QUESTIONING

QUESTIONING STRATEGIES

SOCRATIC QUESTIONS

Questions of Clarification

• What is your main point?
• Can you give me an example?
• What is the source of that idea or information?
• Can you summarize what we discussed?

Questions that Probe Assumptions

• What are you assuming?
• How do you support your assumption(s)?

Questions that Probe Reasons and Evidence

• What did you observe in the demonstration/experiment?
• What evidence supports your claim?

Questions that Probe Implications and Consequences

• What effect would that have?
• What could you generalize from this observation?
• What does that remind you of?
• What do you predict will happen next?

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS TO GUIDE INVESTIGATIONS

This Geometric Optics activity demonstrates the use of a questioning strategy that will help the students in designing their investigation to determine the focal length of a diverging lens.

The learning objectives addressed are:

LO 6.E.5.1: The student is able to use quantitative and qualitative representations and models to analyze situations and solve problems about image formation occurring due to the refraction of light through thin lenses. [SP 1.4, 2.2]

LO 6.E.5.2: The student is able to plan data collection strategies, perform data analysis and evaluation of evidence, and refine scientific questions about the formation of images due to refraction for thin lenses. [SP 3.2, 4.1, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3]

The activity is divided into three parts that focus on these fundamental questions:

• “What do you observe?”

• “What can you measure?”

• “What can you change?”

PART I.

In the first part of this activity the students explore the images formed by thin convex lenses in a setup that includes an optical bench, a convex lens, a screen and a commercial light source that serves as the object:

Sample student answers include:

What do you observe?

• An image of the object can be seen on the screen
• An inverted image is formed on the screen
• A real image is formed when the light converges on the screen

What can you measure?

• We can measure the distance between the screen and the lens
• We can measure the distance between the object and the lens

What can you change?

• We can change the location of the screen with respect to the lens
• We can change the location of the lens with respect to the screen

PART II.

In the second part of the investigation, the students explore the images formed by thin concave lenses and discover that these lenses do not form real images.

PART III.

A guided discussion can help the students discuss ways of using a real image formed by the convex lens as a virtual ‘object’ for the concave lens.

Encourage the students to try combinations of different locations of the lenses. Each lab team can draw a sketch of the location of the lenses and present their procedure to the class. Providing guidance to the discussion will allow the students to design effective procedures to accomplish the task.

BACK TO: AP PHYSICS LABORATORY EXPERIENCE

RESOURCES

Three Questions Can Change Your Labs for the Better

Patricia Blanton. Phys. Teach. 47, 248 (2009)

Seeing an Old Lab in a New Light: Transforming a Traditional Optics Lab into Full Guided Inquiry

Tim Maley, Will Stoll and Kadir Demir. Phys. Teach. 51, 368 (2013)

Dr. Arthur Eisenkraft: Video 6. Physics of Optics. Teaching High School Science."