This Black History month, I would like to feature Toni Morrison, for her literary excellence. Toni Morrison is a Nobel Prize Winner, a Pulitzer Prize winner, and awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Morrison is an American writer noted for her examination of Black experience (particularly Black female experience) within the Black community. Let’s take a moment to honor this literary genius this, black history month.
Toni Morrison, original name Chloe Anthony Wofford, (born February 18, 1931, Lorain, Ohio, U.S.—died August 5, 2019, Bronx, New York), American writer noted for her examination of Black experience (particularly Black female experience) within the Black community. She received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993.
Morrison grew up in the American Midwest in a family that possessed an intense love of and appreciation for, Black culture. Storytelling, songs, and folktales were a deeply formative part of her childhood. She attended Howard University (B.A., 1953) and Cornell University (M.A., 1955). In 1965 Morrison became a fiction editor at Random House, where she worked for a number of years.
Toni Morrison The Bluest Eyes
Morrison’s first book, The Bluest Eye (1970), is a novel of initiation concerning a victimized adolescent Black girl who is obsessed by white standards of beauty and longs to have blue eyes. This book was my introduction to Toni Morrison. I loved this book. I loved the character, how Morrison showed a poor black girl struggling not only with her looks but with becoming a young lady, and wanting to be beautiful like her white blue eye dolls. At the time when I read this book a lot of black women were putting in blue contact lenses including my daughter. This book really brought it home and allowed black women to start loving our skin, eyes, hair and black features.
In 1973 a second novel, Sula, was published; it examines (among other issues) the dynamics of friendship and the expectations for conformity within the Black community.
Song of Solomon (1977) is told by a male narrator in search of his identity; its publication brought Morrison to national attention. Tar Baby (1981), set on a Caribbean island, explores conflicts of race, class, and sex.
Toni Morrison’s Beloved
Toni Morrison became mainstream with her critically acclaimed book called Beloved (1987), which won a Pulitzer Prize for fiction, is based on the true story of a runaway slave who, at the point of recapture, kills her infant daughter in order to spare her a life of slavery. A film adaptation of the novel was released in 1998 and starred Oprah Winfrey. The again was powerful for me. The character of Beloved was played to perfection by Thandiwe Newton and showcases how Sethe’s guilt, played by Oprah Winfrey can reincarnate and haunt us in this life.
In 1992 Morrison released Jazz, a story of violence and passion set in New York City’s Harlem during the 1920s. Subsequent novels were Paradise (1998), a richly detailed portrait of a Black utopian community in Oklahoma, and Love (2003), an intricate family story that reveals the myriad facets of love and its ostensible opposite. A Mercy (2008) deals with slavery in 17th-century America. In the redemptive Home (2012), a traumatized Korean War veteran encounters racism after returning home and later overcomes apathy to rescue his sister. In God Help the Child(2015), Morrison chronicled the ramifications of child abuse and neglect through the tale of Bride, a Black girl with dark skin who is born to light-skinned parents.
Toni Morrison and the Black American Experience
It is great to showcase Toni Morrison’s work for, Black History month, because The central theme of Morrison’s novels is the, Black American experience; in an unjust society, her characters struggle to find themselves and their cultural identity. Her use of fantasy, her sinuous poetic style, and her rich interweaving of the mythic gave her stories great strength and texture. In 2010 Morrison was made an officer of the French Legion of Honour. Two years later she was awarded the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom. Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am (2019) is a documentary about her life and career.
Out of the Snares, a story of hope and encouragement is a book written to encourage women of color who were born in lack. It showcases my, personal growth, journey and how I got, out of the snares, of poverty and, child abuse.
Myrna – I am a, life coach, I host a show on the preach the word television network called Transform Your Mind to Transform Your Life, one of the reasons that I wrote the book, Out of the Snares, is because I believe and I wanted to encourage women that it is not where we come from, but where we end up that’s important.
It’s also the only way that we can go through that transition like from a caterpillar to a butterfly is if we allow the things that happen to us in life help us with, personal growth. We should use challenges to transform ourselves and for our, personal development.
So, the book, Out of the Snares, is basically a story of my life. I wrote it from a, life coaching, perspective with 10 principles of, life experiences, that happened to me and what I learned from those, life experiences.
I’m a, life coach, but I do most of my coaching on my show Transform Your Mind. It is a radio, podcast and a television show.
Dr O.C Pringle: You’re doing it all sister Young, you’re doing it all right and so of course your inspiration would be your, life’s experience, and, child abuse. let’s talk about that.
Out of the Snares of Child Sexual Abuse
Myrna: I was, sexually abused, as a child in Guyana by a family friend. He was technically my Godfather, but being from a third world country, a very poor country and he was very rich.
We would call him a, pedophile, he showered me with a lot of attention, and bought me a lot of gifts and then took advantage of that.
I didn’t realize that we were doing anything wrong until I became 13 and started having Boyfriends.
DR O.C Pringle: Until you became what? Wait how old were you?
Myrna: This, sexual abuse, began at age 10.
Dr O.C Pringle: Wow did anything ever happen to this guy?
Myrna: No, because like most children I didn’t say anything about it. I told no one. This book was my first experience talking about it and I in my 40’s when I wrote, Out of the Snares. My dad read the book and was very upset that he did not know this was going on.
Children carry a lot of shame regarding, sexual abuse, I still carried shame when I wrote, Out of the Snare. As you can see I used my maiden name Trotman for the author name.
Dr. O.C Pringle: So, you placed Myrna Bernadette Trotman on the cover of the book, because you didn’t want people to know it was you, but your picture is on the cover!!
Myrna: I started to release shame when I started talking about the, sexual abuse, and when I learnt that children can’t give consent for sex. So whatever guilt and shame that I had attached to my, sexual abuse, I released it.
Dr O.C Pringle: Well listen it worked out for your good, but all things work together for the good of them that loved God and are called according to his, purpose, so your, sexual abuse, worked in your favor. You were able to redirect that energy into something positive where you’re helping people all over the world. You’re on radio and on television, yes you are some kind of a woman.
Out of the Snares, a story of hope and encouragement
So, let’s talk some more about the book.
Myrna: Out of the Snares, is made up of 10 principles in life that we should live by:
Keep Your, Vision, in Front of you– Dare to dream big dreams and understand the principles of vision casting.
The events in your life whether good or bad, work together for good– God said I know your expected end. Stay the course; don’t give up until you win.
Let the, Universal Laws of Attraction, the, Laws of Intention, work for you– Ask and it will be given unto you.
Have a, Positive Mindset– Take control of your thoughts and attitudes. Get rid of ANTS (Automatic Negative Thoughts)
Use what you have in your hand– You were created with a purpose; God gave you the skills and talents you need to complete your task. Stop waiting for the right time.
Be intentional about your Growth– Be proactive, be intentional, build on your gifts, and continually improve.
If you build it, they will come“ Be a servant first.
Find your Passion– it is the Fire in your belly. Become conscious of what lights you up. God put that Fire in your belly as a beacon to achieve your purpose.
Love– it is what makes this Human experience worthwhile. Love yourself first. Love is spirit, God is spirit.
Business Consciousness– how to create a startup company and succeed in marketing.
How did you come to become passionate about, diversity and inclusion, for, women of color?
