Ranking Task Exercises in Physics

This student text contains 218 Ranking Task Exercises that cover all classical physics topics. Ranking Tasks are an innovative type of conceptual exercise that asks students to make comparative judgments about a set of variations on a particular physical situation. These exercises were developed by participants in the Two-Year College (TYC) Physics Workshop Project sponsored by Joliet Junior College, Lee College, and a series of grants from the Division of Undergraduate Education of the National Science Foundation, and were edited by Thomas L. O'Kuma (Lee College), David P. Maloney (Indiana University-Purdue University, Fort Wayne), and Curtis J. Hieggelke (Joliet Junior College).

Those who have used Ranking Tasks have found that they frequently elicit students' natural ideas, rather than a memorized response, about the behavior of a given physical system. In addition, asking students to consider the same situation in a variety of ways often helps them begin to correct any misconceptions they may have. When students realize that they have given different answers to variations of the same question, they begin to think about why they responded as they did in each case. This, in turn, prompts them to consider which responses they believe in more strongly, and why.

• a description of the physical situation, including any constraints and the basis for ranking different arrangements
• a set of figures showing the different arrangements of the situation to be compared
• a place to record the ranking of each variation
• a place to explain the reason for each ranking choice

Prentice Hall is proud to publish this book as part of its Series in Educational Innovation.