34 minute read
Lesson 14: Strategy 6 - Using Case Study as a Teaching Stra te g y
The research question that you w ill be trying to answer is:
You w ill be working in groups o f _______________
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for the n e x t ________________ periods/days/ weeks. Use the fo llow ing guidelines to help you work through your research project.
1. Discuss the research question and make sure that everyone in your group understands what the research question means.
2. Make a list of the things that you th in k you w ill need to fin d out or do in order to answer the research question. Try to express these ideas as questions.
3. Arrange the list in order from the first thing you w ill do to the last th in g you w ill do. Make a brief note about how, where, and when you w ill do each of the thing s on your list. Don't forget that different members of your group can be working on different parts of the problem at the same tim e.
4. Decide which members of the group w ill be responsible for each item on your list.
5. Decide how you w ill help each m em ber of your team learn about the issues that other team members are investigating. And how you w ill help each team m ember achieve the learning outcomes.
6. Decide how you w ill present the results of your research.
7. Start gathering the inform ation you need to answer the question.
8. Share the inform ation that you gather with other members of your group so that everyone is satisfied that the inform ation you have gathered is what the group needs.
9. Keep a sim ple record to show the progress your group has made.
10. Organize and/or analyze the in form ation you gather so thatyou can answerthe research question.
11. Prepare a report of the results of your research.
12. Evaluate the research efforts of your group by considering how well you were able to answer the research question and how well the group worked as a team. Make a list of the things that you would do differently next tim e you are working on a research project.
Topic: Forces That Affect Changes on the Earth's Surface
a. Earthquakes
b. Volcanic Eruption
Grade Level: Grade 6
Learning Competencies
I "ne learners should be able to:
I 1 describe the changes on the Earth's surface as a result of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions and
1 enumerate what to do before, during, and after earthquake and volcanic eruptions.
ENGAGE
Give trivia (e.g., the Big One), research updates, or news about recent earthquake or volcanic I eruption in the country.
EXPLORE
Discuss the entire chosen research article about an earthquake or volcanic eruption. Explain the | :arts of the research and th e ir contents. Ask for the students' views and comments.
EXPLAIN
Provide more examples and explanations of interesting and significant research articles especially I in physics. Motivate and encourage them that they can also do research and they can contribute to the | scientific community. Remind them that th e ir age level is not a hindrance for research, but they can also I crepare sim ple researches that can be significant and used as future reference of other researchers.
ELABORATE
Divide the class in groups of three or four. Using the guidelines presented previously, let each ; group develop a sim ple research related to th e ir previous lessons in physics or any topic of th e ir interest. 1 Remind them that th e ir research questions should be original and relevant to the society.
I EVALUATE ,, _
Devote one o rtw o meetings for the presentation of research output. Invite panel members to help I .ou ju dge th e ir research. Use a rubric to evaluate th e ir presentation skills.
Answer the follow ing guide questions.
1. What are the advantages of using student research as a strategy in class?
2. What are the lim itations of student research as a strategy in class?
3. Develop a sample lesson plan incorporating student research.
Topic: Grade level:
Learning Competencies
The learners should be able to
1.
2.
ENGAGE
EXPLORE
ELABORATE
EVALUATE
I. What is a Case Study?
The use of case study is also called as the case method of teaching or case-based pedagogy (Killen, 2009), and it has three major components: the case itself, the students'preparation forengaging with and discussing the case, and the classroom discussion. This process of case study requires that the students be given access to the case in advance so that they can (in d ivid u a lly or in groups) prepare for a detailed whole-class discussion.
A case is a story w ith a (hidden) message-a narrative that describes an actual, or realistic, situation in which an individual or a group has to make a decision or solve a problem. Most often, the stories are set in the past and focus on real people or real events, but they may be set in the present and they can describe fictitious things.
It can be useful to categorize cases in terms of their completeness and openness and in terms of the action required from the students.
1. Complete
* It is a case that describes fu lly the situation and its real-life conclusion.
2. Incomplete
It refers to a case that explains real events up to a point but does not include the real outcome of these events.
