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]

Re: use of videos in class



I've been using computer-video-analysis software in lecture and lab for about
a year now and have seen improvement in student understanding concerning
motion, graphs of the motion and equations that describe the motion. After
playing a video experiment in lecture, I ask students to write down their
observations. Then I mark positions versus time, ask them to write down
additional observations, and sketch the graph shapes before we look at the
computer generated graphs. This seems to help clear up some misconceptions.
For instance, I get quite a variation on what a velocity versus time graph
will look like for an object that is throw straight up and then comes
straight down. We discuss it, then view the graph. I stress the meaning of
the slopes of various graphs and how to write linear physics equations by
finding the slope and intercept (I've found that even calculus level physics
students need work here). This not only helps with equations of motion for
displacement, velocity, and acceleration, but it is then straight forward to
advance to momentum, force, energy, rotational motion, etc. graphically.

rac