Labs for Work and Energy

Lesson Plans || Learning Outcomes and Activities || Teacher Notes || Labs

We have a collection of ~150 labs in the Laboratory section of the website. Each lab was intended to be used with a lab notebook where students report their data and findings and state their conclusion with supporting evidence and reasoning. The intent was to provide a relatively clear purpose (or question) to students that they would need to address AND to limit the amount of directions. The hope is that the purposes and students' ability to design a procedure would drive the lab activity (in contrast to a detailed set of step-by-step procedures being the driving force of students' activity). As such, each of our labs comes with a Question and Purpose and a short paragraph describing what should be included in students' lab report. On occassion, students are also provided a graphic organizer, data table, or other item to be taped into their notebook. The following pages may be useful for those teachers who wish to adopt or simply trial our Labs with a Purpose approach:

Our Thoughts on the Approach || About Lab Notebooks || Teacher Guides for All Labs

Lab 1 - It's All Uphill

Question:
What effect does varying the angle of incline have upon the force needed to pull a cart up a hill at a constant speed to the same height? What effect does a varying incline angle have upon the work done?

Purpose:
To determine the effect of the angle of incline upon the force needed and upon the work done when pulling a cart up an incline to the same height at a constant speed.

A complete lab write-up includes a Title, a Purpose, a Data section, and a Conclusion/Discussion of Results. The Data section should include the provided table and graphs. A single sample calculation of the work should be shown in an organized manner. The Conclusion/Discussion should answer both questions posed in the Purpose and reference specific details from the data and graphs which provide the evidence for such a Conclusion; the link between the evidence and the conclusion should be clearly explained.

View: Teacher's Guide || Data Table

Lab 2 - Push the Plow

Question:
Part 1:  How does increasing the release location of a marble along an incline effect the distance that the marble pushes a paper plow along a level table?
Part 2:  If the incline is twice as hight, what effect does this have upon the release location that is required to push the paper plow the same distance?

Purpose:
Part 1:  To determine the effect of the release location (distance from the bottom) of a marble along an incline upon the distance that a paper plow is pushed along the level table; and … 
Part 2:  To determine how a change in the hill height affects the release location that is required to push the paper plow the same distance.

Your task involves accomplishing this purpose. Record and plot data below and on the reverse side, write a Conclusion in which you make a Claim that addresses the two questions above. Then provide some Evidence and Reasoning that supports the Claim. Your Evidence and Reasoning should be clearly and logically written with very specific references to data values.

View: Teacher's Guide || Data and Graphs
(None available; actual labs will be included in Course Package)

Lab 3 - Energy on an Incline

Question:
What is the relationship between the kinetic energy and the gravitational potential energy for a cart rolling up and down an inclined plane?

Purpose:
To determine the relationship between the kinetic energy and the gravitational potential energy for a cart rolling up and down an inclined plane.

A complete lab report includes a Title, Purpose, Data section, and Conclusion section. The Data should include a taped-in graph from Logger Pro and a Data Table for two points on the graphs. Two time values on the graph should be used in the analysis – one as the cart is rolling upward and the other as the cart is rolling downward. KE, PE, and TME values should be reported in a table for those two times. The Conclusion should include three evidence-based claims about the KE, PE, and TME relationship. The Claims should be clearly stated. Evidence and Reasoning (logic) should be described for each individual claim.

View: Teacher's Guide || Data Table
(None available; actual labs will be included in Course Package)

Also Available ...

1. Task Tracker Subscription (annual purchase)
   A subscription allows teachers to set up classes, add students, customize online assignments, view student progress/scores, and export student scores. Task Tracker accounts allow your students to begin assignments in class or at school and to finish them at home. View our Seat and Cost Calculator for pricing details.
    
2. The Solutions Guide
   We publish a free curriculum with >200 ready-to-use Think Sheets for developing physics concepts. The Solutions Guide is a download containing the source documents, PDFs of source documents, and answers/solutions in MS Word and PDF format. An expanded license agreement is included with the purchase. (Cost: $25 download)
    
3. Teacher Presentation Pack
   This is a large collection of downloadable content packed with nearly 190 Microsoft PowerPoint slide decks, the corresponding Lesson Notes (as PDF and fully-modifiable MS Word format), about 170 animations (in .gif, .png, and .mp4 file formats), a countless number of ready-to-use images (including the original source documents that would allow for easy modification of those images), and a license that allows teachers to modify and use all the content with their classes on password-protected sites (such as course management systems).  (Cost: $40 download)
    
4. Question Bank
   We distribute a Question Bank that includes more than 9300 questions neatly organized according to topic. The Question Bank is the perfect tool for busy teachers or new teachers. Even if you don't use the website with your classes, the Question Bank will assist you in quickly putting together quizzes, tests and other documents with high-quality questions that target student's conceptions of physics principles. And if you do use The Physics Classroom website, the Question Bank is the perfect complement to the materials found at the website. (Cost: $25 download)