Phantastic Physics Phriday

Every Friday in Physics we take part of class to do something different. Something that isn't notes, worksheets or labs that require lab reports. Sometimes we watch a video sometimes we have a building/creating/problem solving challenge.

For the problem solving challenge today the instructions were given one at a time instead of all at the beginning. The students didn't know what the final challenge would be until the end. They had to complete each step and then wait for further instructions. This helps balance out the students who work very fast and very slow.

Today's Phantastic Physics Phriday Challenge Activity:

1. Students were given a piece of cardstock, a pushpin and a pre-cut piece of string. They were told to tie the string to the pushpin.
2. Then they were told that they had to use the string/pushpin and a writing utensil to draw a perfect (or as close as they could get) circle on their cardstock. No further instructions about how to do that were given. Students could ask for additional materials if they wanted.
3. The students had to cut out their circle, keeping it as close to a circle as possible.
4. The students were told that they would be using their cardstock circle as a measuring device and that they needed to calculate its circumference.
5. They were told that they would be using their circle to measure a distance on a flat surface. They could add any additional marks or measurements to their circle to make it into a measuring device. They were reminded that having more graduations on a measuring tool makes it more precise, but only if the placement of the markings was accurate to begin with.
6. Seven markings were placed on the table and labeled A through G. Each student was given a distance to measure, A-C or B-F, etc. Each student had a different distance so that there would be less comparing of answers.
7. Students were allowed to measure their distance multiple times and add markings to their circle. They were not allowed to make any marks on the table or use any additional materials, to increase friction and get the circle to roll better for example.
8. The students submitted their measurements on a piece of paper as a competition to see who got closest to the actual distance.

Overall this went really well today. We actually had 5 students get with in 0.3 cm of the actual measurement and the distances were all between 20-60 cm. It was fun to see the different strategies employed by various students.

Definitely a successful adventure.