The topic I chose to investigate is the different states of energy and how energy is transferred and transformed. This would lead my students to dive into the concepts of potential and kinetic energy. There are lots of exciting ways to engage the students when introducing these topics. Dropping an egg from different heights, dropping other items that bounce are good ways as well.
As I was searching for different websites there was a common theme throughout them. Roller Coasters! Every little bit of a roller coaster ride displays a different state of energy.
This website has an animation of a roller coaster and at every point where the cart has a different state of energy it explains what type of energy it is.
I enjoyed this website because it has a large amount of websites that can give the students information about roller coasters.
This link is to an “offline” activity. Students will design their own roller coaster with certain stipulations. To add a little bit of flair, students will be given an iPod touch and told to video blog their triumphs and tribulations. Students will then show their video to the class and demonstrate their roller coaster and explain why they did what they did.
I think students would really enjoy doing this activity. The standards for Virginia want the students to be able to differentiate between potential and kinetic energy, and design or create a diagram to illustrate energy transformations (http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/sol/standards_docs/science/index.shtml).
Our school is equipped with many different types of technology. Every classroom has a SmartBoard, two student computers and wireless internet. Our school also has flip cameras and a classroom set of iPod touches. We often run into the problems of the internet not working exactly the way it should. This has been the largest problem we’ve faced these past 2 years. The other problem we frequently run into is the use of the computer labs. I would gladly do more graphing and activities on the computers except our computer labs have 25 computers and I have 1 out of 4 classes with under 25 students. Also, we have to go to a computer lab, and I need to reserve that lab in advance. If my classes get off schedule and we do not make it into the lab on the day I reserved then it is taken by another teacher.
I am envious of the teachers in our educational videos that we watch, the students all have tablets that they have IN their science classrooms. The students can immediately put their data into a table in a computer program and quickly generate a graph immediately. If I was able to have this resource at my fingertips I would be able to bring many more 21st century skills to my students.
