Good morning.
Today we are going to explain what Quantitative/Qualitative
Translation and Paragraph Arguments Short
Answer for the AP Physics exams mean.
- Oh, good.
- Okay.
[Intro]
- Sure.
- Bo, could you please read the part I have highlighted on page 216 of the 2019 AP Physics
1 Course and Exam Description?
- On the actual AP Exam, there will be one experimental design question, one quantitative/qualitative
translation question, one paragraph argument short answer question, and two additional
short answer questions.
- Right.
So, in summary, every AP Physics 1 exam, will have five questions in these categories: One
Quantitative/Qualitative Translation or QQT worth 12 points, one Paragraph Argument Short
Answer or PASA worth 7 points, one Experimental Design Question or EDQ worth 12 points and
two Short Answer questions or SA worth 7 points each.
- Hold up.
I thought we were only going to have two questions this year.
- Right.
Because of the corona virus pandemic in 2020, we are only having one Quantitative/Qualitative
Translation and one Paragraph Argument Short Answer question.
Right, Mr. P?
- That is correct.
2020 is a bit different.
So, yeah.
One Quantitative/Qualitative Translation question and one Paragraph Argument Short Answer question
in 2020.
Which is why we are defining those this year and we will define Experimental Design Questions
next year.
Please, realize that in the description of this video is a list of links to my solutions
to the Free Response Questions from publicly released past AP Physics 1 exams and the category
for each of those free response questions.
Okay.
Bobby, please read the definitions of quantitative and qualitative I gave you.
- Quantitative means relating to, measuring, or measured by the quantity of something rather
than its quality.
And qualitative means relating to, measuring, or measured by the quality of something rather
than its quantity.
- That means reasoning something quantitatively will involve algebraic manipulation of variables,
however, reasoning something qualitatively will involve writing out words in paragraph
form.
Right, Mr. P?
- That is correct Billy.
And Billy, could you please read the part on page 43 of the 2019 course and exam description
which I highlighted?
- Yes.
The AP Physics 1 Exam requires students to be able to re-express key elements of natural
phenomena across multiple representations in the domain.
This skill appears in the Qualitative/Quantitative Translation (QQT), a long free-response question
that requires students to go between words and mathematics in describing and analyzing
a situation.
A QQT question might ask students to work with multiple representations or to evaluate
another student’s words or representations.
Representations include mathematical equations, narrative descriptions, graphs, diagrams,
and data tables.
Students who have primarily been exposed to numerical problem solving often struggle with
a QQT question because it requires students to have a more conceptual understanding of
both content and representations.
Opportunities to translate between different representations, including equations, diagrams,
graphs, and written descriptions, will help students prepare for the QQT question.
- In other words, you will need to be able to go back and forth between quantitative
reasoning or equations and qualitative reasoning or words.
A good Qualitative/Quantitative Translation example is Free Response Question number 3
from the 2017 AP Physics 1 exam.
In part (a), you are asked to determine where a disk should strike a rod to maximize the
final angular velocity of the rod.
You are asked to “Briefly explain your reasoning without manipulating equations.”
Bobby, are they asking for a quantitative or a qualitative explanation here?
- Well, they asked for your reasoning without manipulating equations, so that must be a
qualitative explanation.
Right?
- Correct, Bobby.
This is a qualitative explanation because this explanation requires that you write out
words to explain the physics behind your reasoning.
In parts (b) and (c), you are given student equations which might describe the angular
speed of the rod after the collision.
You are then asked to take these quantitative student answers, these equations, and translate
them to qualitatively reason if the equations make logical sense.
Again, you are asked to, “Briefly explain your reasoning without deriving an equation”.
- Right.
They give you the quantitative answer and they ask you to translate that qualitatively.
So, Quantitative/Qualitative Translation.
- Exactly.
In part (d) the described event changes slightly and you are asked to do your own quantitative
analysis and derive an equation for the final angular velocity of the rod.
So, for this part of the problem you are doing the quantitative analysis instead of them
just providing you with an equation.
And then, in part (e), the described event is changed even further, and you are asked
to qualitatively determine how the final angular velocity of the rod changes.
Again, there is a quantitative explanation or equation which you have to qualitatively
explain using words.
Hopefully you could see how this problem requires that you translate back and forth between
the quantitative and the qualitative.
Now, quantitative does not have to include equations.
You could be given data collected by students and that data is presented in a data table
or a graph.
