16 April 2020

Hello! I hope you are well and staying safe.

As we start the last week of the class next Monday it is time for those who haven't started the final project to decide what you will do for this project. To facilitate this and to answer any questions you may have I will begin a conference session next Monday at the beginning of our regular class time. It isn't mandatory, but it is an opportunity to ask what I think about your proposed ideas. I don't want everyone to do the same activity, so come with your own ideas and be ready to think "outside of the box". Remember that there should be an exploration to the activity, so don't expect specific direction about what to measure, how many trials, etc. As you continue to think about it and have specific questions you can email me individually.

Bottom line: start exploring the topic you are interested in. Come to the conference session next Monday, 20 April 2020 at 11:00 am to get ideas and some guidance.

6 April 2020

I am still getting questions about lab reports, so I will again try to make it clear. Even though the calendar says a lab report is due, it isn't. We will not be attempting to do the experiments that were scheduled for our face-to-face classes and no lab reports for those experiments will be due.

The only other lab report that will be due is the one associated with the final project as described below.

31 March 2020 - Update - 1 April 2020

A student asked another good question: What level should the final project be at? The answer is that it should be for our class, not for second graders or something. But remember we have done some very basic activities, so it doesn't have to be complicated.

I just realized I forgot one condition for the final project assignment. It should be about something that we haven't already done in class. A significant twist from what we have done is okay, but a whole different topic would be better. Ask if you think it might be too close to what we have done in class.

Good morning on this beautiful sunny morning!

A quick reminder that we will have a conference session tomorrow at 11:00 am. It is not mandatory, but I will go over the online homework that is due on Friday and answer any other questions you may have.

Now that we know that the rest of the semester is online, I have made some decisions about this class.

After thinking about what we were able to do before going completely online and the online homework that is already incorporated into the course I have decided on the following actions.

We will continue the online homework as scheduled. After this Friday the assignments won't need much explanation. Email me if you have a question about anything to do with those online homework assignments.
You will have one more assignment: Develop an inquiry activity at home incorporating all of the aspects of our inquiry learning cycle. This should take a fair amount of time and should not be the same as what we have done in class. Be sure to document all of the background work you do as part of your exploration. Once you decide on something, go through all of the steps that we have been doing in class, including a launch and exploration.
You will submit an "expanded" lab report for this assignment that includes the normal parts of our lab reports, but also a poster. The poster doesn't need to be on a large sheet, but can be smaller or pieced together using regular sized paper.

This will replace the Final Project part of the grade. It should be emailed as an attachment in a Word or PDF document. You can also attach a picture if needed.

It can be submitted any time between now and the end of the semester. Because you have four weeks to complete it, I will not accept it after the last day of classes, 27 April 2020.
Any other graded homework, labs, etc. that we haven't been able to do together in class and don't have grades will remain as is on the schedule, but will not be due and will not be included in the overall grade for the course. If you are missing previous assignments they should be turned in as soon as possible.

As I think about what you were able to do in class, I feel confident that you have a good understanding of the inquiry learning cycle and will be able to incorporate aspects of it into other parts of your life. Good job!

I hope you and your families are staying safe and are well. Enjoy what you can!

Take care.

Dr. Burgess.

25 March 2020

Good morning! The snow is almost gone. Hopefully you were able to deal with that along with everything else that is going on.

The Exploring Ramps assignment that was due last Monday was a significant assignment and takes us through the Balls and Ramps for this week. Depending on when we get back, we may do some more in-class experiments, but that is all for now.

The assignment for this Friday is a third article chosen by you. It is a relatively easy assignment, so I am going to use it to determine attendance for this week. Be sure to send it in by class time on Friday so that I don't have to worry about you. Thanks!

Next week we were to do an activity where you balanced a meterstick and looked at the variables associated with that. We won't be able to do that activity, but I will be available next Wednesday at 11 am, during our regular class time, for a conference session to answer any questions you may have to go over what I mean by balancing a meterstick. We can also talk about the online homework that is due that Friday and make sure you understand what is wanted. Don't submit that homework until you are sure you know what is being asked in the homework. It will require that you spend some time experimenting with the simulation that I have prepared for the homework.

You can join a conference session by going to Canvas, clicking on Conferences, and then joining the session in progress.

Stay safe!

21 March 2020

Hello everyone! I hope you are all well.

As you know I haven't changed the schedule to reflect the current situation, so just to be clear I will go over what we are doing for this class at this time.

We are continuing with all of the online homework as scheduled. The Content Homework/Lab: Exploring Ramps that was scheduled for yesterday was to be handed in on Monday, but you are to do it and send it to me through email by class time on Monday. It will take care of classes through Wednesday. The rest of the online homework is fairly straight forward and should be done as scheduled.

The Balls and Ramps (II) lab report scheduled to be handed in on Monday is not due since we didn't do the experiment. At this point no other lab reports will be due either. I'm still considering options about how to make up the in-class lab time after Wednesday. I should be able to give more information next week. In the meantime enjoy a bit of a break.

I hope you are all well. Take care.

Dr. Burgess.

16 March 2020

Good morning and welcome to a new experience!

Moving online for this class presents some challenges, but we are also in better shape than some due to the online component that is already established for the class.

All online assignments will proceed as scheduled. The lab report for the first Balls and Ramps experiment is due by Wednesday. Send it to me by email. During this time I will accept Word and PDF documents as attachments, but still prefer to have the report in the body of the email if possible.

We, of course, will not have any other lab reports due until we are able to get back together. All other assignments will be due as scheduled, even if we haven't been able to do the corresponding activities in class.

This Friday you have a little longer online homework due which was to be handed in during class the next Monday. Instead of handing it in you can email it to me by Monday morning.

You can always email me questions, but during this time I will also be available in a Canvas conference for at least a half hour from 11-11:30 during our class time to answer questions. I will be there this morning, but will not have video or voice activated yet.

The nature of the class and its emphasis on the inquiry learning cycle makes it hard to replicate the group work that we do. If this continues longer than two weeks I may have some other activities or homework for you to do as well, but we will wait on that for now.

Enjoy the beautiful day!

Welcome!

To get access to our class website, please follow this link.

You can now see the assignments in your Canvas calendar and you can see your grades using Canvas, but the master schedule is on our website.

To contact me use your Rivier email. Don't use Canvas conversations.

Thank you.

Dr. Burgess.

A couple of notes about this course (see the syllabus for more details).

The class is highly interactive and requires students to initiate and carry out investigations. You will be expected to not only willingly participate, but to help figure out how to proceed.
Attendance is required. Because we are working in groups and due to the hands-on nature of the course we must all be in class every day.

Some direct links:

When submitting online homework your username is the first initial of your first name and your complete last name, all lower case and no spaces.