Electrostatics: Card Sorting With Mutiple Representations (E&M)

In this activity, students work in groups to sort cards containing different charge configurations, graphs, words, and other representations. The aim is for students to develop their model-building skills by focusing on abstract concepts, making connections between these concepts, and using multiple representations. The review reinforces students’ ability to 1) represent field, potential, and energy and link them to the motion of charged particles, 2) see connections between quantities (e.g. V and E), 3) reason conceptually without relying on equations, and 4) understand the roles of source and test charges.

The activity is an example of an active-learning, collaborative group-based pedagogy. After groups are formed, the activity begins with the instructor explaining how to set up the charge situations with an example. The instructor then has students set up the other situations using select initial cards, describing the motion of the charges in each case with provided word cards. Once the setups are complete, the instructor distributes the remainder of the cards and the groups determine those that correspond to each setup, sorting them appropriately. (If some groups finish early, then the instructor may vary one of their initial setups and have students determine what changes in their solutions.) Each group then pairs with another to compare their solutions and discuss, after which the instructor briefly wraps up the session.

The only additional materials are the cards required for the activity, which must be printed by the instructor in advance, as well as the detailed teacher guide for the activity (included in “additional materials”).

Students will be able to associate specific configurations of charges with their characteristics, drawing from a variety of representations (words, diagrams, and graphs).