Making complex concepts accessible through hands-on analogs An example teaching Radioactive Decay &...
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Transcript of Making complex concepts accessible through hands-on analogs An example teaching Radioactive Decay &...
Making complex concepts
accessible through hands-
on analogsAn example teaching Radioactive Decay &
DatingLily Lowery Claiborne
Calvin F. Miller
Vanderbilt UniversityDepartment of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Context & MotivationEarth and Environmental Sciences – 101
2 types of concepts
Familiar, Intuitive, Easily Reproduced in Lab
Not Visible, Unfamiliar, Non-intuitive, Cannot be Reproduced in Lab
QuestionsCan students learn complex, non-intuitive
scientific concepts better when they can work hands-on with an analog experiment
than through traditional lecture?
Can they appropriately transfer the things they learn from the analog experiment to
the original concept?
Hypothesis
YES!Test teaching Radioactive Decay &
Dating
Learning Goals• What controls radioactive decay?• How do we use radioactive decay for dating? • Make Predictions about decay/dating• Understand (and use) the decay equation
Study DesignAll Students in Intro Geology (~100)
1. Students attend traditional lecture on topic2. Students come to lab in groups of ~20
- Take pretest on topic- Perform analog activity- Take post-test (identical to pretest)
Student Activity (briefly)
Parent Isotope
Daughter Isotope Decay
Fluid pressure behaves the same way
as Radioactive Decay
Students observe the process of shampoo running through beakers,
observing details & variations
Gather data & plot to create equation
Use equation to date someone else’s experiment
Describe what is controlling the process
Discuss what this indicates about the process of radioactive decay
Results“It slows down as it goes, so as there is less parent, there is less decay.”
“The larger the decay constant or the more parent material, the faster it decays!”
“If the decay constant depends on what the parent material is, does that mean different kinds of parent isotopes decay at different rates?”
“So, if you started running out of parent material, would it decay sporadically, like the shampoo starts to slowly drip at the end?”
Conclusions
This Semester
Can students learn complex, non-intuitive scientific concepts better when they can work hands-on with an analog experiment than
through traditional lecture?YES – improved understanding and confidence
Can they appropriately transfer the things they learn from the analog experiment to the original concept?
YES – there was only one student who talked about shampoo instead of isotopes on the post test
Problems:Misconceptions
Resistance to think past the specific conditions covered in the activityUnclear questions on pre/post test
•Repeat study in all 101 lab sections•Revise questions for clarity•Have students explore variations on the basic system, then ask them to think of others on the post test•Specifically address misconceptions revealed last semester
Thank You!