University of Maryland Physics Education Research Group


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Activity Based Physics Alternative Homework Assignments

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Alternative Homework Assignments (AHA's) are a new approach to introductory physics homework. Traditional textbook problems generally fail to develop students' observational and mathematical modeling skills. Such problems are frequentlly abstract and do not require the students to think critically about how the concepts are related to the mathematical equations required to solve the problem. AHA's attempt to address this difficulty by combining conceptual, reasoning, and traditional problem solving elements with observational, "equation reading," and dynamic modeling elements. Each assignment includes a series of questions about a single context or situation. Typically only one of these assignments would be given between class periods, and no single assignment attempts to embody all of the elements mentioned above. The assignments listed below may be accessed by clicking on the assignment title. These problems may be freely used in classrooms. They may be copied and cited in published work if the Activity-Based Physics (ABP)Alternative Homework Assignments (AHA's) Problem site is mentioned and the URL given.

Mechanics:

Electricity and Magnetism:

Waves and Sound:


This work supported in part by NSF grant DUE-9455561.
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Comments and questions may be directed to E. F. Redish
Last modified June 25, 2002