We had a short 3-day week to lead us into break.

Physics: Unbalanced Forces

We wrapped up unbalanced forces this week with a lab practical. I put a cart on a ramp, held in place by a string attached to a force sensor. Students had to first predict the tension in the string and next predict the time it would take the cart to travel between two photogates on the track once I cut the string. It was trickier than I expected for students to recognize that the tension in the string would be the same as the net force on the cart once the string was cut. Since that was an important idea in the paradigm lab we did this year, I left students to figure out that point on their own, but I think it would have been worthwhile to give students some questions or other structure to think through that aspect of the practical. We haven’t revisited velocity vs. time graphs lately, so I was very excited to see how well they did annotating their graphs and setting up equations to find the time.

AP Physics 1: Kinetic Energy

Students used Pivot Interactives for a lab to find the mathematical model for kinetic energy. Their data came out beautiful, but the introductory section of the activity didn’t do as much as I’d hoped to prepare students to collect data. This fits with a larger pattern I’ve noticed this year where students in both my courses don’t seem to make a clear connection between the pre-lab discussion (which the introductory section was similar to) and the actual lab. I think I haven’t helped students make a clear connection between the experimental design thinking we do in those discussions and what they will actually need to do in the lab. I’m giving some thought to how I can do a better job of showing how those discussions lead naturally to what students will be doing in the lab.