Apologia Physics: Friction Lab with Formal Lab Report

Today, the guys did a Friction Lab in order to calculate the coefficient of Friction.  Mainly I wanted to have another lab and make the guys write a formal lab report. This is a great lab.  You need a ramp and a block.  We brought wooden ramps, cardboard, a vinyl binder, and a tile plank.  Then, we made available parchment paper, wax paper, sandpaper, and aluminum foil available.  I brought out density cubes and a wooden block.  The guys had to both design and implement their experiment.  Rob had them do the calculations both ways described in the experiment.  The lab report is written is the third person, present tense, indicative mood, and active voice.  (Ex.  The first step is to set up the ramp and block.)  The lab report should have a title, Coefficient of Friction Lab, purpose, To understand friction, background, an explanation of the coefficient of friction, a hypothesis, the copper block has more friction than aluminum block, materials, scale, block, ramp, procedures, One places the block on the ramp, a data chart in Excel with the equations, the calculations, a photo, and a conclusion, The data either supports or refutes the hypothesis.  The lab report is typed and emailed.  When the guys finish, I'll post examples.

Materials

Here is a message from my husband, Rob.  We ran into a problem with Excel.
During class today we noticed that excel returned the wrong numbers when we used the sine and cosine functions with the degrees of the angle we measured during our friction coefficient lab.

The excel functions for sine and cosine use radians not degrees.  To correct for this you must convert degrees to radians.  Use =radian(degrees you measured) to convert degrees to radians.  Then =sin(radians calculated) to get the proper number to use in your calculations.  Check your answers with a graphing calculator or a sine/cosine chart.

We were validating our calculations by using both equations to calculate the friction coefficient.  We had a large margin of error.  Please recalculate the equations using the proper way of calculating sine and cosine.  Please show your calculations in excel.

Fling Science Physics

Look at this cute post.

Newton's First Law Demos

The Hidden Life of Toads NSTA Review

Doug Wechsler’s children’s book, The Hidden Like of a Toad is lovely. The author is a photographer and the graphics are compelling.   Toad describes the life cycle of toads.  Life cycles is an important concept in early elementary science.  Typically, kindergarten and first grade classrooms study butterflies.  But why not substitute toads?  Wechsler removed toad embryos from a nearby pond to study and photograph at home.  Teachers can take embryos from local ponds for classroom study, too.  The Hidden Like of a Toad is so detailed, the teacher can use this book for reference as the tadpoles develop.

Toad answers the questions curious children want to know.  What are the long ribbons of black eggs in ponds?  Embryos! (Day 1).  How do they breathe? Gills (Day 9) and lungs (Day 45).  What do they eat?  (Day 70) Wechsler did his homework; the book contains an updated taxonomy under Toad Facts, at the end of the book.  (The book is unnumbered.)  Toad answers a question I had.  How do toads survive the winter?  They burrow into the mud over the winter (Day 70).  The photos are clearly labeled, such as the vocal sac (Day 1097 opposite Brrrrrr!)  At the end of the book is a glossary and comparison between frogs and toads.  (What’s the difference between a frog and a toad?)  Additionally, at the back are Toad Facts, Saving Toads (Toad Detour), an explanation how Wechsler got the photos, and a resource page.  I read Toad to my favorite six year old, Paul, who is a big fiction fan.  Nonfiction?  Not so much.  He was engrossed, high praise from any child.  The Hidden Like of a Toad and its lavish photos is perfect for the early elementary classroom and any library.  My copy is promised to Paul’s school library.  

Apologia Physics: Excel Quiz and POGIL Intro to Newton's Laws of Motion

The first thing we did was test the guys' spreadsheet skills by entering their equations into Excel or Google Sheets.   It took forever!  Then we did an intro to Newton's Laws with POGIL, specifically this exercise with Newton's First Law , Second Law, and Third Law.  POGIL is slow--but effective.  I scanned answer sheets to use as keys.  Here are Newton's First Law and Newton's Second Law Pogil Answer Keys.  You need to use deductive reasoning.  I like POGIL as an introduction to a new concept.  POGIL was originally developed for Chemistry classes at colleges.  This approach works to both review material and hammer in the basics, in this case, Newton's Laws of Motion.  What I'm not finding are answer keys.  The Taskstream site from Ms. Knapps has a number of websites listed and is designed for Physical Science more than for Physics.

Here is a good Newton's Laws Labs Introduction and POGIL practice.

Update: The key for Newton's Third Law (above) is now available.  We wrote out the keys--there may be errors.  We crossed out a great deal of awkward wording.  Keys were difficult to locate because the authors want them away from students.