You also could be given student qualitative arguments about physics phenomena and be expected
to qualitatively explain what is correct or incorrect about the student’s qualitative
argument.
In other words, you have to be ready to look at data and arguments and be able to respond
both quantitatively and qualitatively about the physics.
For more examples, I would definitely check the links in the description.
- Yes.
- Got it.
- Will do.
- Now, let’s look at Paragraph Argument Short Answer.
Bobby, please read the part I highlighted on page 61 of the 2019 AP Physics 1 Course
and Exam Description.
- Students will be asked to give a paragraph-length response to demonstrate their ability to communicate
their understanding of a physical situation in a reasoned, expository analysis.
For full credit, the response should be a coherent, organized, and sequential description
of the analysis of a situation that draws from evidence, cites physical principles,
and clearly presents the student’s thinking.
Full credit may not be earned if the response contains any of the following: principles
not presented in a logical order, lengthy digressions within an argument, or a lack
of linking prose between equations or diagrams.
What does expository mean?
- Intended to explain or describe something.
- Thanks.
- What this means is that a Paragraph Argument Short Answer is not an equation derivation.
It is a paragraph of sentences where you explain the physics.
You are certainly going to use equations because equations are what the physics principles
are based on, however, you need to not just write out equations.
Instead, you need to write a paragraph and use those equations to argue that your reasoning
is correct.
Be careful to present your argument in a logical order and, while you may include a few equations
or diagrams, you need to make sure your answer is mostly words creating sentences which creates
a paragraph.
So, Paragraph Argument Short Answer, mostly equations or mostly words?
- Mostly words.
- Correct.
A good Paragraph Argument Short Answer example is Free Response Question number 4 from the
2015 AP Physics 1 exam.
In part (a), the motion of two identical spheres is described.
One is in projectile motion and one is in free fall only.
After a full description of the motion, you are asked to draw free body diagrams of the
force or forces acting on the spheres.
No explanation is asked for.
In part (b), you are asked to draw a graph of the horizontal components of the velocities
of each spheres as a function of time.
Still no explanation is asked for.
Notice that this Paragraph Argument Short Answer question has yet to ask for any explanation.
Please, do not waste time writing out explanations when you are not asked to do so.
- Do not waste time writing out explanations when you are not asked to.
- Right.
- No, write?
Get it?
- Right.
No, write?
- Okay.
Sure.
- Bo, please read part (c) of this problem.
- Part (c): In a clear, coherent, paragraph-length response explain what -
- Please, stop.
Every one of the Paragraph Argument Short Answer of the AP Physics 1 exam so far has
had that statement on it; "in a clear, coherent, paragraph-length response".
So, please, notice it and know what it means.
This is your Paragraph Argument Short Answer question.
So, please, answer with mostly words in paragraph form.
Bo, please read all of part (c).
Part (c): In a clear, coherent, paragraph-length response, explain why the spheres reach the
ground at the same time and even though they travelled different distances.
Include references to your answers to parts (a) and (b).
- Billy, please read my answer to part (c).
- As shown in Part (a), the only force acting on each sphere is the force of gravity.
Therefore, each sphere will have an acceleration in the y-direction which will equal –g.
There is no force in the x-direction on either sphere, so, as shown in Part (b), both spheres
will have zero acceleration in the x-direction.
And any motion in the x-direction will not affect how long it takes the spheres to reach
the ground.
The initial velocity in the y-direction for both spheres is zero.
The displacement in the y-direction for both spheres is –H. Therefore, we can use the
uniformly accelerated motion equation, displacement in the y-direction equals velocity initial
in the y-direction times change in time plus one half acceleration in the y-direction times
change in time squared, to show that both spheres will reach the ground at the same
time.
We have shown that, other than the change in time, all of the variables in this equation
are the same for both spheres, therefore the remaining variable, change in time, must be
the same.
- Notice, I did refer to my answers in parts (a) and (b), and, while I did refer to variables
and an equation, I did not derive anything.
Instead, I used words to form sentences, to form a coherent paragraph argument which answers
the question.
I have been stressing that you need to let go of your numbers dependency.
Hopefully you can see that because you will have to do Quantitative Qualitative Translation
and Paragraph Argument Short Answer, you really do need to stop plugging in numbers so much
and instead look at the equations and understand what they physically mean.
When you are able to do that you will be able to answer these questions more easily.
Thank you very much for learning with me today.
I enjoyed learning with you.