Project: Projectile Motion
Resources Needed: 3 Projectile Launchers
School Poverty Level: High
Location: Lee M Thurston Senior High Sch, Redford, MI
Total Cost: $466.76
Still Needed: $175.88 $90.88
Expires: Jul 31, 2012
Teacher's Comments from Mr. Fuller:
My Students: How does the range of a projectile fired at a 30 degree angle compare to that of one fired at a 60 degree angle? What angle is needed to maximize the range of a projectile? It's easy to derive the answers to these questions mathematically, but it's much more memorable to go hands-on.
My students are like most. They've been taught to play the game of school all their lives. Sit still, listen, and do your work. It's possible to go on enforcing that model and teach physics using equations on paper, but with the right equipment, it's possible to engage students and show them that school can be something more.
My Project: Plenty of basic kids' toys can launch projectiles, but few can do so with precision and repeatable results. The basic use of this equipment is to be mounted on a lab table and try to predict the landing point using a known angle and launch velocity. The activity can be expanded upon knowing the spring constant and using an approach with conversation of energy. This is far from a single use piece of lab equipment - this could be used in a 9th grade basic physics class all the way up to an advanced AP class. My students need the Projectile Launcher Basix.
This is one more step moving my class toward more hands-on investigations that yield accurate results which can be used to crate models of physical phenomena. It's about more than just playing around, we need quality lab equipment to be able to draw any conclusions from the data.
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