How to Get a Seat at The Table
I first really started thinking about, a seat at the table, when I was a very young reporter in Charleston, South Carolina. I was the only female reporter at the time within this 600 person company. And what I was struck by is that there were so many decisions that were being made that we would complain about; but none of us had, a seat at the table, to help make those decisions.
I realized that if I didn’t have a place in the room that I was both invisible and silent; so it didn’t matter how much I complained or how much I didn’t like what was going on or simply just didn’t understand it because I was not part of the discussion; I needed, a seat at the table.
So that’s where my passion for, diversity and inclusion, was born.
CNN wrote a column on getting, a seat at the table, for women. They were discussing congresswoman Harris, basically what they’re saying was that women are invisible and they have no say. When they speak no one listens. So I understand what you are saying.
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What happens when there is no seat at the table
I stayed in that company as a reporter without, a seat at the table, about 12 years. It took me that long to get that awakening. Sometimes we think that we are fortunate to have a job so we don’t want to stir the pot. I just increasingly became more and more of a little rebel challenging the status quo. Eventually I left and ventured out to write my first book. I was scared to death. Because here I am I’m going to write a book, I’m going to leave my job. I took a leave of absence to write the book; but it was really a step of faith and in writing the book and doing the research.
I became energized when I interviewed older relatives, my mother and great-aunt who were already in their 80s and 90s at the time. I became energized by their tenacity as, Black women. I knew that we had a lot of strong men in my family, but my eyes are really flew open at the strength of the, black women, and how they held businesses up, they held a family up and the men of the family up, and brought us all together.
I stumbled into the nonprofit arena by my volunteer work. I was volunteering and working on writing the book and one thing led to another. I got to a small job at an organization that was run by a, black woman, who became my mentor. She took me under her wing and even though I was just volunteering she taught me so much about strength and tenacity and making your voice count.
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Her company was called Family Assistance Management Services
And she was the first black female insurance broker in SC. She had been a full time teacher before she built quite a nest egg with her husband. They owned several pieces of property in Charleston SC. She then became a broker and started several businesses, an insurance company, a computer training clinic all kinds of other businesses, because she had a passion for helping people.
You got your feet wet on the nonprofit arena and but it sounds like you have, a seat at the table, at Goodwill Industries. Why you write the book, “A Seat at the Table or a part of the meal?”
I was born in September 1964 a month after the discrimination Act, and my parents had not long moved to Charleston, SC. All of my siblings, I have one brother and two sisters, they had all been born at home in the country by a midwife so since it was now illegal for place public places to discriminate my father thought, well I will take my wife to this nice Hospital for my fourth child to be born. So my mother was in labor he rushes her down to this hospital the Medical University of South Carolina and by this time she’d begun to hemorrhage as I was a breech baby.
It was pouring down rain and he got my mom into the emergency area into the lobby and he started screaming for the doctors to come and help they turned looked at them and turned their backs right away. All the white doctors and nurses ignored them, so he ran up to them and screamed my wife is bleeding you got to help her and someone told him to just sit down we’ll get to you.
So he scooped her up, put her in a wheelchair and ran with her down the street to the black Hospital. McLennan banks Hospital in the pouring rain with my mom gripping for life on that wheelchair. He pushed her up into the emergency area and as soon as they saw that she was drenched in blood they rushed her into the emergency room and delivered me. The doctor who delivered me was a, woman of color, from South Africa and he named me Kimberly after the Kimberly diamond mines.
Black Women are born to be at the table
It sounds like you were born in to do this work!
I was tried of being the only, Black woman, in the room. I felt we as, Black women, have to do something to get , a seat at the table. If anyone was going to wave that flag of, diversity and inclusion, equity and of, diversity, it should be Goodwill Industries. So it really began then. We started a task force with a group of CEOs and started to study, diversity and inclusion, and equity programs with fortune 500 companies and fortune 100 companies and other nonprofit organizations. We studied who was doing it well, what were they looking at, what were the metrics and how do you build that diverse pipeline. We came up an implementation plan.
We were really intentional about attracting, maintaining and keeping a, diversity, workforce. Whether it is individuals who are Hispanic or individuals who African-American or LGTBQ or disabled. We recognize that all of that build a table of, diversity.
The first time that I heard the phrase, a seat at the table, was from one of my coaching clients and I’ve heard it several times since. I heard Gabrielle Union say it that she’s just gonna make her own table because you know the black actresses in Hollywood are still working to, get a seat at the table. They go through the same discrimination with, diversity and inclusion. It’s not just in Corporate America or in the board rooms.
Women of Color getting a seat at the table
Kimberly you have, a seat at the table, what advice would you give to women who are hitting the glass ceiling and get, no seat at the table.
African-American women unfortunately have been absent from the room! We have not even been invited into the room much less have, a seat at the table, for quite some time. Women in general have been hitting the glass ceiling for quite a long time. I’ve heard that men are hired based on what their hiring manager or that supervisor thinks that they can do while women are hired or promoted based on performance. it is that way because the majority of the, seats at the table, are already held by men. Predominantly white males and they look for men who look like act like they came from where they come from.
Don’t wait until sexual temptation attacks you before you see it as a formidable force which seeks to destroy you. Its insidious tactic is designed to enslave you into sexual sins and keep you locked into erotic desires. How you perceive sexual temptation in your life, determines how well you will overcome its deceitful force, and walk in total victory.
“Naked and Ashamed, the Battle of Sexual Temptation.” is a Christian self-help book that explains what sexual temptation is, and gives you Biblical scriptures on how to control your sexual desires, and unnatural urges. With chapters such as recognizing the tempter, and rejecting the flesh, you will study strategies on how to recognize situations that tempts you, and learn how to keep your flesh under subjection. Although we will all be tempted sexually at some time, we can learn from this book on how to refrain from overreacting and falling into sexual bondage. So put on your seatbelt and get ready to be free from all of your unwanted sexual desires and temptations. Order “Naked and Ashamed, The Battle of Sexual Temptation” today! Written by Sheela Fields, now available on Amazon.
Black women in order to get, a seat at the table, have to do 3 things:
They have to network. It’s all about relationships. Else there is, no seat at the table. Everything that you do is about relationships and it’s about networking. If you didn’t grow up playing golf, learn. Go around places and do things that make you feel uncomfortable. But you must be part of the conversation. Go to the theater, go to the Opera, you could serve as an usher and get free tickets.
Get a mentor – All women should have a mentor.
Get a Sponsor – a sponsor and a mentor are two different people. A mentor is someone that you can talk to about your fears and your aspirations. A mentor can give you sound advice and can talk you through some of the issues that you’re having and help you create a plan a plan of attack.
A sponsor on the other hand is going to be that person who’s going to make sure that you’re invited to that meeting. They’re going to take you under their wing. They’re going to make sure that there’s a place for you in the conversation and that there is, diversity and inclusion, that you are a part of the discussion. Sponsors are usually white males.
Have you ever wished that you had the information to elevate the conversation at work on how to build a culture of diversity, equity and inclusion? Well, now you do; with my newly published book A Seat At The Table or Part of the Meal, by Kimberly Bussey Lewis. This book will give you examples of intentional efforts that will level the playing field and yield dividends for your career and your company. The book can be found on Amazon – A Seat at the Table Or Part of the Meal, by Kimberly Bussey Lewis or on www.motivationalmuse.com, so get your copy today and your seat at the table.
Love, is a spirit and if you speak to love it will return back to you when you call it. Black Love, is no different; but we need to change the narrative because, Black women, deserve, love.
