Physics at Bakken, Teacher's room

An amusement park is a large physics laboratory, full of inclines and circles, accelerated and rotating coordinate systems, velocity, force, acceleration and energy.

An school visit to an amusement park raises a lot of expectations. The learning outcome depends to a large extent on preparations. The rides do not, by themselves, radiate knowledge.

Imagine being at Bakken. You hear the sound from the rides, and smell waffles and cotton candy. Choose one of the rides and write a letter to the ride, asking questions about what you would like to know.

This type of introduction enables you as a teacher to base the teaching in questions from the students. We have found that the questions are essentially independent of the age of the students: How many g's? How fast? How high? How old are you? How far do you travel? What happens if ...? Some questions might be answered before, others may be investigated during the visit, using measuring tape, timer and a notebook. Groups of 4-6 students may be given the task to look closer to a couple of rides and present their findings to the rest of the class.

Inspiration for different investigations can be found in these pages, but also from the www-pages from Physics Days, from Slagkraft or from other links or articles.

Do not try everything during the first visit! Please feel free to mail questions.


http://physics.gu.se/LISEBERG/bakken/teachers.html

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