3. Open
It is a case that may have many possible solutions or actions that could be recommended.
4. Closed
A case that has a single best response or solution.
If you want to test the students' understanding of well-defined facts and principles, you can probably ■jse a closed case study. If you want the students to explore many possibilities and debate th e ir merits, «;ou w ill structure the case study as an open-ended one.
When we consider what you m ight expect the students to do w ith case study materials (the action required), there are two basic possibilities. The first is to require the students to analyze the case, describe aspects of it, and possibly debate the merits of the action taken by the people in the case. This descriptive/analytic approach is probably best used w ith complete case studies. An alternative is to require the students to go beyond analysis and suggest solutions or courses of action. For this, you need a case study that presents some type of dilem m a (so it w ill be incomplete) for which there is no single correct answer.
Thinking about case studies in these different ways w ill help you select or develop case studies that best match the outcomes you want the students to achieve. Whichever approach you take, the case study w ill engage the students in a collective analysis of a slice of reality w ith a common purpose of gaining a deeper understanding of the issues involved. Because the case is describing a real or realistic situation, it w ill not have all the relevant in form ation set out in clear, logical steps. Nor w ill it necessarily contain all the inform ation that the students need to form ulate th e ir arguments. Rather, it w ill reflect the complexities, am biguities, and uncertainties of real situations. The case w ill not provide an analysis of the situation it describes-this analysis is left to the students. The case study w ill provide both intellectual and emotional exercise for the students, forcing them to engage w ith complex problems and make critical decisions-thus preparing them for the realities they w ill face after th e ir formal education.
Because case studies require the learners to seek feasible ways of resolving contextualized realistic issues, they do not involve the mechanical application of theory designed to produce a sterile textbook answer to a contrived and sim plified problem. Rather, they take advantage of the idea that real-life significant problems have no correct answer, ju st ranges of possible answers.They also help the students to see that they can sim ultaneously develop their understanding of theory and th e ir problem-solving skills w hile struggling w ith realistic problems (Carlson, 1999).
When and Why Should Case Study be Used as a Teaching Strategy?
The case m ethod of teaching can provide a very "natural" way of helping the students to learn by ‘ exploiting the basic human capacity to learn from stories" (Hagel & Zulian, 1996). Cases offer the students : ::o r tu n itie s to grapple with issues, problems, dilemmas, and puzzles in ways that are engaging, challenging, r : productive in a reasonably safe but not entirely risk-free environm ent (Boehrer, 1994).
Cases encourage the students to reach a deeper, understanding of the concepts and issues than they • : j l d from ju st reading or listening to a lecture (Volpe, 2002). They help the students to appreciate the : - ted extent to which th e ir current theoretical understandings enable them to resolve ill-defined problems i ' d provide credible explanations of real situations.
Case studies encourage the learners to take responsibility for their own learning and to seethe benefits l i n k i n g about theoretical issues before they are discussed in class.
Case narratives can portray situations and dilem m as as they evolve over tim e, thus allow ing the students to appreciate the importance of tim e as a contextual factor in real problem-solving (Koballa & Tippins, 2000).
Case studies transform the student's role from "a passive recipient of in form ation to an intellectual detective" (Fratantuono, 1994). This helps the students to develop th e ir metacognitive skills (awareness and control of th e ir th in kin g and learning process).The case method also provides at least two opportunities for the teacher to deepen th e ir understanding: it often results in the teacher encountering fresh perspectives on old problems because the students suggest things the teacher had not th o u g h t of, and it can give the teacher a chance to test classic solutions on new problems (Bruner, 2001). Deeper understanding is also likely to be a product of the teacher deliberately trying to develop fresh ways of covering well-trodden ground.
On the other hand, using case study may not be suitable fo r all situations. It also has some limitations. The table below presents a summary of both the advantages and lim itations of using case study as a strategy in class (Killen, 2009).
Use case study if:
• The outcomes you want the students to achieve are readily related to issues beyond the classroom.
