Ownership Knowledge

Generation
Individual
Identity
Social
Interaction
Participation Strategies Rationale
X X X X Create a class logo and motto: I will ask
students to create a logo for the class. They
must also provide a written rationale for why
they chose this logo. Additionally, they will
write a short motto for the class and again
include a written explanation of their choice.
They will post these creations to a forum.
Then, each student will have one vote for the
class logo and motto. To vote, they will reply
to the motto they choose and include an
explanation why they chose that logo and
motto to best represent the class. The logo
and motto receiving the most votes will be
located in an area of high visibility in the
classroom webspace.
This gives students the feeling that
the class belongs to them. The logo
and motto will be seen by everyone,
every time they log into class. The
creation process itself allows the
students to incorporate their own
ideas and belief about what physics
class represents to them. Allowing
the class to thoughtfully decide
together on the final logo and motto
promotes group interaction and
productive discourse. In general, this
activity should be light on content so
that students can focus on their
interactions with one another.
X X X The Graph Game:
I created 13 velocity vs. time graphs and 13
displacement vs. time graphs that match the
velocity graphs, in PDF format. Each student
gets to choose one graph and downloads it
when they make their choice. In the choice
forum, I tell them the graphs represent DvT
or VvT and then inform them that they will
be posting their graph with a short
explanation in the forums that match their
graphs. For example, one forum will ask for
graphs that describe an object that is moving
with constant speed. Then, those students
who think they have a constant speed graph
post to that forum and explain why the graph
fits that group. Then, as a class we look at
each graph and check for correctness.
Students are asked to reply to at least 5
graphs to either confirm its correctness or
suggest a different forum for that graph. I
present six different forums that require the
students to think about what their graph is
really showing and critically analyze the
In order to be successful in this
activity, students must generate a
common understanding of graphical
features. By working together,
students will help to correct the
misunderstandings of classmates and
often times, discover their own
misunderstanding as well. The final
activity in which the students pair off
helps to encourage all of the
students to work together to find
their partner. Often times, students
will help struggling peers find a
partner, even if they have already
found a matching partner. The sense
of community surrounding this
activity is very strong. I find the
graph is an excellent prop that forces
students to communicate clearly
with one another. There are many
features such as slope, y- intercept
and x intercept that require students
to provide accurate and detailed
choices of their peers. By the end, students
should have a firm grasp of all of the
different features of a VT and DT graph.
The activity culminates with students
finding the graph that corresponds to their
own. For example, if they have a DT graph
they must find the one VT graph that
matches. Once they think they have a
match, they post a new forum thread
together, discussing why they think they
match. Again, I ask students to reply to at
least 5 matches to discuss if the pairs are
correct or not.
explanations of their graphs.
X X X Find someone who
I will give students a prompt to create a
written post, movie, audio recording or
animation that answers a series of questions
about themselves. I will also ask them to add
in a few facts about themselves that they
find important that may not be addressed by
my prompts. Students will post their
creations to a forum. Then, I will give the
class an assignment to find a student who
fulfills a certain requirement. By viewing,
reading and listening to one anothers
answers they should be able to identify many
answers. For example, based on the
personal posts students should find someone
whose favorite subject is math. Students can
only use each other once to answer a
question.
This activity allows students to
establish a sense of individuality in
the community. By watching other
students projects they can see how
the class consists of many different
people with different background,
beliefs and interests.
X X Give an example of
After reading and taking notes on motion I
will prompt students to take a picture or
create a movie or animation that depicts one
of the following vocabulary words:
Speed, Velocity, Acceleration or
Displacement. I will then have the students
view the posts and reply to at least five
assignments. In the replies they should
This assignment introduces students
to the use of the community as a tool
for knowledge generation. By
critiquing each others projects, the
students begin to see how they can
help one another learn about key
concepts in physics. Hopefully, they
begin to understand how they can
use forums refine their
address the accuracy of the assignment.

understandings and share what they
have learned with others.
X X X X Develop personal, teacher and class
expectations list

I will prompt students to develop three lists
at the beginning of the school year. First,
they will generate a list of expectations they
have for themselves during the course of the
year. They should discuss things like
attendance, work completion, quality of
work, study habits, class participation and
expected grade. I would expect them to
submit this assignment to me and if they
choose, to the rest of the class for public
viewing.
The second list will consist of expectations
the student has of the instructor. I will
prompt students to discuss teacher
availability, modes of contact, grading,
timeliness of grading, frequency of
assignments and expected interventions if
they are struggling.

The third list will consist of the expectations
the student has for his or her classmates.
They will be prompted to discuss respectful
behavior, academic honesty, what to do if
help is needed and what the appropriate
level of participation is.

I will ask all students to post the teacher and
classmate lists to separate forums. I will ask
students to read and respond to at least
eight posts. In these posts I will ask them to
identify a rule that they think should be
adopted by the class.

The most heavily identified class rules will be
incorporated into a master list of teacher and
The individual component of this
assignment requires the student to
think critically about what goes into
becoming a good student. All
students are different in how they
perceive their world, acquire
knowledge and process it. For that
reason, I wanted students to be free
of community interaction so that
they could focus entirely on qualities
and behaviors that will make them
successful.

The second component also
promotes student interaction and
discussion, which is critical. The
primary purpose, though, is to reveal
my role as facilitator and
participating member of the
community. Also, this activity helps
me to identify which activities and
approaches will most benefit my
students.

The third category, peer
expectations, is posted and critiqued
publically. The hope is to
democratically create a list of class
rules and expectations. Students
tend to adhere to these rules more
closely because they created them,
as opposed to the teacher. The
ultimate goal of this process is to
promote ownership of the class.

class expectations that will be posted on the
front page of the class.