Reflective Essay on an Electromagnetic Inquiry Lab

The goal for this lab was to reinforce the nature of science as well as to provide an opportunity
for the students to be in charge of their own learning of electromagnets. Overall, the lab was a success,
but there are some ways I would like to improve this lab before I teach it again.
The lesson flowed well, the students understood the directions, and the length of the lab was
perfect. I am was not sure how long each section was going to take, but they all finished the lab right
before the bell rang. Students worked well within their groups and with other groups. I was not sure if
they would be able to design a good method of measuring the relative strength of the electromagnets,
but they all impressed me and found various methods.
This lesson reminded that people learn differently. After the lab, I asked one of the students
how he felt the lab went. He said he thought it went well, but he thought that he would understand the
concept better once he starts seeing more numbers. I greatly appreciated this honest feedback from
him. The lab was designed to explore electromagnets more qualitatively, but it could have required
them to use more quantitative data. Next time, I will have them rank the relative strength of the
electromagnets in a table and graph their data in excel. Also, I will have had them measure the length
and the diameter of the rods to relate that to the strength of the electromagnet. Next, they can regress
the diameter against the electromagnetic strength so they can quantitatively see that they are
correlated.
I have always thought that, as teachers, we need to make sure that students are consistently on
task. However, this class is beginning to challenge that idea. The course is an AP class and full of bright,
motivated students. I was initially surprised to find that Mr. Steinle did not reprimand them when they
were not on task. However, I noticed that all the students finish their work on time and excel in the
class. Even though they were not always focused on the lesson, they managed to have fun while

learning collaboratively. The result is a group of students that supports one another, has fun, laughs, and
has developed a deep understanding about physics. During this lesson, I adopted Mr. Steinles approach.
I treated the students like the undergraduate I used to teach, like responsible adults. I still required
silence when I was giving them directions and when we were having a classroom discussion. The results
were very successful. Everyone learned, had fun, and was mostly on task. Every class I teach will be
different and the role I play with adjust with each class.
Overall, I think it is a very worthwhile lesson that has room for growth. I am eager to try the
edited lab again and compare the outcomes.