Grade: 9-12

Content Area: Science

Course Name: Physics

Description of Unit: During this unit students will learn a set of skills that are required to do most activities in physics. These skills include making measurements properly, graphing data and determining the relationships of the data, determining error analysis within measurements and calculations, and developing problem-solving techniques including dimensional analysis.

Approximate Time Needed: 9-14 days

Lesson

Duration

Supporting Target

Resources

Assessment

1

1-2 days

I can make measurements properly.

I can suggest ways to improve the data collection and analysis.

Measurement Challenge Exploration

Making and Using Measurement Presentation

Pre

2

1 day

I can demonstrate how unit consistency and dimensional analysis can guide the calculation of quantitative solutions.

Unit Conversion and Significant Digit Practice

Formative

3

1-2 days

I can make length measurements properly.

I can graph data in a spreadsheet and find the slope of the line of best fit.

I can find the percent error and discuss sources of error.

Determination of Pi

Formative

4

1-2 days

I can make mass and time measurements properly.

I can graph data in a spreadsheet.

I can discuss the relationships between variables.

Gum Mass versus Time

Formative

5

1-2 days

I can use significant figures and an understanding of accuracy and precision in scientific measurements to determine and express the uncertainty of a result.

I can relate the reliability of data to consistency of results, identify sources of error, and suggest ways to improve the data collection and analysis.

I can conduct an experiment using proper experimental design.

Pendulum Period Inquiry Lab

Summative

6

3-4 Days

I can solve a problem in a systematic way.

I can use the metric system of units to estimate, calculate, and communicate quantities.

Problem Solving Introduction

That’s Ginormous Activity

Formative

7

1 Day

I can solve a problem in a systematic way.

I can use the metric system of units to estimate, calculate, and communicate quantities.

Fictional Physics - Measurement and Calculation

Fictional Physics - Measurement Student Worksheet

Summative

Activity

Notes to Instructors

Measurement Challenge Exploration

Activity:

Materials: rulers, balances, stopwatch(or cell phone), paper hole punches

For the width of the paper you can have students use books, and the paper hole punches are easily obtained if your school has a copier that hole-punches. You could always substitute some other small object.

Instruct students to develop a plan of action, it is suggested that you tell them that you will not be giving any hints on how to do this for 5 minutes. Students will probably struggle with how to measure something that is so small. They may need a hint to lead them to measuring many of the item. However, try to hold off on giving them these hints so they have a chance to problem solve.

Discussion:

Lead the students through the discussion questions. Make sure you discuss the following:

• Are there any outliers in the data? What makes them outliers?
• Do two answers have to agree perfectly to the nth place to be the same value? What place should they agree to? This will be discussed more in the introduction.
• Which value would you expect to similar but not identical? (blinking)
• What did they do/can be done to improve the measurements that were made.

Time: 45 minutes

Making and Using Measurement Presentation

This presentation was designed with individual student review in mind. It has embedded videos that students can use to flesh out the knowledge shared in slides. As a teacher you could use this and the other presentations in this curriculum in one of the following ways:

• In the classroom, roughly as is (may need to make fonts bigger).
• As a starter for your own presentation.
• As the beginnings of your own flipped classroom video to share with your students.
• As an assignment to students to view on their own time.
• A review, either individual or class.

The significant figures with calculations can be confusing to students, plan on working several examples beyond what is in the presentation along with students so they can get their questions answered as you work through some.

Time: 45 minutes

Unit Conversion and Significant Digit Practice

Answers to practice problems:

1. 59 lbs; 4650 m; 525,600 min; 0.0224 kg/mL

2. 7.7 min

3. 1.5768 x 109 sec

4. answers vary

5. 3; 1; 2; 1; 3; 2

6. 11.30; 14.9; 412.52

7. 0.217; 0.12; 4.2 x 1010

8. 23; 6.8; 1.5

9. 15400; 6.05; 0.0254

10. 320 m; 0.073 L; 4.0 x 102 kg; 0.0439 km or 4.39 x 10-2 km; 0.0943 kg or 9.43 x 10-2 kg; 0.00634 or 6.34 x 10-3 kg

11. 300 g or 0.3 kg, 700 m or 0.7 km, 2000 m2 (with sig figs), 30 m/s (with sig figs).

Determination of Pi

To set up this activity, you may want to collect lids of various sizes. Use a bag to hold 4 or 5 for each group and add a piece of string. The string will be used to help make the circumference measurement.

You will need to monitor the students as they are recording data. Check to see that they are using the correct significant figures with the metric rulers. After pi is found, you will want to come back to the sig figs in a discussion of error analysis.

Finding pi will require the students to graph the circumference versus the diameter. They will be using a spreadsheet to make this easier. Since this is the first time many students will be using the spreadsheet, you may want to go over the steps as a large group in a computer lab. Spreadsheet for Pi Video

As an optional step, you can have the students create calculated columns on the spreadsheet for pi of each lid and the percentage error of each trial. These optional columns can be added into the discussion at the end.

Suggestions for the discussion would be to do this as a large group discussion. If time is running out, any remaining questions could be done as an exit/entrance question on a notecard.

Time: 20 minutes for data collection, 40 minutes for spreadsheet calculations, 20 minutes for discussion of significant figures and error analysis.

