Physics 641: Physics Pedagogy
An On-line Course for Teachers of Physics

Week 5: Demonstrations

Reading

1. Read "The Role of Demonstrations in Physics Teaching" by Hobbs et al. that can be found here (Word format).
2. Read "PTRA Workshop on Lecture Demonstrations" by Hobbs et al. that can be found here (Word format).
3. Read the following Demo Resource pages (Word format):
   • Make and Take Demos (1.7 MB, 15 pages, Word Document)
   • Demonstrations for Teaching (1.1 MB, 34 pages, Word Document)
   • Equilibrium Worksheet (57K, 2 pages, Word Document)
4. Become familiar with the Physics Instructional Resource Association (PIRA), a group of high school and college physics instructors who are an affiliate of the American Association of Physics Teachers. Look over their website, especially PIRA 200, their list of 200 best demonstrations. Their dues are $10/year if you would like to join. DCS is their classification scheme of demos and can be found here.
5. Below are links to chapter one, of Teaching Introductory Physics by Clifford Swartz, that you will need to read for Week 11. The file was too large and had to be broken up into four sections. Please open each link to make sure you are able to download it. If you have any trouble opening any of the links please let me know. Since the chapter is quite long you may want to start reading it now.
   • Section 1 (0.85MB, 14 pgs, PDF file)
   • Section 2 (1.3MB, 16 pgs, PDF file)
   • Section 3 (1.25MB, 15 pgs, PDF file)
   • Section 4 (0.7MB, 13 pgs, PDF file)

Video Lecture

View the Demo Presentation lecture by Marsha Hobbs that can be found on your CD.