Labs for Free Fall and Projectiles

Lesson Plans || Learning Outcomes and Activities || Teacher Notes || Labs

 

We have a collection of ~150 labs in the Laboratory section of the website. Each lab was intended to be used with a lab notebook where students report their data and findings and state their conclusion with supporting evidence and reasoning. The intent was to provide a relatively clear purpose (or question) to students that they would need to address AND to limit the amount of directions. The hope is that the purposes and students' ability to design a procedure would drive the lab activity (in contrast to a detailed set of step-by-step procedures being the driving force of students' activity). As such, each of our labs comes with a Question and Purpose and a short paragraph describing what should be included in students' lab report. On occassion, students are also provided a graphic organizer, data table, or other item to be taped into their notebook. The following pages may be useful for those teachers who wish to adopt or simply trial our Labs with a Purpose approach:

Our Thoughts on the Approach || About Lab Notebooks || Teacher Guides for All Labs

 

Lab 1: Acceleration of Gravity

Question:
What is the acceleration of a free-falling object? Does the mass of the object affect the acceleration value?

Purpose:
To determine the acceleration of a free-falling object AND to determine if the mass of the object affect the acceleration value.

A complete lab report contains a title, purpose, Data section with two graphs, and Conclusion. Include one v-t graph for your data (showing the slope on the graph) and one accel’n-mass plot for class data (showing the trend line). Conclusion should include two Claims – one for each part of the Purpose. For Evidence and Reasoning, discuss the specific data that you used to arrive at your claim and explain how that data is logically connected to your claim. This will include a solid paragraph of writing.

View: Teacher's Guide
(None available; actual labs will be included in Course Package)

Lab 2: Rocket Science

Question:
What is the launch speed of a stomp rocket?

Purpose:
To determine the launch speed of a stomp rocket.
 
A complete lab report consists of a Title, Purpose, Data section, and Conclusion. The Data section should include a trajectory diagram with a listed time and a sketch of a Desmos plot. Strategic points on the plot should be marked and labeled with coordinates..  Then for a Claim: write 1 sentence in which you state the launch speed. For Evidence and Reasoning, make a reference to your graph and the strategic points to explain how you determined the launch speed of the rocket. This should be a solid paragraph of good logic and reasoning.
 

View: Teacher's Guide
(None available; actual labs will be included in Course Package)

Lab 3: Launcher Speed

Question:
What is the launch speed of the projectile launcher?

Purpose:
To make peak height measurements in order to determine the launch speed of a projectile launcher.
 

A complete lab write-up includes a Title, a Purpose, a Data section, and a Conclusion. The Data section should include a table of heights and an average of all heights. A sketch of the manipulated Desmos file that shows the launch speed (the manipulated variable) that leads to the measured peak height (the measured variable). The graph should display what points you measured and what values you manipulated to determine the launch speed. The Conclusion should include a simple Claim with Evidence and Reasoning.  For a Claim: write 1 sentence in which you state the launch speed. For Evidence and Reasoning, make a reference to your graph and the strategic points to explain how you determined the launch speed. This should be a solid paragraph of good logic and reasoning.

View: Desmos file

View: Teacher's Guide
(None available; actual labs will be included in Course Package)

Lab 4: Hit the Target

Question:
Where do we need to place a target in order to hit the target with our projectile launched from our Lab 3 launcher?

Purpose:
To determine where to place a target in order to shoot a projectile into the target.

A complete lab write-up includes a Title, a Purpose, a Data section, and a Conclusion. The Data section should include the provided Graphic; measurements and Desmos manipulations should be shown on the graphic. The Conclusion should include a simple Claim with Evidence and Reasoning.  For a Claim: write 1 sentence in which you state the target location. For Evidence and Reasoning, make a reference to your graph and the strategic points on the graph to explain how you determined the target location. This should be a solid paragraph of good logic and reasoning.

Print: Graphic

Demos File

View: Teacher's Guide
(None available; actual labs will be included in Course Package)

Also Available ...

1. Task Tracker Subscription (annual purchase)
   A subscription allows teachers to set up classes, add students, customize online assignments, view student progress/scores, and export student scores. Task Tracker accounts allow your students to begin assignments in class or at school and to finish them at home. View our Seat and Cost Calculator for pricing details.
    
2. The Solutions Guide
   We publish a free curriculum with >200 ready-to-use Think Sheets for developing physics concepts. The Solutions Guide is a download containing the source documents, PDFs of source documents, and answers/solutions in MS Word and PDF format. An expanded license agreement is included with the purchase. (Cost: $25 download)
    
3. Teacher Presentation Pack
   This is a large collection of downloadable content packed with nearly 190 Microsoft PowerPoint slide decks, the corresponding Lesson Notes (as PDF and fully-modifiable MS Word format), about 170 animations (in .gif, .png, and .mp4 file formats), a countless number of ready-to-use images (including the original source documents that would allow for easy modification of those images), and a license that allows teachers to modify and use all the content with their classes on password-protected sites (such as course management systems).  (Cost: $40 download)
    
4. Question Bank
   We distribute a Question Bank that includes more than 9300 questions neatly organized according to topic. The Question Bank is the perfect tool for busy teachers or new teachers. Even if you don't use the website with your classes, the Question Bank will assist you in quickly putting together quizzes, tests and other documents with high-quality questions that target student's conceptions of physics principles. And if you do use The Physics Classroom website, the Question Bank is the perfect complement to the materials found at the website. (Cost: $25 download)