Goals & Objectives of PhAQ Project

• Help students develop their knowledge about physics concepts (and reveal misconceptions). Perhaps this would be more effective than other methods, particularly the paper and pencil versions.
• Assist students in developing "expert-like" personal epistemologies.
• Provide students immediate feedback, typically in the form of Socratic dialogues.
• To improve class instruction- provide the instructor feedback that highlights the most common misconceptions of the class.

Summer 2007

• Inspired by The Tutorials in Introductory Physics¹, develop prototype activities, technology and content
• Beta test with students
• Refine survey of personal epistemologies and views of scientific thinking

To investigate rotational motion, the students are asked to thinking about a rotating disk. Using observations as well as previous knowledge, they should be able to construct new concepts related to rotational motion.

A wheel is spinning counterclockwise at a constant rate about a fixed axis (as viewed from above).  The diagram at right represents a snapshot of the wheel at one instant in time. Is the time taken by point B to move through one complete circle greater than, less than or the same as the time taken by point A?  (To help you visualize the motion, you might want to grab a disk, such as a CD or coin, and track two points as you spin it.)

Some students incorrectly answer this initial question and then continue to apply that mistake to later portions, thereby ultimately reinforcing misconceptions (or creating new ones!).

1. L. C. McDermott and P. S. Shaffer Tutorials in Introductory Physics, Prentice Hall, 2002