Worksheets and solutions: Introductory notes

To complement each tutorial worksheet, a complete solution and full descriptions of all suggested activities are provided. Worksheets and solutions follow each other, while individual activities are all described separately. Some activities are used in a number of different tutorials and hence it was considered more appropriate to collate them together into a separate section.

Each worksheet is presented in three styles: a basic introductory level, a regular level with a biological flavour and a regular level with a physical or technological flavour.

The introductory-level sheets are suitable for courses where the students may have little or no prior experience of physics. These sheets start with a fill-in-the-blanks paragraph, which gives the students an opportunity to review some basic ideas in physics. The paragraphs are designed to engage their interest and provide a non-threatening entry into the work, while refreshing their memory of basic concepts encountered in lectures. This is followed by one or more discussion questions designed to get the students talking in their group and discussing the physics. The activity questions follow, encouraging the students to take a short break from sitting, while still continuing to "think physics". There are then two qualitative questions, again designed to stimulate discussion and promote understanding of basic concepts. These are followed by a quantitative question.

The regular-level sheets begin with two qualitative questions, followed by the activity questions, and finally two quantitative questions. These sheets are designed to suit students in mainstream physics courses, most of whom will have successfully completed a physics subject in senior high school. The two flavours, biological and technological, are at the same level of difficulty. The biologically flavoured sheets are suitable for students with an interest in the biological sciences, such as those enrolled in biomedical science or environmental science degrees, or other medical or health science oriented courses such as radiology. The physically oriented sheets are suitable for students with an interest in applied physics or engineering.

A given sheet may appear in all three levels, or only an introductory and regular level, or only at regular level for topics which are not generally taught at a very introductory level. There is overlap of questions across the sheets, and in general the questions are independent, and can be done in any order or in isolation from the rest of the sheet. This is intentional; it allows sheets to be easily tailored for particular courses by taking questions from a range of sheets to construct one suitable for a given class.

Each sheet is labelled according to physics topic (M - Mechanics, E — Electricity and Magnetism, P — Properties of Matter, W — Waves and Optics, Q- Quantum Atomic and Nuclear and T — Thermal Physics), level (I — introductory or R — regular), its number in the sequence of sheets for that section, and, if necessary, the style (B — Biological and Environmental or T — Technological and Applied). For example, sheet MR2B is the second regular level sheet in the mechanics section, with a biological/environmental flavour.

The learning environment

The students should be divided into cooperative groups, ideally of three to four members, with each group working at their own table, facing in towards each other. Each group has a single group answer sheet which is submitted at the end of the tutorial. Students sometimes find it difficult to work in groups, and may need some introductory group "ice-breakers", where they get to know each other before they start working as a team. This is particularly important with large classes.

Fully worked solutions to all problems can be provided at the end of each tutorial. This gives students immediate feedback on the work they have completed and is a valuable part of the learning process. Delaying handing out solutions often mean students have forgotten their own answers by the time they look at the solutions, and they may assume they got it right when they did not.

Students find a large sheet of butcher’s paper for scribbling ideas, diagrams and equations to be very useful. The tutors also find the butcher’s paper useful when explaining concepts to the teams. Individual white-boards can also be used if available.

At the University of New South Wales and the Australian Catholic University the tutorials are run in the teaching laboratories where the students sit in groups facing each other at long benches, with a space to separate the groups. The Workshop Tutorials have been run successfully with large classes of up to 80 students with two or more tutors at the University of Sydney and the University of New South Wales, and small classes of only 12 to 15 students at the Australian Catholic University. Smaller class sizes are generally better, but too high a tutor : student ratio can also encourage tutors to sit with a group where they may tend to take over the discussion.

The hands-on activities are a very important and popular component of the workshops. The activities are set up on tables in the middle or near the front of the room. Each activity should have an accompanying label, with any necessary instructions or cautions, and the questions to be answered. The students should be free to experiment with the equipment, within reasonable bounds to protect both the equipment and students. This enables them to experience the activities without the time or assessment pressures of a typical laboratory class. Students should be encouraged to predict the outcome of a measurement or experiment before they make it, and to explain their reasoning. This is particularly valuable when their predictions are incorrect as it forces them to reconsider their ideas and preconceptions.

Teaching techniques should revolve around discussion of the problem and methods of attack. Tutors should be encouraged to not give complete packaged answers, but to guide the team through the problem using Socratic dialogue and disequilibration. Teams should be encouraged to discuss and reason logically and to formulate questions and answers which assist them in reorganising their thinking and strengthening their conceptual frameworks.