3D Art and physics

It's cool when art and physics meet. These dominoes remind us of our Rube Goldeberg projects. Nice job! 

I am the Winner!

I am proud to be the State Winner for Samsung's Solve for Tomorrow Grant. It's my build an electric go kart and learn physics with it idea. Stay tuned and prepare to vote so we can win more from Samsung.

Some days it's worth it

I love when the students work together to solve problems. Granted they are only vector problems and not the world's problems but the process is there. I also love the use of all the tools. I wish you could hear the discussion. Everyone is contributing as well. 

Catching up

Teaching the same class 6 periods seems to eat up my blogging time. We have been exploring distance versus time graphs and velocity time graphs.  We just started acceleration and the idea of things falling.  

We have used the moving man from PhET to translate movement to graph form and vice versa.  

Who would have thunk it?

Today was a cool day. Carly, our favorite "techie" figured out how to get our LabQuest2s to hook up to Graphical on our iPads. It is a very unusual solution that defies logic, but hey it works and she was cool enough to make a video on how to do it. The cooler part is my evaluator was in the room and saw the whole thing. I must admit I didn't believe her but her excitement when she proved it worked was the coolest part of my week so far. I am in teaching for moments like today. 

Still graph matching

Main Street seems the place to be. The great thing is with the LabQuest2 we can go anywhere. 

I love it

So I love when I learn stuff or the student use things in a way I had not thought of. The first group is using the motion detector position data to figure out where to start to match a graph. I don't know why but never thought of it or seen it before. The other group is using the draw prediction line to draw in the graph they have to make. Cool new feature they found on their own. I knew about it but I wanted to keep it simple. I guess they can handle it.

Getting closer to racing

We are almost done constructing cars. We are gathering data to plug into algebraic equations to tell us where to put our cars to tie. 

Ultimate Graphing Challenge

Today, we are playing ultimate graphing challenge. It's an awesome game to intro using graphs to describe motion. I was helping a student and it was making me think. 

First time

Today we are using the LabQuest2 with the motion detectors and graphical on the iPads. They think I am evil because I want them to make pretty graphs. I am a stickler but they can produce decent graphs. 

America day

Today is the first day of homecoming week. It was wear red, white and blue day. We also took a reality check. 

Catch me if you can

Race day is almost upon us. 

Building cars

I love watching girls build stuff. It seems this year the girls are way better and way more into it than the boys. This crew impressed me. 

Buggin out

We are using the video physics app to figure out the speed of our buggies. It also serves as a good intro to velocity.

You know!

So I started the day off with an epic fail. The good news is I learned. The bad news is I nuked the information and student work from 29 iPads. It's one of those days were in an effort to make things better I made it worse. We spent today redoing the lab. We did on Friday. 

Gathering data every day keeps the blahs away

Today we are gathering dome more data on what factors effect the speed of our Hot Wheels. 

Creative Findings

So today we learned how to put files from Notability into Schoology. Here is what I found:

These are just a few I really liked.

I could get my doctorate if I figured out why

I just do not understand why it is so hard to put an iPad back in the correct slot and plug it in. I feel I could do a dissertation to figure out this phenomena. In class, we played with the iPads using Schoology and Notability. Then we played with Hot Wheels. 

Play on

Today, we are playing the subversive grouping game and then playing with the stools and iPads. 

First day with brand new Hot Wheels

Our first day with some new shiny Hot Wheels. It's an open ended lab.  For some reason the guys always go for the steepest ramps. 

Auld Lang Syne

I always enjoy the renewal of the school years. The sense of optimism with starting over and making the new year better than the last. I can't help but reflect on how we got here but I am proud of where we are going. You can see the openness of the room and the blank canvas. 

360 View of the Room

Where would you rather be?

I found this an interesting dichotomy of classes before school today. Where would you rather be? Just for the record, I am not trying to bash other teachers. It's just the nature of the beast. 

Could you wire stuff in your house?

We are leaning to wire in simple things around the house. 

What makes max power in a wind generator?

We are doing a fun lab designing blades for a wind generator. We are learning design is not easy. 

Do you love what you do?

I do. This is my 1st hour class 5 minutes in without saying anything to them.
I think they are engaged in their work. I am proud. I also like the artwork from the honors class.

Do you?

Am I positive or negative?

My favorite lab all year long. Electric Field Hockey from PhET. I get to yell Goal!! All day long!

Who needs stationary objects? Which do you like better?

218 bolts later! I need to thank our community again! We can now have any working configuration for the physics room.

We had a contest for coolest setup. Which do you think?

Who says iPads can't create?

Here are some ray diagrams for our reflection lab. This group used the camera and pic collage app to show their data.