08 May

Creating a simple interactive using GeoGebra

Seng Kwang Tan GeoGebra 0 Comments

While preparing to share with some fellow teachers in Singapore about the use of GeoGebra in Physics, I came up with a set of simple instructions to create an interactive, while introducing tools such as sliders, checkboxes (along with boolean values) and input boxes. Download it here.

You should be able to follow the instructions in the pdf document above and make a simple interactive applet yourself too. The outcome of the interactive applet will be like this:

Embedding GeoGebra into SLS

The following instructions are added on 19 Nov 2024 to update the screens available in SLS.

To embed a GeoGebra app into the Singapore Student Learning Space or any other LMS that supports iframe embedding, note the following:

The size of the interactive should be able to fit a mobile device. I suggest 640px width and 480px height for interactives meant for the Singapore Student Learning Space (SLS). To change the dimensions, go to the page of the specific interactive you want to embed and click on the “more” button (3 dots in a vertical row). Click on “Edit Activity” as shown below.

Next, click on the pencil icon to show “Advanced Settings”

Edit the width and height as required.

Click “Done” and “Save”

To get the embedding codes, go to the “more button” again (see above) and select “Details”.

Click on “Share” and select the “</>Embed” tab.

Copy the iframe embed code and paste it into SLS or your preferred LMS.

In SLS, select “Text/Media” and “Website” to insert the code.

28 April

Using Google Spreadsheet to obtain best-fit line

Seng Kwang Tan 21 Practical / Planning 0 Comments

I am taking the opportunity (since my students are all doing home-based learning) to teach them how to use spreadsheets to do calculations and to obtain a best-fit line. While they can still submit graph work using PDF scanning apps such as Office Lens and Camscanner into Google Classroom for me to mark, they can make use of the spreadsheet-generated graph to check their results.

Even though for exams, we still require them to plot the points on paper and obtain the gradient and intercept from points on the best-fit line, nobody is going to do so when they start working. So I might as well teach them now.

Due to the lack of face-to-face time, I made this step-by-step video showing them how to do so.

28 April

Best-fit Line

Seng Kwang Tan 21 Practical / Planning 0 Comments

For lab work, students often have to estimate a line of best fit for their data points manually. It takes a bit of practice to get it right. With this app, students can generate data points with varying types of scatter and predict their own best-fit line before comparing it with a computer generated one based on the least mean square method.

25 April

Hydraulic Press Simulation

Seng Kwang Tan IP3 05 Density and Pressure 2 Comments

This simulation can be used for O-level Physics, for the topic of Pressure. I created it as it was relevant to our school’s IP3 physics as well.

It demonstrates the working principle of a hydraulic press. By adjusting the cross-section areas (A) of the two cylinders, you only need a small amount of force at the narrow piston to exert a large amount of force at the wider piston. This is how, when driving, the force applied by one’s foot is enough to supply a large force to apply the brake pads on a car’s wheels.

The advantage of using GeoGebra is that one can create such simple simulations within a couple of hours and it can be readily embedded into Google Classroom, Microsoft OneNote, SLS – a wonderful tool to have during this period of full home-based learning.

View on GeoGebra here.

19 April

Forces in Equilibrium

Seng Kwang Tan 04 Forces, GeoGebra, IP3 04 Forces 0 Comments

While preparing for a bridging class for those JAE JC1s who did not do pure physics in O-levels, I prepared an app on using a vector triangle to “solve problems for a static point mass under the action of 3 forces for 2-dimensional cases”.

For A-level students, they can be encouraged to use either the sine rule or the cosine rule to solve for magnitudes of forces instead of scale drawing, which is often unreliable.

For students who are not familiar with these rules, here is a simple summary:

Sine Rule

If you are trying to find the length of a side while knowing only two angles and one side, use sine rule:

$$\dfrac{A}{\sin{a}}=\dfrac{B}{\sin{b}}$$

Cosine Rule

If you are trying to find the length of a side while knowing only one angle and two sides, use cosine rule:

$$A^2 = B^2 + C^2 – 2BC\cos{a}$$