Newton’s 2nd Law

Day 20: Board Meeting & Free Fall

/ Marta R. Stoeckel / Leave a comment

Physical Science: Newton’s Laws Board Meeting

Students finished collecting data, then we had a short board meeting to agree on the qualitative relationships in Newton’s 2nd Law.

Physics: Free Fall

Students white boarded answers to a few qualitative questions about last week’s Direct Measurement Video. I emphasized having them provide evidence to support their answers, which lead to some good conversations, both in groups and in the whole class, about what makes “good” evidence. Different groups looked at different combinations of falling objects, which lead to some good disagreement about whether all objects fell at the same rate. My favorite moment was when I asked whether using the same acceleration for all objects is useful and a student quickly responded with “It depends” which lead to some good talk about uncertainty.

Day 19: Newton’s 2nd Law & Constant Acceleration Practical

/ Marta R. Stoeckel / Leave a comment

Physical Science: Newton’s 2nd Law

Students began collecting data for Newton’s 2nd Law using the classic modified Atwood’s machine. This is the first time students have done an open-ended lab with quantitative data, and I enjoyed watching groups tweak their experiment to get good data.

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This group added mass to slow their cart down, then added the golf ball to prevent it from sliding around in case that impacted the motion.

Physics: Constant Acceleration Practical

Students finished the practical started on Wednesday. After we collected data as a class to determine the speed of a tumble buggy and the acceleration of a marble on a ramp, each group got a starting position for either the marble or the buggy. Groups then had to figure out where to start the other so that, when released at the same time, the marble would land in a cup on top of the buggy.