I think that, love, is waiting for everyone to be silent, so that, love, can speak for itself.
Today we are celebrating, black love. My guest is Lisa Kimberle author of “500 ways to celebrate black love”
Here is the synopsis of 500 ways to celebrate, Black Love
500 ways to celebrate, black love, provides an accelerating approach to, black love, relationships. Love coach and enthusiast Lisa Kimberle gets candid through personal reflection in hope of inspiring real, black love, stories. This is her, love story, a story filled with passion and discovery that led her to a wonderful fulfilling, black love, relationship. This is a, black love book, and it introduces the, blackdatebox, a subscription box created with love for all relationship stages. Black love box, asks the question, what is, black love? It celebrates, black love, and highlights black owned businesses and retailers.
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Why did you write the book “500 ways to black to celebrate, black love?”
For me it all started from my personal journey. What I was personally going through in my, love story. I was in a relationship and everything seemed right, we were very compatible. It seemed like it was love at first sight, and then when we further got in the relationship, we discovered that we just were not meant to be together. He was not a bad person or anything like that; but it was for someone else, it wasn’t for me and we were both totally fine ending the relationship. It was a three year journey that I spent discovering, what is black love.
I started researching family history and I discovered things and thoughts that existed within the family passed down from my grandparents and from my parents. One of the interesting things that I discovered about my grandmother was that for whatever reason my grandmother hated relationships. I kind of discovered during the journey about, black love, and what to do to break your patterns, because these patterns are cyclical and runs for generations.
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I don’t know your, love story; but I know as a, Life coach, I know women who cycle from abusive relationships into new abusive relationships. That’s their pattern, and they keep going into those relationships. They don’t look for them, but it just happens. So what you’re saying is exactly what happens, we all attract the same kind of man and it’s something unconsciously that we’re doing. You traced your pattern and you found that it came from parental influence.
The second thing I discovered when I began researching, black love, is that the internet portrayed, black love relationships, as nonexistent. I bumped into articles such as the one in Marie Claire magazine titled “Marriages are for white people” and then when I read the article it goes further on to explain how, marriage, isn’t for, black women!
So now I am dealing with the generational belief passed down from my parents and grandparents, then it’s the societal belief that, black women, does not deserve, love.
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Is, Black Love, different than White Love?
No, Love, is a spirit and it does not define color. But as, black women, we have some challenges to find fulfilling black, love story. After my 3 year relationship went sour, I really wanted to help, black women, find that perfect, love story. Since I couldn’t find any, black love books, I decided to write one.
I believe that, love, is a spirit and if you speak to, love, it will return back to you when you call it.
I think that, love, is waiting for everyone to be silent, so that love can speak for itself.
Beauty is not just a superficial thing. It’s not just a matter of looking good.
Beauty it’s all about how you present yourself. It’s about being brave, being strong and having an attitude. It is about daring to trust yourself, overcoming your fears and going further.
Beauty lies within us all, allowing us to bloom in the dark and overcome any obstacle.
Just like the lotus flower.
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What are 3 of the 500 ways to celebrate. Black love?
What is Quantum Water Leaping and how does this celebrate, Black Love?
Black Couples, Quantum Water Leaping is utilizing water as a representation of life. I believe that water is life and so if it’s used as a representation to cleanse out the old, love story, whatever that is, whether it’s past relationships, marriages, things that you haven’t forgiven yourself for concerning past relationships or anything thing that can hinder your, black love relationship. Black couples, are using that water and jumping into like a new, love story. It’s a quantum leap.
Black Couples, Quantum Jumping is all about strengthening, black love relationships, because it is very true that relationships breakup because we’re carrying baggage. Leaping from one to the next is a perfect way to drop off your baggage!
Author Betty Tucker shares the story of her life in her memoir, Don’t Worry About The Mule Going Blind. Betty Tucker came of age in Belle Glade, Florida, infamous for its poverty and violence. Her childhood was one of de-bili-ta-ting poverty, borne of racism, exploitive migrant labor, multiple rapes and other abuse, and chronic illness among her family and acquaintances … the list is long and bitter. Betty moved to California, earned her College degree, and raised a family. Then, in 1997, she began a long and eventually successful search for the twin girls she had given up for adoption thirty years earlier. Don’t worry about the Mule going Blind is a book about Fear, insecurity, sexual abuse, and neglect: This memoir will look beyond the description of these difficulties in the author’s life to examine how she acquired the tools she needed to take more control of her life, and what decisions impacted her choices. Pick up your copy today! Don’t worry about the Mule going Blind now available on Amazon.
How does the, Blackdatebox, Help, Black Love Relationships?
The, blackdatebox, or, black love box, is a quarterly subscription, love box, that was created to celebrate, black love. We celebrate, black love, depending on the season such as Christmas and other holidays or occasions that, black couples, wants to celebrate. For example there is a quarantine, love box.
It has most of what you need to create a date at home and while you’re on the stay at home experience, you will kindle a deeper level of communication, a deeper level of, love.
The, black love Box, comes with the rose petals and the candles and whatever you need to create a romantic date.
We are coming into summer so the summer celebration, blackdatebox, 2020 has fireworks inside the box. There’s two different boxes for the summer celebration because some, black couples, may want to have a daytime date, so I have a brunch box. I work with a chef she lives in Alabama her name is Erika Barrett she makes these excellent pancakes, so she’s one of the African American business that are featured in the box. The, blackdatebox, comes with decorations for the ambiance and all the, black couples, have to do is add the feelings of, love!
I also have a product that is amazing. It’s a game with miracle berries and they’re actually from Ghana and some people have taste tripping parties.
You take these berries and they’re intact in form and then they dissolve on your tongue. You have to let it dissolve for about 10 minutes, once it dissolves and you suck a lemon or a lime it is going to turn everything that you’re tasting, sweet. It’s an amazing experience.
When somebody goes out and purchases your book, what do you hope that they will come away with?
I’m hoping that my readers get inspired and more empowered. I’m hoping that it will inspire them to their own self journey to finding, black love, and discoveries of their family history that could be blocking, black love. I want to change the narrative of, black love, and society. I want my book to be a form of mental jogging.
How do you advise women to set their intention for, black love?
Whenever you have good intentions for being in a relationship then you will manifest those intentions. One way to set intentions is with daily affirmations. Some of these affirmations are:
I am loved
I am black and lovable
I am black excellence
If your intentions are that you want, love, because of loneliness, change your intentions. Your purpose for wanting a relationship must be because you have something to give, not want. If you set your intentions in a good way then you’ll receive good results. Call, love, and it will come!
I pray that everyone every listener, every reader of my book that this will be the best year of, Black love, or any other love for them. I just want to pray that, Love, Finds them from the north, the South, the east and the West. I just want to pray that they receive total healing.