• The learners have sufficient prior knowledge to guide th e ir analysis of complex materials. • The students are self-motivated and can learn w ith m inim a l assistance.
• You want to build the students' confidence by showing the value of their in dividual solutions to problems.
• You want to encourage the students to be independent learners.
• You want to foster critical thinking.
Do not use case study if:
• The students lack the basic skills to work independently or in small groups.
• The students have very poor literacy skills.
• You cannot allow the students sufficient tim e to analyze the case materials.
• The students lack background knowledge necessary for interpreting and resolving the case.
II. How to Use Case Study as a Teaching Strategy?
One of the first decisions you have to make is whether you w ill use a case study to support what the students are learning in other ways (such as through direct instruction) or whether it w ill be the prime vehicle for learning. In the first instance, you w ill use the case to illustrate typical issues or dilemmas ir the same way that you m ig h t use less detailed examples to illustrate application of theory.The cases yot use w ill need to be relatively short and straightforward. Volpe (2002) described the use of newspape*
articles in this way as a structured introduction to using more complex case studies. If you want the case study to be the main vehicle for the students' learning, then you w ill have to involve them in the analysis of more substantial case studies.
Most approaches to the case method of teaching are based on class discussions. However, it is possible to replace the discussion w ith other forms of interaction, such as debates, mock trials, and research teams (Herreid, 1994).
There are fo u r main steps in preparing to use a case study:
Deciding why and when to use a case study;
Developing or selecting the case;
1
Deciding to use a case study
As with all other teaching strategies, the effective use of case studies requires you to have a particular zurpose in m ind when you select this strategy-your choice of strategy should not be made before you are sDsolutely clear about what you want the students to learn and why you want them to learn it. Your purpose —ight be to expose the students to complex real-world situations, to develop th e ir a bility to work in teams * hen solving problems, or to help them make connections between separate disciplines. Whatever it is, your : jrpose must be clear to both you and the students. Hence, the development or selection of cases, and the ^ p lic a tio n of the strategy, must be outcomes-driven.This also means that the case study must be considered carefully so that the learners w ill see how it is helping them develop th e ir knowledge, understanding, and skills (Killen, 2009).
There are two main reasons for using case studies: to motivate the students to learn theory and to ustrate the application of theory. If you are using a case to motivate the students to learn a theory, the basic steps are:
Provide guidelines to help the students prepare for the class discussion by exploring the case (that is, help the students to identify what is that they need to learn).
Give the students time to study the case and prepare for the class discussion.
G u ide the class discussion so that students generate a list of questions that need to be answered before the problem in the case study can be resolved.
Conclude the discussion with an overview o f how these questions will be answered in subsequent lessons.
If you are using a case study to illustrate the application of theory in real-world contexts, the basic steps are:
Present the case to students after they have received instruction on the relevant theory.
nts analyze theProvide guidelines to help the students analyze the case, probe the underlying issues, select the relevant theories to apply and suggest ways in which the issues could be resolved.
Give the students time to study the case and prepare for the class discussion.
G uide the class discussion so that students generate several possible alternative solutions, consider their relative merits and reach some level of consensus.
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Conclude the discussion with an overview of the broader issues raised by the case.
Developing or Selecting the Case
In some field of study, there are large numbers of formal case studies available off the shelf. Other major sources of materials that can be used for cases are journals, newspapers, magazines, novels, and D V li In some instances, it is best to write your own case from scratch. This may be a tim e-consum ing exercise, b .' it allows you to incorporate some of your own experiences into the case study.
W hether you use cases developed by someone else or develop your own, you have to ensure that the use meets your needs better than an alternative teaching strategy-otherwise, it w ill be a poor use of tim e, / c o r d in g to Killen (2009), whether you are selecting or developing a case, it is im portant to consider the follow ing criteria:
1. Outcomes focus
The case must make a positive contribution to the students' achievement of the course outcomes. It must lead them into the required depth of analysis and into the types of th in kin g that are reflected in the outcomes. The case must be an integral part of the course, not ju st an interesting discussion.
