WA and Apologia: Physical Science Motion Introduction

My Physical Science classes began with a series of activities from the McDougall-Littell text and Apologia's Physical Science book.  McDougal-Littell Motion and Forces Resource Page has visualizations and simulations.  This text has a mini-lab called 'Off the Wall', in which student mark a distance from the wall and time the ball as it hits the wall and changing the relative distances while maintaining the elapsed time.  Super simple, yet helps kids see the relationships among distance, time, and speed.  Next, kids roll balls, or in the case of Apologia, eggs, down ramps.  They are encouraged to test different types of balls and to experiment with potential energy changes by stacking books for the ramp.  This Potential Energy Lab has the idea.  It is important to elicit the underlying concepts from the kids after they do the labs.  Now is a good time to insert a Ball Drop Lab and repeat with different types of balls.  I have a bag with bouncy balls, ping pong balls, marbles, golf balls, even a rubber ball.

My kids did several labs and activities using Pasco Scientific equipment.  I downloaded the Sparkvue app for my IPad to connect to a Sparklink Air interface with bluetooth.  Pasco's Airlink 2 is $159; my device is older and runs $229.  I scored a Pasco Pasport motion detector on Ebay for $30 and downloaded free Sparkvue labs from Pasco's website.  The kids at both WA and the Co-op spent an hour with Exploring Motion Graphs.  Once they completed this activity, I set them loose to play with the motion detector with balls, cars, and ramps.  The kids were not getting good results until they attached the motion detector to a ring stand and clamp to steady the detector.  The Sparkvue labs are complete lessons with background information and quizzes.  I instruct the kids to complete the lab as written and then allow the kids to play with the detector after answering the questions and taking the quiz.

When I first began to incorporate Pasco labs into my classes, I had had some instruction; honestly, a lot of instruction!  Little of this instruction seemed to take, leaving me reluctant to add this technology to my classes and exposing me as an idiot.  My colleague had a set of Spark Science 
Learning systems she lent to me.  I set them up in stations, showed the kids how to turn on their devices, connect the sensors, and locate the experiments.  Once I launched the lab, I told them to read and figure out the interfaces.  My only tip was if they got hung up to hit the home button, a house icon.  This worked!  Kids like new technology and helped me become better acquainted with the equipment and comfortable trouble-shooting the sensors.

My last school had adopted Sparkvue app and Airlink 2 interfaces for iPads.  A used iPad, about $150, an Airlink 2 is $159, new, a used motion sensor at $30, $20 for a used thermometer probe, and used pH probe for $30 comprise the basic equipment for a host of labs.  It also afford small private schools and Co-ops the type of technology offered in public and larger private schools.  Vernier has similar equipment; Pasco's free labs are easy for anyone to follow.  The only issue I have had with Airlink or Sparklink is getting the Bluetooth connection.  We sometimes have to turn the interface on and off and the Bluetooth tab on the IPad to make the connection.  One of the kids figured it out.