Labs for Vectors 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: Map Lab
Question:
How do the N-S, E-W legs of a trip compare to the overall displacement of that trip?
Purpose:
To identify the mathematical relationship between the N-S and E-W legs of a trip to the overall displacement for that trip.
A complete lab write-up includes a Title, a Purpose, a Data section, and a Conclusion/Discussion. The Data section should include the provided table with the required trips and one self-designed trip. The Conclusion/Discussion should identify the mathematical relationship between the legs of the trip and the overall displacement for that trip; the relationship should be general enough to be applied to any trip in order to determine the overall displacement from a statement of the legs. Two of the four trips (at least one of which is a three-legged trip) should be mathematically analyzed to provide the supporting evidence for your conclusion; work should be shown, labeled and discussed in an organized fashion.
View: Teacher's Guide || Data Table
Lab 2: As the Crow Flies
Question:
What is the as-the-crow-flies displacement from the Physics room (Room 332) to an assigned location in the school?
Purpose:
To determine the as-the-crow-flies displacement from the Physics room (Room 332) to a designated location within the school.
A complete lab write-up includes a Title, a Purpose, a Data section, and a Conclusion. The Data section should include a table of the magnitude and the direction of each of your hallway displacements used to reach your assigned destination. The number (or letter) of the destination should be indicated. This section should also include a trigonometric analysis of the data and a scaled vector diagram analysis; the analyses should be organized, labeled and follow-able. All work should be shown for your trigonometric analysis. In the scaled vector diagram: indicate a scale, label the magnitudes of all vectors, place arrowheads on all vectors, draw and label the resultant, identify the measured and scaled-up magnitude of the resultant and identify the direction of the resultant. The Conclusion should respond to the question raised in the Purpose.
View: Teacher's Guide
Lab 3: Where Am I?
Question:
What is the ultimate destination which results from the combination of three displacement vectors?
Purpose:
To identify the ultimate destination which results from the combination of three displacement vectors.
A complete lab write-up includes a Title, a Purpose, a Data section, and a Conclusion. The Data section should include the provided table. For each vector, the vector should be sketched and labeled with magnitude and angle with respect to a nearby axis; the N-S and E-W components should be calculated; work should be organized and labeled. The final destination should be identified. The Conclusion responds to the question raised in the Purpose (as always).
View: Teacher's Guide || Data Table
Lab 4: Launcher Speed
Question:
What is the launch speed of the projectile launcher?
Purpose:
To determine the launch speed of the projectile launcher.
A complete lab write-up includes a Title, a Purpose, a Data section, and a Conclusion. The Data section should include a diagram of the experimental setup with measured distances (or customary symbols for pertinent quantities) indicated on the diagram. There should be several trials of good dx data values; units should be indicated. An average dx value should be reported and subsequently used to calculate the launch speed. The calculations should be organized and clear, identifying the symbols of the variables being used in multiplication and division steps in addition to the numerical quantities. The Conclusion responds to the question raised in the Purpose (as always).
View: Teacher's Guide || Target Sheet
Lab 5: Maximum Range
Question:
How does the angle of launch effect the range of an angle-launched projectile and what angle provides for the maximum range?
Purpose:
To determine the effect of the angle of launch upon the range (i.e., the horizontal displacement) of an angle-launched projectile and to determine the angle which results in the maximum range.
A complete lab write-up includes a Title, a Purpose, a Data section, a Conclusion and a Discussion of Results. The Data section should include a table of data with labeled column headings and units. The provided graph should be included with data points accurately plotted to show range as a function of angle. The Conclusion should respond to the two questions raised in the Purpose of the lab. The Discussion of results should include theoretical predictions of range for 30¡, 45¡ and 60¡. Work should be clearly organized and shown. An error analysis should be included using the results of the theoretical predictions and other information from textbook readings.
View: Teacher's Guide
Lab 6: Hit the Target
Question:
Given the horizontal distance from a projectile launcher to a target, at what height must the target be placed in order for the projectile to strike it?
Purpose:
To predict the height at which a target must be placed upon a vertical board a given distance from the angled launcher in order for the projectile to strike the target.
A complete lab write-up includes a Title, a Purpose, a Data section, and a Conclusion/Discussion. The Data section should include a diagram of the experimental set-up with distances and angles listed upon the diagram. The launch speed (from previous lab) should be listed. A complete and organized solution to the challenge should be shown. Calculations should identify the symbols of the variables being used in multiplication and division steps in addition to the numerical quantities. A percent error analysis should be performed; work should be shown and labeled. The Conclusion/Discussion should state the predicted height and identify whether the result was successful or not.
View: Teacher's Guide || Target Sheet
Also Available ...
Physics teachers may find the following
for-sale tools to be useful supplements to our Lesson Plan and Pacing Guide section:
- 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.
- 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)
- 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)
- 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)