Imaging Physics - Motion

The fall semester of physics focuses on mechanics. That is to say, forces, motion, momentum, and conservation of energy. These concepts are often very hard for students to understand. Most students are typically unable to relate the math involved with actual examples of real world motion.

Students, working in groups of four, will investigate real world motion. Each group will stage and capture a video of motion using the digital cameras and then explain the physics behind that motion. Groups will have to get their topic cleared to ensure we cover the widest range of example types. Students will use a program called LoggerPro (which the school already owns) to do video analysis of their motion. Video analysis allows students to plot the position of an object or objects in every frame of a video to precisely determine position, velocity, and acceleration of objects.

Once their motion has been analyzed, students will create multimedia presentations of their findings. They will be able to insert their video into their presentations and they will write text and create additional diagrams to further explain what is actually happening. These presentations will be made available to the other students as they are completed via the school server and will be burned to a CD (or DVD depending on the final size) to be sent home with students to aid in studying for their final exams. In the end, the students themselves will create a better resource for reviewing the semester's material than would be available through the textbook or course notes alone.

There is some overlap in the material presented in the junior/senior physics class and the freshman physical science course. Where appropriate, the presentations created in physics will be used to support the instruction of the freshman class.