2. Interest
The case must be seen as relevant and interesting by the learners. This usually means that the case tells a story that the readers can relate to th e ir own experiences or to situations that they believe they m ig h t face. It also helps if the case contains some controversy or conflict-an issue that the students m ight reasonably be expected to disagree. Interest is also influenced by the style in which the case is written (Herreid, 2002).
3. Recency
Current problems will probably be more engaging for the students than historical cases will. Herreid (1997) suggests that the best cases address issues that are not more than five years old.
4. Rigor
The case must lead the students to a detailed situational analysis and a deep understanding of the context of the case, to an appreciation of the open-endedness of the case issues and to th e ir interrelatedness, and to an examination of the issues from m u ltip le perspectives. The case should address issues that require collaborative discussions.
5. Decision focus
The case should lead the students (first in d ividually and then as a group) to make decisions about some im portant issue.
6. Generality
Each case w ill be unique, but each case should lead the students to some conclusions that are generalizable to other broader contexts.
7. Realism
Real problems rarely come clearly defined and neatly packaged like typical textbook exercises; they are more likely to be complex and ill-defined. Cases need to reflect this. The case should make it possible for the students to be drawn into the drama of d ifficu lt real-world situations and decisions and for the teacher to be able to pose questions that w ill maximize the students' understanding of these issues.
The case should be long enough to raise im portant issues, supply essential inform ation, and engage the learners. Cases that are too long or that contain too much fine detail may distract the students from the key issues.
9. Readability
The inform ation in the case must be accessible to the learners. It should be written in appropriate language and style.
According to Volpe (2002), "In general, the more you do, the more the students w ill do. By showing your com m itm ent to the students, by being well prepared and by showing concern for the students, you w ill be able to extract a sim ilar level of com m itm en t from the stu d e n ts... Students w ill generally prepare up to, but not beyond, the standards of preparation of the instructor."
The first step in your preparation must be to review the outcomes you want the learners to achieve. The next step in your preparation should be a detailed analysis of the case. You must thoroughly understand all the issues and the web of relationships between them. You must take the tim e to clarify your understanding of the theoretical basis for all possible interpretations of these issues and be able to ju stify the conclusions you would reach. Although you w ill not want to impose your point of view on the students, you must be prepared to share your view w ith them.
An im portant part of your preparation w ill be the development of a set of questions to focus the class discussion. If the case contains substantial issues and a degree of controversy or dilem m a, you w ill probably need only fo u r or five key questions. These questions should help the students define im portant aspects of the problem, generate alternatives, reach a considered position, and reflect on the broader issues raised by the case. Try to anticipate how the students m ig h t react to the case and to the questions that you w ill use to guide the discussion.
Guiding the Classroom Discussion
The general principles for effective case discussions are the same as those for any other whole-class discussion: you have to in itiate the discussion, keep the students focused on the main issues, challenge the students to th in k deeply, help the students resolve differences, remind the students of the outcomes they are trying to achieve, and bring the discussion to a logical conclusion. There are several particular points to note when the discussion is based on a case study:
Introduction
The students w ill have prepared for the discussion by reading the case materials and trying to answer the focus questions, so you do not have to spend a large am ount of tim e setting the scene for the discussion.
§ECussion
This is not ju st sharing of ideas nor it is a process of the students presenting ideas for your approval. Tre students must be deliberately involved in a jo in t effort to gain a deeper understanding of the issues o a b e d d e d in the case. You m ig h t need to remind the students of this point as they try to resolve the conflict r 'each a decision. You need to emphasize that the analysis of the case is a group task, and all the students should feel free to raise questions or express doubts.
You should listen carefully to all contributions and encourage the students to elaborate and to ju stify : darify th e ir contributions when necessary. You may want to summarize the contributions by b u ild in g up a - ~d map or flow chart on the board but do not use the board to ju st passively record unrelated points.
