Week 4 - Revelation of Pi

The whiteboard discussions of the suite of six labs went well overall. One class had two days of weak participation. The honors class that has been skeptical of discovering the relationships for themselves. Two students have even commented that they preferred getting the equations to start. At this week's discussion they got really jazzed up for the first time. When they discovered pi in the slope of the circumference vs. diameter model they spontaneously reacted out loud. I was a bit surprised that I saw no sign that they anticipated it, but pleased that they were beginning to enjoy the discovery process. Then when they found pi in the area vs. diameter model they really erupted. I wish I had been making a video. On the final whiteboard discussion of the pendulum period vs. length lab they joked about finding pi lurking again. The discussion carried over to the next day. One group looked up the formula for period and speared the discussion that led to finding pi again after the linearization. It was apparent that they had come around to appreciate constructive learning. On Friday we started the first worksheet and will alternate between quiz assessments and worksheets next week. I handed out a detailed list of Unit #1 learning goals and the simplified standards based grading I will follow. I plan to attach it as a score sheet for each quiz and the unit #1 test. I will highlight the subset of goals being assessed on each quiz and give the assessment of each. This is another idea that I must thank Frank Noschese for. I think that I am ready for "Keep It Simple SBG".