Students often struggle to transfer conceptual understanding from isolated instruction to a coherent mental model. This is especially true for the context of flight physics, fluid dynamics, or the concepts of aerodynamic lift, drag, stall, center of mass, and angle of attack. To elicit naïve concepts and expert models, we have developed a new, automatically scored multiple-choice test on introductory fluid dynamics. The Flight Physics Concept Inventory (FliP-CoIn) was developed for online or paper use as well as for pre- and/or post-evaluation. In its gamified form as a free-to-use Particify™ quiz, FliP-CoIn can also serve as a formative assessment and collaborative team-building event. Distractors are based on naïve student concepts, and we have optimized the instrument‘s validity and reliability. We present example data and questions for comparing student data and interpreting results. We describe a gamified lesson (like an ILD—Interactive Lecture Demonstration) addressing flight physics and fluid dynamics naïve concepts collaboratively with the help of our newly developed assessment instrument. We share flight physics and fluid dynamics resources including the FliP-CoIn instrument, supporting materials, a lesson plan, lesson resources, videos, and three Particify™ quizzes.
Primary Image: A coin in a fluid flow with visible turbulence.
Genz F, Bresges A, Falconer KA. 2023. The Flight Physics Concept Inventory: Reliably Evaluating Aerodynamic Lift, Drag and Associated (Naïve) Concepts of Flight in Class and In-Game. CourseSource 10. https://doi.org/10.24918/cs.2023.27
Bloom's Cognitive Level
Vision and Change Core Competencies
Key Scientific Process Skills
Principles of How People Learn
Flight is one of humankind’s most fascinating endeavors; countless books, poems, inventions and love stories have been inspired by the desire to understand it. Despite this, most standard textbooks in school only superficially cover the topic and no standardized assessments related to aerodynamics exist (1). The result is oversimplified and erroneous explanations, which lead to naïve concepts (also called alternative, pre- or misconceptions) (2).
However, even brief, concise and correct explanations will most likely strengthen misconceptions in student minds, and less likely foster expert concepts—meaning students become more confident in their existing concepts (2, 3). This sounds paradoxical at first, but makes sense in learning psychology (4): students are not empty vessels to be filled, rather students enter a class with many childhood-developed mechanics concepts about the world, based on prior lived experience. When students only receive a good explanation, and this explanation is not contrasted against their prior knowledge, students are likely to cherry-pick what they hear, and often feel even more secure in their prior (naïve) conceptions (5). An example of this is the idea that “aerodynamic lift always points upwards.”
Therefore, contrasting naïve to expert concepts is key in conceptual change instruction (6). By conceptual change instruction we mean (i) making students’ prior knowledge explicit (e.g., noting down, discussing, voting); then (ii) providing student activities and questions to challenge these conceptions; and (iii) comparing prior student concepts to later ones.
The second problem is that sometimes even “good” explanations are absent. Too often, aerodynamic lift is explained by the wrong notion that the Bernoulli principle is its primary cause, rather than a result of the deflected air (7). This naïve rationale often traps college students with a physics, engineering or aviation major into the false reasoning that a path length difference of air over and under the wing is how lift is generated (e.g., “Because the air’s path length over the wing is longer, the air flowing on the topside of the airfoil must be faster; this creates a lower pressure on the topside of the wing”). It even leads to the wrong notion that the airfoil profile shape itself is generating most lift, and angle of attack is less important than shape. Even Albert Einstein briefly believed that an airfoil’s shape is the primary lift factor and published a paper about a cat’s arched back wing (8)—which almost killed a test pilot. Furthermore, when taught in the context of forces and free body diagrams, illustrations are often deceptive or inaccurate, showing only horizontal flight, and lift pointing exclusively upward, when in fact aerodynamic lift is more complex (i.e., it is perpendicular to the direction of flight).
Finally, flight physics is a neglected interdisciplinary topic, missing from the standard instructional canon. We like to think of flight physics as a crosscutting topic, encompassing several rich areas. It can cover a huge range of contexts and applications (e.g., bird flight, drag optimized shapes in nature, or bow bulges at ships and wind turbines). In medicine and politics, accurate models for fluid flow are more important than ever, modeling virus movement and risk management. Climate change models for ocean and atmosphere movement are paramount in times of global warming. For a comprehensive collection of fluid dynamics lessons and resources, see the open NASA and AAPT publication “Aeronautics for Introductory Physics” (9).
Flight Physics in US and German Curriculum
Beyond the obvious use for flight schools and engineering institutions, the activities we describe also cover and deepen many aspects of current science curricula in college and high school. The US Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) entail the crosscutting concepts of “cause and effect” and “scaling,” which come up centrally when studying flight physics and aerodynamics. In addition, the NGSS category for “motion and stability” contains the sub section of “forces and interactions.” Flight physics is highly motivational, and provides an opportunity to deepen and apply earlier basic knowledge from other contexts. Notably, the largest physics society in the world, the German Physical Society (DPG), has started listing “fluid dynamics” as a core concept for K–12 (10, p. 28).
For our activity, no prerequisite student knowledge or skills are required beyond vector representations. However, conflicting prior knowledge is presumed on the student side (2–5). On the teacher side, we assume some basic familiarity with flight physics and conceptual learning (12–25).
Gamification: Transforming an Instrument Into an Interactive Lecture Quiz
Why We Gamify
Active student engagement improves learning outcomes (26, 27). Moreover, educational games enhance problem solving, communication and cooperation skills (28). We advocate an activity akin to Sokoloff’s Interactive Lecture Demonstrations (29), one that we call an Interactive Lecture Quiz. Despite this, students often claim to learn more through traditional lecturing, but studies show that this self-perception is incorrect (30, 31). Active learning feels more difficult for students at first, and they might even complain that teachers are not doing their jobs right. The gamification of lectures, enriched with highly social active learning elements, is our solution to this student perception bias. It allows for students to receive the benefits of student engagement while avoiding the perception amongst students that the work is harder. As such, we give implementation tips on how to gamify lectures and assess them with the FliP-CoIn instrument in the following section.
Lesson Structure and Spirit
In former publications we described a gamified lab lesson using flight simulators, 2D wind tunnel apps (32) and low-cost experimental setups (33). Here, we will focus on an approach for large lectures, which promotes active learning. The core idea is an online quiz calling for predictions of student teams in constructive competition. The questions are projected to the lecture wall or to student smartphones. Student teams can answer in any browser. Team scores are presented instantly after each question. In this manner, student teams will know whether they have an expert understanding or need to pay more attention to this particular part during the lecture. We even recommend splitting up the lecture and interweaving the questions to create many phase changes and isles of active learning (34).
The structure of this lesson was designed to be repetitive and modular (see Table 1). This allows students to concentrate on the content. Usually the first quiz round takes a bit longer and the following round a bit less than 15min. When time is short, one can simply skip Phase 6 or the last questions. In Phase 4, there is no need to mention the correct answer; research suggests it is even counterproductive to do so (5, 30). It is only important to (let) point out why and where all the distractor options fail. This constructive confusion might not lead to perfect expert understanding instantly, but students are likely to improve on their mental models, and, more importantly, own them. Students are likely to continue refining their model when new scenarios challenging these concept are presented. For the complete lesson plan, see Supporting File S2.
Table 1. Spiraling procedure. The lesson core repeats with every quiz round. Phase 6 is optional.
Spiraling Procedure (75 min for 5 quiz rounds)
Finding a Team Answer (e.g., slide 7)
“Come up with a team answer. Why do you think so?”
Reflection 1 (e.g., slide 8)
“Discuss with your team: ‘Which believes could one hold that answers the other options?’”
Rationales (e.g., slide 9)
“Discuss with other teams or all: ‘What is the rationale for your team choice?’”
Results (e.g., slide 10)
Show results and talk about why distractors are wrong.
Show team scores briefly between questions.
“How was the decision made? Focus on body language.”
