Book Description

Workshop Physics Activity Guide is a student workbook designed to serve as the foundation for a two-semester calculus-based introductory physics course sequence that is activity-centered. It consists of 28 units that interweave text materials with activities that include prediction, qualitative observation, explanation, equation derivation, mathematical model building, quantitative experiments, and problem solving. Students use a powerful set of computer tools to record, display and analyze data as well as to develop mathematical models of physical phenomena. The design of many of the activities is based on the outcomes of physics education research. Workshop Physics Activity Guide is available in a format designed to give instructors flexibility in integrating all or some of the Workshop Physics units into their curriculum. The Core Volume (ISBN 0-471-15593-4) includes the introductory chapters and appendices that provide the foundation for all the other activity-based units. It includes the first seven activity units (Module1) comprising the first half of mechanics which covers experimental uncertainty, kinematics, and Newton' s Laws. The remaining activity units are available in three independent Modules. Each module is a collection of loose-leaf, three-hole punched sheets. Module 2 (ISBN 0-471-15594-2) covers additional topics in mechanics including momentum, energy, rotation, oscillations, and chaos. Module 3 (ISBN 0-471-15595-0) covers thermodynamics and nuclear radiation. Module 4 (ISBN 0-471-15596-9) covers electricity and magnetism. The Workshop Physics Activity Guide approach is supported by an Instructor' s Manual that (1) describes theunderlying history and philosophy of the Workshop Physics Project; (2) provides advice and suggestions on how to integrate the Guide into a variety of educational settings; (3) provides information on computer tools (hardware and software) as well as apparatus; and (4) includes suggested homework assignments for each unit. The Guide includes activities especially designed to be used with digital video capture tools and analysis software such as VideoPoint. Developed by the authors and available from PASCO Scientific, VideoPoint enhances the students' ability to observe and understand two-dimensional motion and other phenomena. For more information on the Workshop Physics Activity Guide and VideoPoint, please log on to the Workshop Physics Project Home page at " http: //physics. dickinson.edu/" or the John Wiley & Sons home page at " http: //www.wiley.com"