are clearly written before attempting a lab. I have never worked with photogates so this was something new for me.