Review for:Vernier Force Plate

posted: on June 4, 2007 at 1:11PM

Physics

Forces (Normal force)

I want students to understand the role of the normal force, as well as work on Newton's IIIrd Law.

Intro or Regular

I connect the force plate to my computer connected to the smartboard (all can see the LoggerPro software.) Then I have one student stand on the plate and I turn on the software. It records the student's weight in Newtons. I then ask the class to predict what the display will show if the student jumps up and then lands on the plate. Students come up to the smartboard and draw their ideas. Then we have the jump. The plate shows a dip in the force as the student prepares to jump, an increase in the force as the student is jumping up, NO force when the student is not tocuhing the plate, increased force as the student lands, a bit of a decrease as the student stands up from landing, and the original weight at the end. We draw pictures to show what was happening at each stage. If there is time I expand by asking how the display would look if someone jumped off, or on, or jumped with locked knees, or caught a backpack, etc.

Provides visualization or animation, Increases graphing skills, Increases student engagement and motivation

While only one student can jump on the plate at a time, all of them can be involved in predicting the display graph. It can also be used in the elevator. Students really seem to get that the ground "pushes" you up when looking at it on the scale.

expensive. Could probably not reasonably be used in small lab groups given the propensity of 9th graders to get too excited jumping on and off things...