Visually Watching Data That Has Been Graphed

Students will study motion and the relationship between speed, force, acceleration. To act as scientists they will collect data during their work which will help their math skills of graphing and data analysis.

Students will use our Vernier Motion Detector and laptop to take turns collecting data using various objects in motion: ball, toy car, etc. A digital camera is possible to be hooked up to the Vernier Labpro software at the same time so that the movie is directly correlated to the data. This means it's possible to review the experiement using the projector and study any point in time both on the graph and the film...... this makes data collection very visual and concrete for student learning. It also keeps students engaged in their learning. And it lets students feel like real scientists as they use current technology in real science explorations.

Classroom discussion will then focus on force=mass*acceleration. Students will review their data and movies as much as needed to think about the relationship between these three elements. Then students will be asked to create their own presentation demonstrating their choice of a change in force or mass or acceleration. They will work in their small groups to prepare and test their demonstation. Then each group will use the digital camera and laptop and motion detector to record their work. Finally each team will present their project to the class.