Post Secondary Teaching and Learning - PSTL

Description:  PsTL 1163 is an introductory physics course that tries to simulate the way scientists discover and create knowledge. The course is aimed at elementary education majors and non-science majors. The entire class period is a lab and there are no lectures. Students work in small groups to perform experiments, make observations, develop theories of how things work, and test those theories by performing further experiments. Students develop an understanding of physics concepts through doing it and talking about it with their peers and with the course staff. The goal of the course is not only to learn physics concepts, but knowing HOW we know them (what is the evidence for them), being able to apply them in new situations, and being able to explain them. There is a fair amount of writing involved in the course in terms of explaining one's answers, but not in the sense of papers. The course places an emphasis on learning by thinking and doing.

Class Time: 100% Laboratory.

Work Load: 3 exams, 15 homework assignments, 6 quizzes.

Grade: 15% mid exam, 20% final exam, 15% reports/papers, 15% quizzes, 15% additional semester exams, 10% journal, 5% class participation, 5% other evaluation.

Exam Format: All questions require short answers or short essays explaining an answer.

Instructor:  Hsu,Leon (Morse Alumni Award)