EMERYVILLE 2002 SUMMER SCHOOL
JOURNAL


Overall Idea:

This group of 8th graders are deficient in math and science and need to make significant improvements before moving into high school. Our goal is to explain the general concept of kinematics through three weeks of simple hands-on activities. The 4-day weeks will contain three days of graded activities (the fourth day is reserved for field trips).

The three days of activities will be organized by concepts, with corresponding computer simulations, hands-on group work, individual measurements, and class discussions. The overreaching goal of this method is to engage the students in inquiry, so they will take a questioning nature with them into high school.

Motivations – Skateboards & Rockets:

  • rope: action/reaction
  • ramps: comparison of acceleration to mass
  • large graph paper on ground corresponding to real graph paper
  • model rockets (air-powered)

Connections:
  • writing lab book
  • plotting
  • algebra

Field Trips:
  • Chabot – Challenger Mission Exhibit
  • Exploratorium

Breakdown by week

Weeks 1–3: Mass, Volume, Density [Carol Balfe will do]

Week 4: Speed/Velocity, Acceleration
  • displacement, path, speed, velocity
  • vector sums
  • constant motion – no force
  • change of motion – force

    • Week 5: Force – Newton’s Laws
  • mass
  • F=ma
  • inertia
  • why is acceleration of gravity independent of mass?

    • Week 6: Action/Reaction – Rockets
  • actions and reaction
  • a force is to pull/push
  • how does a rocket work?


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