Activity 1 (14 Sep) - Magnetic fields

In the beginning, the web site states the aim of the assignment clearly - to enhance the understanding of Faraday's Lew of Magnetic Induction. Immediately after this, the things to be done, what to submit by the students and the method of assignment submission are listed out. Then there is a table containing the materials needed for doing the assignment, including an activity sheet, a learning object for students to "play"with, an Excel worksheet to organise the experimental results, the templete of the report to be submitted and some useful links.

In the activity sheet, there are many steps to be done by the students. They can obtain the results using correct method only by strictly follow the steps. This can make sure all students can get what the teacher expected, so this is a cause and effect relationship-oriented teaching approach, leading to applying the behavorist model.

Also, students have to plot graphs to express the experimental results. To plot a graph, they need to make-up the results using Microsoft Excel or other spreadsheet software. This involves data manipulation and presentation. In addition, in the last question of the activity sheet, students have to state a practical application of the Faraday's Law of Magnetic Induction, which requires students to think how to relate knowledge acquired in their daily lives into the construction of new knowledge. These parts applies the cognitivist model.

Last but not least, in this assignment, students need to think whether the induced EMF is related to the magnetic flux density, length of the conductor and the speed at which the conductor cuts across the magnetic field. It requires students to construct knowledge through analysing the experimental results, which is an active process. Furthermore, the web site lists out some "Useful Links" for students to have a look at topics related to what they have learnt in the assignment. This facilitates active learning by providing resources for students to discover knowledge from other web sites. These parts applies the constructivist model.