In some cases, it w ill be appropriate to augm ent the class discussion with short role-plays that enable students to engage more directly with the issues in the case.
l.e s tio n in g
It is a very im portant skill of the teacher during discussion. You should ask open-ended questions a make the discussion more interactive and interesting. Your questions should encourage the students to :: -sider all the im portant issues in the case, but they should not give the students the impression that you sre trying to guide the discussion to your predetermined conclusion.
Your questions m ig h t serve any of the fo llow ing purposes:
• Clarification - Can you explain what you mean by that?
• Elaboration - Can you expand on that idea?
• Generalization - In what other situations m ig h t that principle apply?
• Structuring - What facts need to be considered before we focus on the emotional issues?
• Comparison - How is that different fro m ...?
• Substantiation - How can we ju stify the assumption?
• Linking - How do these two ideas relate to one another?
• Engagement - What would you do in that situation?
• Integration - What general principles m ig h t help us understand this situation?
• Consensus - Why m ig h t some people agree with that idea?
• Focus - How does that take us closer to a solution?
Use your questions sparingly so that your interventions are subtle and the discussion does not become a question and answer session. Your questions should keep the discussion going, not dominate it.
Well-prepared cases w ill be so realistic that they cannot be resolved completely in a single class discussion. However, you still need to bring the discussion to a satisfying conclusion. You m ig h t provide the summary, or you m ight ask the students to do it-e ith e r way, the summary should address both the issues in the case study and the process that were used to analyze it.
Make your comments as specific as possible so that the students w ill th in k about what worked and did not work in th e ir attempts to analyze the case. Your concluding comments should help the students to see that "the most im portant aspect of the whole exercise is their a bility to provide a structured approach to the problem " (Volpe, 2002). A good conclusion w ill typically h ig h lig h t points of agreement and unresolved issues, emphasize the need to in terpret sim ilar cases from a sound theoretical perspectives, and help the students to see that many real-world outcomes are determined by circumstance as much as by logic. Ideally, your closure should end the discussion b ut not end the students' th in k in g about the issues.
III. Sample Lesson Plan
Topic: Weather Disturbances
1. Types of weather disturbances
2. Effects of weather disturbances on living thing s and the environm ent
Grade Level: Grade 5
Learning Competencies
The learners should be able to:
1. observe the changes in the weather before, during, and after a typhoon;
2 . describe the effects of a typhoon on the com munity; and
3. describe the effects of the winds, given a certain storm warning signal.
ENGAGE
Ask two to three students to share in class about th e ir recent experience regarding typhoons. Preferably choose the students who had serious experience.
EXPLORE
Ask other students about the precautions and safety measures before, during, and after typhoon.
Discuss changes that are observed before, during, and after typhoon by showing pictures or videos. I Provide an interactive discussion of the impacts of typhoon in the com m unity as well as the effect of wind I given the storm signals.
I •; ■.-••• . •' \ . ‘ .
■ ELABORATE
Have the students gather news articles about recent typhoons. Have them examine the impact of | :ie s e typhoons to individuals, households, and communities.
EVALUATE
Let the students answer guide questions about the above m entioned cases of damages brought by I the typhoons. Grade the students according to the accuracy and completeness of th e ir ideas.
Sample Guide Questions:
1. What is the name of the typhoon? What is its signal?
2. Were there damages brought by it? Discuss briefly.
3. Check on updates from weather bureaus and institutions. Were people informed of these typhoons?
IV. Application
Answer the guide questions completely.
1. What are the advantages of using case study as a strategy in class?
2. What are the lim itations of case study as a strategy in class?
Topic: Grade level:
Learning Competencies
The learners should be able to:
1. 2 .
ENGAGE
EXPLORE
EXPLAIN
ELABORATE
EVALUATE
I. What is Role-playing?
Role-playing is an unrehearsed dramatization in which in dividuals im provise behaviors that illustrate acts expected from people involved in defined situations. "In role-playing activities, you present to your students a realistic or hypothetical situation and a cast of characters. The students then im provise dialogue and actions to fit th e ir views of the situation and the character they are playing" (Davis, 1993). In successful role-playing, the learners assimilate inform ation that is provided about th e ir role and then act o ut the assigned role in accordance w ith th e ir interpretation of how their character w ould behave in the fictional situation. This type of role-play can easily be designed to help the students understand the feelings and perspectives of others by acting out situations in which there is a conflict or dilem m a. They provide an o p p o rtu n ity fo r them to become deeply involved in th in k in g about how they w ould react in real-world situations.