Implementation Tips for a Gamified Lecture
Below, we summarize the lecture’s essentials:
Emphasize that the focus of the quiz is not on how many answers they get correct, but on gaining clarity about the reasons and explanations for why they chose an answer.
Build heterogeneous or randomized groups of 3–4 students. Let groups find a team name (for group identification).
For best learning effects, we present team scores after each question and give time to let students talk to other groups before moving on.
After each question (block), we explicitly name the underlying alternative concepts and give vivid examples where they fail. This is THE crucial step for preparing for the next step.
When enough cognitive dissonance (27) has prepared the learners’ minds, we explain the expert concept or let student groups present them. Encourage visual examples, metaphors and/or storytelling, while referring back to the differences between naïve and expert explanations (3, 5).
Sort and/or select the questions by concept domain. This way, your students can better track their learning process and identify their learning gains.
Finally, plan enough time for the active learning elements—especially when students are not familiar with active learning in lectures (35). In Supporting File S1, you will find at least three ready-to-use quizzes assorted for the concept domains of lift, drag and angle of attack (with currently 6, 19 and 5 questions, respectively). Moreover, Supporting File S1 contains presentations and video clips for a gamified lesson including explanations for instructors after some tough questions.
How FliP-CoIn Assesses Student Concepts
According to cognitive dissonance theory, eliciting prior student concepts early is crucial for preparing learning (4). Hence, the FliP-CoIn instrument (see Supporting File S3) was developed as a multiple-choice single-response instrument with automated scoring. In the online version, students can receive direct feedback, and teachers get instant access to class comparisons via the PhysPort.org data explorer. For the evaluation of the paper-pencil version, a spreadsheet for scoring with a coding mask streamlines the visualization of results. For more details of how one can evaluate student concepts with FliP-CoIn, please consult Supporting File S4.
Common Naïve Concepts of Flight Physics
Despite our previous knowledge about the prevalence of common misconceptions, we were stunned by the abundance of naïve concepts collected with the FliP-CoIn instrument. Hence, we assembled a “Top 10” list with the most common naïve concepts. To prevent repeating these naïve notions, and for creating cognitive dissonance in students’ minds, we inverted their meaning (see Table 2). These Top 10 statements are designed to challenge most students’ naïve prior concepts. As noted above, creating cognitive dissonance first, is crucial for overcoming naïve these concepts (2). We use the term naïve concepts in the sense of non-expert concepts or mental models, which are lacking some details to fully grasp the given physics phenomenon. In front of students, we prefer the term alternative concept, since even non-expert concepts are a valuable step on the way to a more scientific understanding.
Table 2. Challenging statements tackling the most common naïve student concepts.
Challenging statements for promoting discussion engaging most common naive concepts
Dynamic lift does not (necessarily) point upwards.
Pathlength and lift
Pathlength difference does not explain lift.
Continuity of airflow
Air over and under the wing does not rejoin at the tailing edge.
AoA and lift
Angle of Attack (AoA) can decrease while lift increases.
Shape (curvature) of the wing is not more important than AoA.
Displaced air does not reach its original height again.
A pointy frontside is not (necessarily) the most aerodynamic solution.
Shorter objects (with less surface) area may experience more drag.
Center of Mass is not near the luggage cabin.
Speed does not exert the most significant influence on passenger forces.
To address our Top 10 challenging statements requires active student engagement, modeled here via a gamified lecture with group work activity we described in the Gamification section.
Common Naïve Concepts of Aerodynamic Drag
Question 5 of the FliP-CoIn instrument asks students which one of two bodies experiences less aerodynamic drag in 13 pairwise comparisons. All bodies have the same maximum cross-sectional area facing the wind (ø=2cm, see Table 3). According to our data, the most common naïve concept concerning aerodynamic drag is the naïve notion that “a pointy nose is best.” More than 50% of our students rank B higher than A. Common student rationales are (i) “race cars are pointy, too,” (ii) “one has to split the air first,” (iii) “it looks closest to a bullet to me,” or (iv) “the backside is not so important.” Experts know that a pointy backside/tail is more important than a pointy frontside for avoiding turbulence and usually reason more like: “The high pressure area in front of the body will function as an air cushion, making the body’s frontside relatively slippery anyways.” Of course, a pointy backside in combination with a pointy frontside is even more slippery, but this is consciously not an option in the assessment.
Table 3. Drag bodies sorted from low to high aerodynamic drag (top to bottom).
(round side facing wind)
(pointy side facing wind)
filled half sphere
(round side facing wind)
filled half sphere
(flat side facing wind)
coin / flat cylinder
(flat side facing wind)
By far the most common misconception is indicated by the fact that usually about three quarters of students pick body D over C in direct comparison. This is consistent with the concept of “avoid sharp edges,” “a tail is good,” and “symmetry makes slippiness.” However, it contradicts actual measurements. Experts argue that the surface drag is smaller at C, and sometimes also that stable vortices in the wind shadow are forming a somewhat pointy tail behind drag body C.
Surprisingly, some students see the sphere as the “optimal shape” concerning drag, and prefer the sphere over all other drag bodies (14% of students). This might be due to memorized sentences from mathematics or Greek history like “a sphere is the perfect shape,” which are overgeneralized and bleeding into the physics domain. Further, since some students (13%) hold the naïve concept “a flat end” or “the backside does not matter,” it is particularly hard for these students to decide between C and D, or between E and F.
Common Naïve Concepts of Aerodynamic Lift
Lift is defined as perpendicular to the direction of flight. Even though most students seem to know this, they often do not correctly apply this definition in flight states deviating from steady horizontal flight. “Lift always points up” or “the resulting force is lift” are common naïve statements uttered by students. Questions 15–19 of our FliP-CoIn instrument challenge these beliefs when asking about aerodynamic lift while airplanes are in descent, in a looping, banking in a curve, and in climb flight.
The most prevalent naïve concept probed with the FliP-CoIn instrument is: “Lift is bigger than weight when the airplane goes up.” While for high-scoring experts it is clear that this can never be true for unaccelerated flight (see also Figure 1), it is not clear for 91% of our students. Often the thrust force is overlooked as a contributor to balance the weight in steady climb flight. Also, lift seems to be confused with the resulting force of lift plus thrust, or is confused with a vector pointing in the direction of movement. Derek Muller found similar effects for a scenario where a ball is tossed through the air (2, 5).
We showed that eliciting and changing concepts is important but difficult—especially in flight physics. Therefore, we have sketched a gamified lesson facilitating active and inclusive learning in teams. We elaborated on key phases of the lesson and its structure, and gave implementation tips for the gamified lecture. Based on our data and teaching experience, we assembled a Top 10 list for challenging naïve concepts in flight physics and elaborated on the most common student concepts concerning aerodynamic lift and drag. Beyond this, we developed ready-to-use supporting materials (slides, quizzes and video clips) on how the questions of the newly developed Flight Physics Concept Inventory’s (FliP-CoIn) can be used to assess your students’ initial ideas and to enhance student learning through gamification. We have optimized the FliP-CoIn instrument for evaluation time via automatic scoring, its face validity through expert and think-aloud interviews, and its internal reliability though an item analysis. As an activity at the beginning of a lecture series, the tool informs teachers about the pre-conceptions that many students have. When also applied after a learning intervention, the FliP-CoIn instrument will highlight learning gains and answer questions such as, “Where was my teaching most effective?” or “Which method outperformed another one?” This data might become useful, not only when inspiring your own teaching, but also for colleagues or funding personnel in need for reliable, research-based assessment data for the effectiveness of your teaching approach.
