Do we have free will?
In our distance project (7 weeks) we're going to be examining events from history that shape the way we act and think today. In physics, it is common to examine initial conditions, events and the resulting effect. I'm going to lead my class in using a similar framework to think critically about history, where we are the effect. Everyone's thoughts will be published in a Zine at the end of the quarter chronologically.
Part 1: Summer Story
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First, everyone will tell a story about their summer using this style I developed, where we take a snapshot and identify all the physical interactions that were happening at that point in time.
Each person will also write a "Physics Things I Learned" summarizing what they learned about physics while making their summary. New for Distance Learning, this can either be 1 page double spaced or a 4 minute recorded monologue. |
My summer story about spearfishing.
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Part 2: Historical Moment
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After practicing analyzing snapshots from our own lives for physics content, we will choose moments from the past, at least 20 years ago. We will ask a few more questions this time: What were the initial conditions that created the circumstances for this event? What were the causes?
For my example, I discussed a situation personal to me, and it was pretty moving to connect some dots from my past to now. However, it does deal with a government program that bears a racist name. For this round of the project, I completed a PTIL again and also a description of the effects that this event had on me personally. |
This is the visual summary I made of my historical moment
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Part 3: Contemporary Moment
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For the final round of this project, we will pick a moment from within the last 20 years. During the summer there were a lot of moments of racial, social, economic and political tension in the US, so I wanted to give the class the chance to talk about what they want to talk about. To model a very current topic, I chose to talk about tear gas being used in Washington D.C. on June 1.
Like before, I wrote a PTIL and a reflection on the moments effects on me, though for this reflection I also included a more thorough discussion of the initial conditions and event itself, which I will require the class to do as well. |
I made this page using Adobe Illustrator, which some students will have access to, but I don't like it as much as the other two.
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Side Plot:
In addition to these pages and examining time like this we will be completing tasks I'm calling Physics Appetizers. These are in-situ physics labs that are simple to complete but will get the class asking questions about physics content and give us a reason to explore more than what they already know.