Frequently, this type of role-playing directly involves ju s t a few students (the actors) and the majority of the class observes and analyzes the interactions between the players. You can directly involve more students by using role-play as a group activity (with several groups role-playing at the same tim e). This has the clear advantage of giving more students a chance to demonstrate how they would perform in a role, b u t it can lim it your chances of having all members of the class focus on specific issues that arise from the role-play.
A second form of role-play can be used to help the students develop specific skills, such as how to present themselves effectively at an interview, how to introduce themselves to a stranger, etc. W ith this approach, you m ig h t have several students (or all students) take turns at playing the role so that they can all practice their skills and receive feedback.
Another form of role-playing requires the students to take on specific roles over a longer period of tim e, freq uently in order to experience what it m ig h t be like to work in a particular occupation.
Whichever form of role-play is used, the teacher is responsible for planning, organizing, facilitating and m onitoring the role-playing, and for g u idin g the follow -up discussions. In short, the teacher has to ensure that the role-play is a learning experience, not sim ply an activity.
Why and When M ig h t Role-Play Be Used as a Teaching Strategy?
Killen (2009) explained the advantages of role-play. In general, role-play can:
• Help create a learning environm ent in which the students are highly motivated and involved because of the realism and relevance of the learning activities. This encourages them to look at the material they are learning in a new light.
• Provide a clear focus for learning by emphasizing the application of knowledge in real situations rather than ju s t the accumulation of knowledge for assessment purposes. This helps the students to consolidate th e ir learning.
• Provide the students w ith opportunities to develop a range of communication and social interaction skills. It can also give them opportunities to express feelings and points o f view that they m ig h t be u n w illin g to express in real situations.
• Give the students opportunities to deal w ith complex social, em otional, ethical, and moral issues in concrete ways in a safe environm ent (Hughes, 1992; Eddings, 1992). The students can experiment and take risks in th e ir interactions w ith others, which encourages them to th in k critically and creatively. Through these experiences, they gain a better understanding of th e ir own values and attitudes (Saltz, 1994) and come to appreciate the consequences of th e ir values- based actions (Downing, 1994).
• Engage the students actively in learning, so that they appreciate the value of participation, rather than ju st hoping to learn by absorption.
• Help the students understand the feelings and attitudes of others by experiencing situations, rather than ju st hearing or reading about them. This helps them understand that there are causal relationships between people's behavior and the outcomes of events (Drake & Corbin, 1993).
• Give the students practice in generalizing from a particular situation and appreciating that their biases and preconceptions w ill influence th e ir generalizations.
• Develop the students' self-confidence, self-esteem, and self-image.
• Encourage the students to take a deep approach to learning (Cope & Horan, 1996) and start to understand th a t complex problems rarely have sim ple solutions.
• Enable the students to explore historical or contemporary situations in which there are conflic tin g emotions, different points of view, biases, problems caused by differences in race, age,
gender, religion, nationality, or ethnic background, and so on.The students become more aware of differences in points of view and th e ir consequences and more sensitive to the feelings of others.
• Develop the students' citizenship skills by showing the successful and unsuccessful methods that people use to solve intergroup and interpersonal problems.
• Give the students practice at taking action on th e ir own behalf and on behalf of others in real- world situations (Haberman, 1991).
• Provide the students w ith valuable opportunities to use th e ir experiences and im agination to "explore values and issues that are highly relevant to th e ir own needs and culture, in th e ir own language, and with stim ulation and instant feedback from th e ir peers" (Dracup, 2008).
