Instructional Resources on 3-Dimensional Body Force

ABSTRACT:

The objective on this instructional lesson is to improve a student's ability to construct 3-D illustrations of a body force created by a specified source (e.g. mass or charged particle) and predict how the body forces interact. This knowledge is fundamental to understanding the nature of forces and their interactions which is a Big Idea of Nanoscale Science and Engineering.

The instructional material is on the 3-dimensional nature of body forces while specifically focusing on Gravity as the main example. Gravity was selected because students have everyday experience with this type of body force. Typically, gravity is taught as a 1-D or 2-D vector and students may experience difficulty expanding these concepts to predicting the gravitational field of two or more interacting objects with mass.

In our approach, the instructional method is to treat gravity as a 3-D field and explain how gravitational forces is described based on standard conventions in physics and with respect to perspectives related to the scale applied to the gravitational fields. A strong analogy on interaction of forces at the nanoscale can be made with teaching field interactions of gravity across multiple scales. It is believed that teaching body forces from a 3-D perspective will improve a student's ability to apply their knowledge of forces and interactions at the nanoscale to self-assembly of nanoparticles.

REQUIRED SKILLS OR PREREQUISITES:

Prior knowledge by the instructor in needed on body forces such as gravity and electromagnetic forces is required. Students should have basic understanding on gravity.

EVALUATION METHODS:

Pre and post assessment questions on body forces directly correlated to claims and evidence.

For Classroom:

The instructional material is organized as a single lecture that can be presented in 50 minutes. There are two versions of the lecture material, one that uses diagrams to illustrate graphically body forces and the other has video simulations embedded into the lecture that illustrate the same type of body forces. In addition, we have supplied the video simulations as separate files so a course instructor can create his or her own lecture (e.g. online class lecture) and use the provided lecture slides to tailor to their specific needs. In addition, a claims-evidence-tasks document has been developed for the topic of body forces. This document can be used by instructors to develop their assessment tools using examples given in the document that directly correlate to specified teaching goals.

Although the current lecture is focused on gravity, it can readily be expanded to include electrostatic fields and magnetic fields. The claims-evidence-task document in particular can be used by the course instructor to guide what discussion to include in the modified lectures.