Science Education – Page 9 – Lee Trampleasure's Blog

July 21, 2009

Target shoot: Ball on ramp, conservation of energy

Many physics teachers do a “target shoot” lab for conservation of energy. The basics of the lab is that students roll a ball down a curved ramp and predict where it will land. By calculating the change in gravitational energy from the top to the bottom of the ramp (“Phase A” in the sketch), students can use this as the...

Modeling/Physics/Science Education Comment: 1

July 17, 2009

Metric conversion and proportional reasoning

Background A teacher presented the following question on the Physical Science email list of the National Science Teachers Association: I’ve run into a roadblock and hope someone can assist. This year we will be teaching conversions in the metric system for our physical science classes. We kind of skipped over that in other years. Anyhow, I’m not sure how to...

Physics/Science Education Comments: 5

June 16, 2009

Magic fence or power of inverse square?

On a walk through UC Berkeley, I came upon the following sign on a fence: Here’s a broader view of the sign and its surroundings: The distance from the building to the fence is about 2m (6′). The question: Has UCB discovered a new fence that can stop magnetic fields? Or, is this just an example of the inverse square...

Physics/Science Education Comments: 4

June 12, 2009

The physics (and biology) of snake movement

Science Friday had a great piece on snakes slithering today. The main researcher in the video is Dr. David Hu from the Applied Mathematics Laboratory, Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University, New York, NY. Turns out it’s much more compicated than one would think. The scientists used smooth surfaces and even Jello to test their hypotheses. Here’s the...

Environment/Science Education Comments: 0

June 2, 2009

The math in a hybrid car

For an end of the semester project in my physics classes, I posed the following question to my students: If you put 100,000 miles on a car, which is a better deal, a hybrid or a traditional car? Students were asked to look up a car they would be interested in buying, but the car has to come in both...

Environment/Science Education Comment: 1

May 16, 2009

Interesting “ESP” site

The test A friend sent me this. I was surprised at first, but then it didn’t take me too long to figure it out. Here’s the test: http://sprott.physics.wisc.edu/Pickover/esp.html Try it out (it will open in a new window), then return here if you can’t figure it out. Scroll down for the solution. . . . . . . . ....

Computers and the web/General/Science Education Comments: 0

April 20, 2009

Ball in water on elevator: Buoyancy

OK. Float a ball in a beaker of water in an elevator. The ball floats because the buoyant force of the water displaced by the ball is equal to the weight of the water. Now, accelerate the elevator upward. What happens to the ball? Does it: Sink lower, rise higher, or stay the same? Here’s my video with the answer:...

Physics/Science Education Comments: 0

April 9, 2009

10 Excellent web sites for teaching?

Scott McCleod posts: A seemingly simple question This seems like a seemingly simple question for teachers: Could you identify 10 excellent web sites for your grade level / subject area? Ideally, of course, teachers would know 10 or so excellent sites for each unit, not just for the overall course that they’re teaching. After all, the Internet has been around for...

Computers and the web/Science Education Comments: 0

January 29, 2009

New NorCal/Nevada American Association of Physics Teachers web site

One of my new tasks for 2009 is Web Weaver for the Northern California/Nevade American Association of Physics Teachers. Today we launched a re-designed web site, powered by WordPress, my favorite Content Management System (CMS). Visit ncnaapt.org. If you don’t see a menu on the right side, the new server location probably hasn’t made it to your corner of the...

Science Education Comments: 0

January 15, 2009

Force data from elevator ride to top of 555 California St, SF (52 floors)

Yesterday I took a trip up the longest elevator ride in San Francisco (at 555 California St). I brought along my LabQuest and Force Plate (essentially a recording bathroom scale, see image of LabQuest at bottom of post). As I rode the elevator up and down, the LabQuest was recording my apparent weight (think about how you feel when an...

Modeling/Physics/Science Education Comments: 0

Category: Science Education