Moreover, because this kind of learning experience involves the whole person-intellect, feeling, and bodily senses-it tends to be experienced more deeply and remembered longer (Brookfield, 1990). Role-play that involves the students pretending to be inanimate objects is a particular useful strategy when the students are strug gling to understand concepts that cannot be easily demonstrated in a real s itu a tio n -fo r example, the movement of nutrients in the body.
Despite the many advantages of using role-play as a teaching strategy in class, it also has some lim itations. The table that follows shows a summary of the advantages and lim itations of role-play.
Use role-play if:
• The outcomes you want the students to achieve are best demonstrated through some type of performance. • The students have the confidence to perform in fro n t of their peers.
• You want to encourage the students to explore a range of ways of dealing with realistic situations.
• You want the students to learn how to enjoy learning. • You want to demonstrate the critical role of human decisions in real situations.
Do not use role-play if:
• The students lack the confidence and basic skills to take on roles.
• Direct instruction w ill be more effective and less tim e- consuming. • The students who are observing lack the skills to analyze and learn from the activities they are watching.
When planning to use role-play, your preparation w ill need to include the fo llow ing (Killen, 2009):
D e c id e what learning outcom es are to be ach ieved by those students participating directly in the activity (the role-players)
D e c id e what learning outcom es are to be achieved by those students who are involved directly (observing, ju d g in g , note-taking, etc.).
Prepare the resource materials for the direct participants and the other students.
Select the students who will be directly involved and brief them on their roles.
Explain to the other students what you expect them to do during the perform ance.
C h e c k that the desired learning outcom es were achieved.
Select or d evelo p the role-play scenario.
Have the role-play scenario reviewed
III. Sample Lesson Plan
Topic: Motion
Grade Level: Grade 5
Learning Competencies
The learners should be able to:
1. describe the motion of an object by tracing and measuring its change in position (distance travelled) over a period of tim e and
2. use appropriate measuring tools and correct standard units.
ENGAGE
The teacher shares in class her experience of riding on a train. She observed that as the train approaches, the velocity decreases, and when it leaves the station, its velocity increases. She wondered what caused the change in velocity of the train.
Divide the class into groups and let them perform this experiment on force, m otion, and acceleration.This sim ple activity aims to determ ine the relationship between force applied to an object, to observe the motion produced by the force, to discover how mass affects the force required to move an object, and to detect how an increase in force affects the acceleration of an object. After perform ing the experiment, they w ill explain their results and compare them w ith other groups.
The students w ill be using the fo llo w in g : 3 textbooks, looped string, hooked weights or weights plus S-hooks, triple-beam balance, and a stop watch.
First, find the mass of each textbook, then the students place the looped string inside the fron t cover of one book and place the book 25 cm from the end of the table (book spine faces the edge of the table) with the loop string hanging over the table. The students begin hanging weights from the end of string until the book begins to move and reaches the end of the table, (need to be ready to stop the book before it falls off the table). The students then add up the weights hanging on the string and m u ltip ly by 0.0098 N/g to calculate the force acting on the book.
Leaving the weights on the string, place the book back at its starting p o in t on the table. This tim e when the students let go of the book, they are to tim e how long it takes the book to reach the edge of the table. NOTE: The students may have to give the book(s) a tap to get them moving, depending on the books and surface used. To calculate acceleration, use the fo llow ing form ula: a = 2 d /t2
The students w ill repeat the procedure done w ith one book for two and three books.
EXPLAIN
The topic w ill be further explained through a role-play. Choose six students to act durin g the play. Assign another student to manage the class w hile the role-play is going on. The teacher w ill divide the class into groups and give them the follow ing activity sheet. They need to watch and listen attentively durin g the role-play so they can answer the questions in the activity sheet.
ACTIVITY SHEET
1. Rate of change of velocity is_______ T ______________
2. The unit of acceleration is __________________ ______
3. Negative acceleration i s __________________________
4. As the train approaches the station, its velocity decreases/increases.
The six students w ill have the follow ing roles.
Student 1 - Distance Student 2 -D isp lacem en t
Student 3 -Time Student 4 -Speed
Student 5 - Velocity Student 6 - Acceleration