Last but not least, we are eager to get feedback from you. For updates on FliP-CoIn have a look on flip-coin.uni-koeln.de or write us for yet unpublished developments.
Scientific Teaching Themes
In the gamified lecture, team collaboration enhances the learning experience. This activity engages the teams in problem solving. The time pressure and instant feedback create both an emotional experience and cognitive dissonance. Previous studies have shown emotional experiences influence learning positively (36). To further enhance the learning objectives, students should be asked to reflect on their discussion and how they think they settled their answer (consensus finding strategies). This should be done without time pressure.
The Flight Physics Concept Inventory was designed for quick feedback on individual students and for whole courses. Teachers can use the instrument to gain insight into preexisting concepts when given before a learning intervention or class. When given before and after a class, it informs students and teachers about learning gains and the effectiveness of learning strategies. The Flight Physics Concept Inventory (FliP-CoIn) is freely accessible for teachers via PhysPort.org. The additional questions can also be used in the gamified lecture sketched here. Student teams will immediately know if they have answered a question correctly when the interim team scores are displayed. The fast-paced game is ideal for self-evaluation.
In the gamified lecture teams can compete against each another, which encourages collaboration among team members. The activity should help to build a supportive community of learning. Using randomized or heterogeneous groups also exposes students to new perspectives. The aerodynamic bodies for questions 4 and 5 can be 3D printed, allowing for multisensory accesses. In addition, all picture-based questions can be 3D printed as a relief, allowing blind students having more equal chances of understanding the question. The 3D meshes are available via the corresponding author.
S1. FliP-CoIn – Videos, slides & quiz templates for a gamified lecture
S2. FliP-CoIn – Lesson plan example
S3. FliP-CoIn – Instrument questions [ENG]
S4. FliP-CoIn – How to assess student concepts with the instrument
We would like to thank Scott V. Franklin, Daniel MacIsaac, Eleanor C. Sayre, Cyrill Slezak, Scott McComb, Benjamin Archibeque, Meliha Avcı, Martina Kramar, John-Luke Ingleson, Andreas Schadschneider, Irina Lemm, Aikaterini Mari, our families and the PEER institute for valuable feedback, support, care work and guidance. This work became significantly better because of you!
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Author(s): Florian Genz*1, André Bresges1, Kathleen A. Falconer1
University of Cologne
About the Authors
*Correspondence to: Florian Genz, firstname.lastname@example.org
The Future Strategy for Teacher Education (ZuS) is part of the “Qualitätsoffensive Lehrerbildung”, a joint initiative of the German Federal Government and the Länder which aims to improve the quality of teacher training. The program is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. The authors are responsible for the content of this publication. None of the authors have a financial, personal, or professional conflict of interest related to this work.


READING PASSAGE 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.
Materials to take us beyond concrete
Concrete is everywhere, but it’s bad for the planet, generating large amounts of carbon dioxide — alternatives are being developed
Concrete is the second most used substance in the global economy, after water — and one of the world’s biggest single sources of greenhouse gas emissions. The chemical process by which cement, the key ingredient of concrete, is created results in large quantities of carbon dioxide. The UN estimates that there will be 9.8 billion people living on the planet by mid-century. They will need somewhere to live. If concrete is the only answer to the construction of new cities, then carbon emissions will soar, aggravating global warming. And so scientists have started innovating with other materials, in a scramble for alternatives to a universal commodity that has underpinned our modern life for many years.
The problem with replacing concrete is that it is so very good at what it does. Chris Cheeseman, an engineering professor at Imperial College London, says the key thing to consider is the extent to which concrete is used around the world, and is likely to continue to be used. ‘Concrete is not a high-carbon product. Cement is high carbon, but concrete is not. But it is the scale on which it is used that makes it high carbon. The sheer scale of manufacture is so huge, that is the issue.’
Not only are the ingredients of concrete relatively cheap and found in abundance in most places around the globe, the stuff itself has marvellous properties: Portland cement, the vital component of concrete, is mouldable and pourable, but quickly sets hard. Cheeseman also notes another advantage: concrete and steel have similar thermal expansion properties, so steel can be used to reinforce concrete, making it far stronger and more flexible as a building material than it could be on its own. According to Cheeseman, all these factors together make concrete hard to beat. ‘Concrete is amazing stuff. Making anything with similar properties is going to be very difficult.’
A possible alternative to concrete is wood. Making buildings from wood may seem like a rather medieval idea, but climate change is driving architects to turn to treated timber as a possible resource. Recent years have seen the emergence of tall buildings constructed almost entirely from timber. Vancouver, Vienna and Brumunddal in Norway are all home to constructed tall, wooden buildings.
Using wood to construct buildings, however, is not straightforward. Wood expands as it absorbs moisture from the air and is susceptible to pests, not to mention fire. But treating wood and combining it with other materials can improve its properties. Cross-laminated timber is engineered wood. An adhesive is used to stick layers of solid sawn timber together, crosswise, to form building blocks. This material is light but has the strength of concrete and steel. Construction experts say that wooden buildings can be constructed at a greater speed than ones of concrete and steel and the process, it seems, is quieter.
Stora Enso is Europe’s biggest supplier of cross-laminated timber, and its vice-president Markus Mannstrém reports that the company is seeing increasing demand globally for building in wood, with climate change concerns the key driver. Finland, with its large forests, where Stora Enso is based, has been leading the way, but the company is seeing arise in demand for its timber products across the world, including in Asia. Of course, using timber in a building also locks away the carbon that it absorbed as it grew. But even treated wood has its limitations and only when a wider range of construction projects has been proven in practice will it be possible to see wood as a real alternative to concrete in constructing tall buildings.
Fly ash and slag from iron ore are possible alternatives to cement in a concrete mix. Fly ash, a byproduct of coal-burning power plants, can be incorporated into concrete mixes to make up as much as 15 to 30% of the cement, without harming the strength or durability of the resulting mix. Iron-ore slag, a byproduct of the iron-ore smelting process, can be used in a similar way. Their incorporation into concrete mixes has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
But Anna Surgenor, of the UK’s Green Building Council, notes that although these waste products can save carbon in the concrete mix, their use is not always straightforward. ‘It’s possible to replace the cement content in concrete with waste products to lower the overall carbon impact. But there are several calculations that need to be considered across | the entire life cycle of the building — these include factoring in where these materials are being shipped from. If they are transported over long distances, using fossil fuels, the use of alternative materials might not make sense from an overall carbon reduction perspective.’
While these technologies are all promising ideas, they are either unproven or based on materials that are not abundant. In their overview of innovation in the concrete industry, Felix Preston and Johanna Lehne of the UK’s Royal Institute of International Affairs reached the conclusion that, ‘Some novel cements have been discussed for more than a decade within the research community, without breaking through. At present, these alternatives are rarely as cost-effective as conventional cement, and they face raw-material shortages and resistance from customers.’
Reading Passage 1 has eight sections, A-H.
Which section contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-H, in boxes 1—4 on your answer sheet.
