Computer Supported Collaborative Physics

Southern California Section

Saturday, 5 November 2011

CSU Dominguez Hills

Meeting Room: The Claudia Hampton Lecture Hall, Welch Hall (D-165, Bldg 23)

Contributed Talk: "Computer Supported Collaborative Physics" 

Norman Herr 

California State University, Northridge

New collaborative web-based document technology provides the opportunity to instantly collect and analyze large sets of data from multiple lab groups and class sections with speed and accuracy. Curricular resources can be developed that employ this emerging technology to create a classroom environment that mirrors the collaborative environment of a professional scientific community. Students gain a better understanding of various aspects of the nature of physics when they view their findings in the context of a larger set of data collected by their peers. By engaging in laboratory activities in which they analyze whole-class data using wikis and collaborative web-based documents, students gain an understanding that the scientific enterprise requires collaboration, independent verification, and peer review.

• Density & Buoyancy - What causes things to float or sink?

• Rockets - Speed, acceleration, parabolic trajectories

• Pendulums 

• Torque

• Exercise and Motion

• Simple Machines - Examples of levers, wheels, wedges, pullies, etc.