Re: Goal Oriented Physics Activities

[Wilson Gonzalez-espada <wge@ARCHES.UGA.EDU>]

Tony Wayne:

A special project that I used with my students was to build sort of a
"roller coaster" using kabobs sticks so that a marble will take exactly
5.00 seconds to travel from the top of the structure (about 12 inches
above platform) to a specified ending point. The structures must be
built in a 12 in X 12 in piece of wood.  Then, the students made a small
written project explaining the physics they needed to use to reach the
goal.  Students did a great job in building the structure and explaining
the physics.  They were very creative!

On Thu, 9 Mar 2000, Tony Wayne wrote:

> At the end of the year I wanted to do a set of small, IN CLASS, contests.
> Some contests that I've done in the past I have incorporated as labs. For
> example, my projectile motion labs have students shoot a ball out of a
> spring launcher at a given angle off a table and have them place a cup on
> the floor where they think the ball will land. For an energy lab, I have the
> students bungie jump a weighted plastic egg from the ceiling while trying to
> adjust the cords length to get as close to the floor as possible. These goal
> oriented labs count less than "regular" labs because the required write is
> not as rigorous. The kids are very enthusiastic about these goal oriented
> labs.
>
> Please share any ideas for other goal oriented labs or contests for physics
> students with the list [and me ;-)]
>
> If anyone is interested in my Bungie jump lab, e-mail and I'll reply with an
> e-mail attachment containing a pdf file of my lab. You will need Acrobat
> Reader 4.0 to read the file.
> -tony

Wilson J. Gonzalez-Espada
Science Education Department
University of Georgia
wge@arches.uga.edu