1 an explanation of the industrial processes that create potential raw materials for concrete
2 a reference to the various locations where high-rise wooden buildings can be found
3 an indication of how widely available the raw materials of concrete are
4 the belief that more high-rise wooden buildings are needed before wood can be regarded as a viable construction material
Complete the summary below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 5—8 on your answer sheet.
Making buildings with wood
Wood is a traditional building material, but current environmental concerns are encouraging 5 __________ to use wood in modern construction projects. Using wood, however, has its challenges. For example, as 6 __________ in the atmosphere enters wood, it increases in size. In addition, wood is prone to pests and the risk of fire is greater. However, wood can be turned into a better construction material if it is treated and combined with other materials. In one process, 7 __________ of solid wood are glued together to create building blocks. These blocks are lighter than concrete and steel but equal them in strength. Experts say that wooden buildings are an improvement on those made of concrete and steel in terms of the 8 __________ with which they can be constructed and how much noise is generated by the process.
Look at the following statements (Questions 9-13) and the list of people below. Match each statement with the correct person, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter, A, B, C or D, in boxes 9-13 on your answer sheet.
NB You may use any letter more than once.
List of People
A. Chris Cheeseman
B. Markus Mannstrom
C. Anna Surgenor
D. Felix Preston and Johanna Lehne
9 The environmental advantage of cement alternatives may not be as great as initially assumed.
10 It would be hard to create a construction alternative to concrete that offers so many comparable benefits.
11 Worries about the environment have led to increased interest in wood as a construction material.
12 Expense has beena factor in the negative response to the development of new cements.
13 The environmental damage caused by concrete is due to it being produced in large quantities.
READING PASSAGE 2
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14—26, which are based on Reading Passage 2 below.
The steam car
The successes and failures of the Doble brothers and their steam cars
When primitive automobiles first began to appear in the 1800s, their engines were based on steam power. Steam had already enjoyed a long and successful career in the railways, so it was only natural that the technology evolved into a miniaturized version which was separate from the trains. But these early cars inherited steam’s weaknesses along with its strengths. The boilers had to be lit by hand, and they required about twenty minutes to build up pressure before they could be driven. Furthermore, their water reservoirs only lasted for about thirty miles before needing replenishment. Despite such shortcomings, these newly designed self-propelled carriages offered quick transportation, and by the early 1900s it was not uncommon to see such machines shuttling wealthy citizens around town.
But the glory days of steam cars were few. A new technology called the Internal Combustion Engine soon appeared, which offered the ability to drive down the road just moments after starting up. At first, these noisy gasoline cars were unpopular because they were more complicated to operate and they had difficult hand-crank starters, which were known to break arms when the engines backfired. But in 1912 General Motors introduced the electric starter, and over the following few years steam power was gradually phased out.
Even as the market was declining, four brothers made one last effort to rekindle the technology. Between 1906 and 1909, while still attending high school, Abner Doble and his three brothers built their first steam car in their parents’ basement. It comprised parts taken from a wrecked early steam car but reconfigured to drive an engine of their own design. Though it did not run well, the Doble brothers went on to build a second and third prototype in the following years. Though the Doble boys’ third prototype, nicknamed the Model B, still lacked the convenience of an internal combustion engine, it drew the attention of automobile trade magazines due to its numerous improvements over previous steam cars. . The Model B proved to be superior to gasoline automobiles in many ways. Its high-pressure steam drove the engine pistons in virtual silence, in contrast to clattering gas engines which emitted the aroma of burned hydrocarbons. Perhaps most impressively, the Model B was amazingly swift. It could accelerate from zero to sixty miles per hour in just fifteen seconds, a feat described as ‘remarkable acceleration’ by Automobile magazine in 1914.
The following year Abner Doble drove the Model B from Massachusetts to Detroit in order to seek investment in his automobile design, which he used to open the General Engineering Company. He and his brothers immediately began working on the Model C, which was intended to expand upon the innovations of the Model B. The brothers added features such as a key-based ignition in the cabin, eliminating the need for the operator to manually
ignite the boiler. With these enhancements, the Dobles’ new car company promised a steam vehicle which would provide all of the convenience of a gasoline car, but with much greater speed, much simpler driving controls, and a virtually silent powerplant. By the following April, the General Engineering Company had received 5,390 deposits for Doble Detroits, which were scheduled for delivery in early 1918.
Later that year Abner Doble delivered unhappy news to those eagerly awaiting the delivery of their modern new cars. Those buyers who received the handful of completed cars complained that the vehicles were sluggish and erratic, sometimes going in reverse when they should go forward. The new engine design, though innovative, was still plagued with serious glitches.
The brothers made one final attempt to produce a viable steam automobile. In early 1924, the Doble brothers shipped a Model E to New York City to be road-tested by the Automobile Club of America. After sitting overnight in freezing temperatures, the car was pushed out into the road and left to sit for over an hour in the frosty morning air. At the turn of the key, the boiler lit and reached its operating pressure inside of forty seconds. As they drove the test vehicle further, they found that its evenly distributed weight lent it surprisingly good handling, even though it was so heavy. As the new Doble steamer was further developed and tested, its maximum speed was pushed to over a hundred miles per hour, and it achieved about fifteen miles per gallon of kerosene with negligible emissions.
Sadly, the Dobles’ brilliant steam car never was a financial success. Priced at around $18,000 in 1924, it was popular only among the very wealthy. Plus, it is said that no two Model Es were quite the same, because Abner Doble tinkered endlessly with the design. By the time the company folded in 1931, fewer than fifty of the amazing Model E steam cars had been produced. For his whole career, until his death in 1961, Abner Doble remained adamant that steam-powered automobiles were at least equal to gasoline cars, if not superior. Given the evidence, he may have been right. Many of the Model E Dobles which have survived are still in good working condition, some having been driven over half a million miles with only normal maintenance. Astonishingly, an unmodified Doble Model E runs clean enough to pass the emissions laws in California today, and they are pretty strict. It is true that the technology poses some difficult problems, but you cannot help but wonder how efficient a steam car might be with the benefit of modern materials and computers. Under the current pressure to improve automotive performance and reduce emissions, it is not unthinkable that the steam car may rise again.
Reading Passage 2 has seven paragraphs, A-G.
Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below. Write the correct number, i-viii, in boxes 14—20 on your answer sheet.
List of Headings
i A period in cold conditions before the technology is assessed
ii Marketing issues lead to failure
iii Good and bad aspects of steam technology are passed on
iv A possible solution to the issues of today
v Further improvements lead to commercial orders
vi Positive publicity at last for this quiet, clean, fast vehicle
vii A disappointing outcome for customers
viii A better option than the steam car arises
14 Paragraph A
15 Paragraph B
16 Paragraph C
17 Paragraph D
18 Paragraph E
19 Paragraph F
20 Paragraph G
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter in boxes 21—23 on your answer sheet.
21 What point does the writer make about the steam car in Paragraph B?
A. lts success was short-lived.
B. Not enough cars were made.
C. Car companies found them hard to sell.
D. People found them hard to drive.
22 When building their first steam car, the Doble brothers
A. constructed all the parts themselves.
B. made written notes at each stage of the construction.
C. needed several attempts to achieve a competitive model.
D. sought the advice of experienced people in the car industry.
23 In order to produce the Model C, the Doble brothers
A. moved production to a different city.
B. raised financial capital.
C. employed an additional worker.
D. abandoned their earlier designs.
Complete the summary below.
Choose ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 24—26 on your answer sheet.
