AP Physics: Photogates

To introduce constabt acceleration, students used photogates to collect data for position vs. time and velocity vs. time graphs for a cart on a ramp. A lot of students were a little intimidated by the LabQuests at first, but, by the end of the hour, they declared my decision to get probeware instead of textbooks was the right one.

Earth Science: Layers of the Atmosphere

Students plotted altitude vs. temperature for Earth’s atmosphere, which lead nicely into the different layers. Some students were bothered by the fact that their graph didn’t pass the vertical line test for a function, so we had some discussion about the different purposes a graph can serve and why it might make sense to sometimes break certain rules.