Time 8:30-11:30 - Breakfast will be provided
Join fellow New Jersey physics teachers for a hands-on Double Make N Take. Teachers will build and take home equipment for two complete mechanics investigations, explore both whole-class and traditional lab approaches, and have time to exchange ideas, experiences, and concerns with physics teachers from around the state. Grant support will cover most of the cost of the equipment, so the teacher contribution will be small. Space is limited.
A special focus of both activities will be a whole-class approach to experimental physics. Instead of every lab group repeating the entire experiment, each small group of students contributes one measurement to a common data set. Results are brought to the classroom whiteboard, where the class watches a large graph emerge from its collective measurements. Both sets of equipment can also be used for traditional small-group labs.
Magnetic Pendula — Build the Graph on the Board
Teachers will construct a set of pendula of different lengths. Each pendulum consists of a string with small magnets attached at both ends, allowing it to be mounted directly on a magnetic whiteboard.
In the whole-class investigation, each small group of students is assigned a pendulum of a particular length and measures its period. The whiteboard becomes a large graph, with pendulum length on the horizontal axis and period on the vertical axis.
Each group brings its result to the board and mounts its pendulum at the appropriate location. As the pendula are added, the apparatus itself becomes the graph, and the relationship between pendulum length and period develops visibly from the students' own measurements.
Each teacher will leave with a set of magnetic pendula and a set of stopwatches for classroom use.
Slow Accelerators — Build a Motion Graph as a Class
Teachers will also fabricate a class set of slow accelerators: disks mounted on rods that roll down a track made from a pair of inclined meter sticks.
The large rotational inertia of the disk-and-rod combination greatly reduces its acceleration, making the motion slow enough for students to obtain good measurements using a meter stick and stopwatch.
For the whole-class investigation, all ramps are set to the same angle. Each small group of students is assigned a different distance along the ramp, makes several timing measurements for that distance, and determines an average time.
Each group then brings its distance and average time to the board. As the groups add their results, a complete distance-versus-time curve emerges as a whole-class experiment.
Each teacher will leave with a class set of slow accelerators ready for use with students.
The day will provide plenty of opportunity not only to build and try the equipment, but also to talk with other physics teachers about what is happening in our classrooms, exchange teaching ideas, and make connections with colleagues from around New Jersey.
Two Make N Takes. Two sets of classroom equipment. A day of building, experimenting, and sharing physics with colleagues.