Chronology Current Month Current Thread Current Date
[Year List] [Month List (current year)] [Date Index] [Thread Index] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Prev] [Date Next]

[Phys-L] Apollo 13 / marble rescue project



Here's an amusing video of a classroom physics project:
Mr. Keller Apollo 13 Physics Project
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ug9yAH2kh0E

It has layers and layers of good physics and wise pedagogy.
Also the video, made by students, has remarkably high production
values.

One thing I particularly like is that there is no requirement
to measure everything as accurately as possible ... so long
as the overall result hits the target. /Some/ things need to
be measured super-carefully, but others not so much. This is
absolutely typical of real-world projects. The idea has been
floating around in the physics pedagogy literature for fifty
years, but does not get anywhere near the attention it deserves.

Reference:
Clifford E. Swartz,
“EDITORIAL: Insignificant figures”
Phys. Teach. 6, 125 (March 1968).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1119/1.2352406