The Model E
The Model E was road-tested in 1924 by the Automobile Club of America. They found it easy to drive, despite its weight, and it impressed the spectators. A later version of the Model E raised its 24 __________ while keeping its emissions extremely low. The steam car was too expensive for many people and its design was constantly being altered. Under 25 __________ cars were produced before the company went out of business. However, even today, there are Model Es on the road in the US. They are straightforward to maintain, and they satisfy California’s 26 __________ emissions laws. Perhaps today’s technology and materials would help us revive the steam car.
READING PASSAGE 3
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27—40, which are based on Reading Passage 3 below.
The case for mixed-ability classes
Picture this scene. It’s an English literature lesson in a UK school, and the teacher has just read an extract from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet with a class of 15-year-olds. He’s given some of the students copies of No Fear Shakespeare, a kid-friendly translation of the original. For three students, even these literacy demands are beyond them. Another girl simply can’t focus and he gives her pens and paper to draw with. The teacher can ask the No Fear group to identify the key characters and maybe provide a tentative plot summary. He can ask most of the class about character development, and five of them might be able to support their statements with textual evidence. Now two curious students are wondering whether Shakespeare advocates living a life of moderation or one of passionate engagement.
As a teacher myself, I’d think my lesson would be going rather well if the discussion went as described above. But wouldn’t this kind of class work better if there weren’t such a huge gap between the top and the bottom? If we put all the kids who needed literacy support into one class, and all the students who want to discuss the virtue of moderation into another?
The practice of ‘streaming’, or ‘tracking’, involves separating students into classes depending on their diagnosed levels of attainment. At a macro level, it requires the establishment of academically selective schools for the brightest students, and comprehensive schools for the rest. Within schools, it means selecting students into a ‘stream’ of general ability, or ‘sets’ of subject- specific ability. The practice is intuitively appealing to almost every stakeholder.
I have heard the mixed-ability model attacked by way of analogy: a group hike. The fittest in the group take the lead and set a brisk pace, only to have to stop and wait every 20 minutes. This is frustrating, and their enthusiasm wanes. Meanwhile, the slowest ones are not only embarrassed but physically struggling to keep up. What’s worse, they never get a long enough break. They honestly just want to quit. Hiking, they feel, is not for them.
Mixed-ability classes bore students, frustrate parents and burn out teachers. The brightest ones will never summit Mount Qomolangma, and the stragglers won’t enjoy the lovely stroll in the park they are perhaps more suited to. Individuals suffer at the demands of the collective, mediocrity prevails. So: is learning like hiking?
The current pedagogical paradigm is arguably that of constructivism, which emerged out of the work of psychologist Lev Vygotsky. In the 1930s, Vygotsky emphasised the importance of targeting a student’s specific ‘zone of proximal development’ (ZPD). This is the gap between what they can achieve only with support — teachers, textbooks, worked examples, parents and so on — and what they can achieve independently. The purpose of teaching is to provide and then gradually remove this ‘scaffolding’ until they are autonomous. If we accept this model, it follows that streaming students with similar ZPDs would be an efficient and effective solution. And that forcing everyone on the same hike — regardless of aptitude — would be madness.
Despite all this, there is limited empirical evidence to suggest that streaming results in better outcomes for students. Professor John Hattie, director of the Melbourne Education Research Institute, notes that ‘tracking has minimal effects on learning outcomes’. What is more, streaming appears to significantly ‘ — and negatively — affect those students assigned to the lowest sets. These students tend to have much higher representation of low socioeconomic class. Less significant is the small benefit for those lucky clever students in the higher sets. The overall result is that the smart stay smart and the dumb get dumber, further entrenching the social divide.
In the latest update of Hattie’s influential meta-analysis of factors influencing student achievement, one of the most significant factors is the teachers’ estimate of achievement. Streaming students by diagnosed achievement automatically limits what the teacher feels the student is capable of. Meanwhile, in a mixed environment, teachers’ estimates need to be more diverse and flexible.
While streaming might seem to help teachers effectively target a student’s ZPD, it can underestimate the importance of peer-to-peer learning. A crucial aspect of constructivist theory is the role of the MKO — ‘more- knowledgeable other’ — in knowledge construction. While teachers are traditionally the MKOs in classrooms, the value of knowledgeable student peers must not go unrecognised either.
I find it amazing to watch students get over an idea to their peers in ways that I would never think of. They operate with different language tools and different social tools from teachers and, having just learnt it themselves, they possess similar cognitive structures to their struggling classmates. There is also something exciting about passing on skills and knowledge that you yourself have just mastered — a certain pride and zeal, a certain freshness to the interaction between ‘teacher’ and ‘learner’ that is often lost by the expert for whom the steps are obvious and the joy of discovery forgotten.
Having a variety of different abilities in a collaborative learning environment provides valuable resources for helping students meet their learning needs, not to mention improving their communication and social skills. And today, more than ever, we need the many to flourish — not suffer at the expense of a few bright stars. Once a year, I go on a hike with my class, a mixed bunch of students. It is challenging. The fittest students realise they need to encourage the reluctant. There are lookouts who report back, and extra items to carry for others. We make it — together.
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.
Write the correct letter in boxes 27-30 on your answer sheet.
27 The writer describes the Romeo and Juliet lesson in order to demonstrate
A. how few students are interested in literature.
B. how a teacher handles a range of learning needs.
C. how unsuitable Shakespeare is for most teenagers.
D. how weaker students can disrupt their classmates’ learning.
28 What does the writer say about streaming in the third paragraph?
A. It has a very broad appeal.
B. It favours cleverer students.
C. It is relatively simple to implement.
D. It works better in some schools than others.
29 What idea is suggested by the reference to Mount Qomolangma in the fifth paragraph?
A. students following unsuitable paths
B. students attempting interesting tasks
C. students not achieving their full potential
D. students not being aware of their limitations
30 What does the word ‘scaffolding’ in the sixth paragraph refer to?
A. the factors which prevent a student from learning effectively
B. the environment where most of a student’s learning takes place
C. the assistance given to a student in their initial stages of learning
D. the setting of appropriate learning targets for a student’s aptitude
Complete the summary using the list of phrases, A-I, below.
Write the correct letter, A-I, in boxes 31-35 on your answer sheet.
A wrong classes
B lower expectations
C average learners
D bottom sets
E brightest pupils
F disadvantaged backgrounds
G weaker students
H higher achievements
I positive impressions
Is streaming effective?
According to Professor John Hattie of the Melbourne Education Research Institute, there is very little indication that streaming leads to 31 _________ He points out that, in schools which use streaming, the most significant impact is on those students placed in the 32 __________, especially where a large proportion of them have 33 __________ Meanwhile, for the 34 __________, there appears to be only minimal advantage. A further issue is that teachers tend to have 35 __________ of students in streamed groups.
Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in Reading Passage 3? In boxes 36-40 on your answer sheet, write
YES if the statement agrees with the views of the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the views of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
36 The Vygotsky model of education supports the concept of a mixed-ability class.
37 Some teachers are uncertain about allowing students to take on MKO roles in the classroom.
38 It can be rewarding to teach knowledge which you have only recently acquired.
39 The priority should be to ensure that the highest-achieving students attain their goals.
40 Taking part in collaborative outdoor activities with teachers and classmates can improve student outcomes in the classroom.
37 NOT GIVEN
40 NOT GIVEN