Gum Mass versus Time

To set up this activity, you will need 3 pieces of bubble gum per student. The gum needs to be regular, not sugar free and should have a fair size to it. You will also need to provide each group with either a triple beam balance or electronic scale that measures to the tenth of a gram.

Emphasize that the wrapper is used to keep the gum off the scale’s pan so that they can continue to chew it. The mass of the wrapper will be subtracted off once the data is in the spreadsheet.

This will be the second time using the spreadsheet so there should be some familiarity with it but we will be adding a new item. The $s are used to fix the row and column as a fill of a formula is performed. Spreadsheet for Gum Video (Note: This video has some extra parts at the end for a specific way to report the student’s findings.)

Once students have a graph, we are expecting to see an indirect relationship that goes towards an asymptote. As the gum is chewed, sugar is being dissolved and ingested. The limit of the asymptote is the gum ingredients that will not dissolve.

Time: 30 minutes for data collection, 30 minutes for spreadsheet calculations, 20 minutes for discussion of lab. Data collection can be shortened if students are using an electronic scale. The discussion can be done as a typed doc that can be electronically shared with you if you have them make an image similar to the video. Discussion could also be done as large group or exit/entrance tickets on notecards to save time.

Pendulum Period Inquiry Lab

This inquiry lab is designed to be a summative assessment for the content in this unit.

Materials: String, masses(ie washers, nuts), ruler, stopwatch

This activity assumed that students already understand experimental design. If you feel that your students have not covered this adequately in earlier science courses, you should plan activities to address this.

Teacher preparation for this activity should be pretty minimal as the students will be designing the lab themselves. Be prepared to answer questions students might have, but try to do so in a way that is guiding them through the process rather than just telling them what to do. The only relationship students should be finding is one with the length. The mass can sometimes have a weak relationship due to depending on how it is done adding more mass can effectively change the pendulum length. Pull back amount does have a weak relationship, that becomes more apparent for large angles. A grading rubric is included for scoring.

Time: 45 - 90 minutes Depending on the amount of time expected for student work outside of the class.

Problem Solving Introduction

This introduction takes the student through the 5-step problem solving process that will be recommended for this course. It is recommended that the instructor becomes familiar with this approach so that problems are solved in a consistent manner throughout the course. The video on the last slide will be particularly helpful for the students to watch. It is recommended that you work out the problems at the end of the presentation as a class so that students become familiar with the process.

Time: 45 minutes

That’s Ginormous Activity

This activity is intended to again allow students to practice the skills learned in this unit along with the problem solving approach outlined in the introduction. Each unit going forward will have at least one activity where evidence of this approach is required of the student.

Materials: Ruler and/or Meter Stick, Ping Pong Balls, String (optional for measuring around arm), Pencils

As in the Pendulum Lab, be sure that you are familiar with processes that will work to solve each problem, a brief outline is given here:

• Activity 1 - Arm Hair: Students can treat their arm as roughly a cylinder and find the surface area of just the side of said cylinder using its height times the circumference. Students can then box off a small segment of their arm and find the area of that segment and count the number of hairs in that segment. Multiplying the total area by the hairs/area will solve it.
• Activity 2 - Ping Pong Balls: This can be done by dividing the volume of the room by the volume of the ball, but spheres do not pack 100%, more like 74% depending on the efficiency of the packing. This could be a good discussion. Students can also find how many balls would line up along each dimension of the room. This will give the lowest estimation of the value.
• Activity 3 - Steps: Students will need to look up the circumference of the Earth, unless you want them to measure it which is a fun activity, maybe just discuss how it can be done. They will then need to figure their step distance.
• Activity 4 - Pencil Lead: Students will need to measure how much their lead decreases with a given length of line. They will then need to figure out the total amount of lead to be used. A mechanical pencil would be much easier for this.

It is recommended that you have a discussion of this activity in class. Are the answers identical, are they comparable within their precision? Did the students all use the same method? What novel methods were used? There is a rubric for grading. The process should be emphasized over the answer.

Time: 90 - 135 minutes depending on the abilities of the students involved.

Fictional Physics - Measurement and Calculation

Fictional Physics - Measurement Student Worksheet

The purpose of this activity is to allow students to apply to what they have learned to a very novel situation. There will be a Fictional Physics to use to assess students skills at the end of each unit. This first one focuses on matters of scale, the main concept being assessed is that of problem solving.

Materials - No materials are needed other than access to the internet.

This can be done in class or at home. There really should be very little teacher involvement other than giving students hints. Students should find that they are about 1000 times taller than an ant so their weight would scale down 10003 but there strength would only scale down 10002 so their strength to weight ratio would go up by a factor of 1000, meaning an ant lifting 10 times its weight is not impressive. Conversely, if you were scaled up to a 5 story building (about 15 m so 7.5 times their height), their strength to weight ratio would go down by 7.5 so assuming they can lift even 3 times their weight, they still wouldn’t even be able to stand up.

In the class discussion you may want to bring up other issues of scale, would our organs in their current state scale down by 1000X and still function for example? Would our cells work if they were scaled up 7.5 times? The answer to both of these is no. It should be clear to the students you can’t scale up or down by too much and maintain proportions!

Time: 45 minutes