Hot Hits at The Physics Classroom

Every Saturday we highlight three resources that have received particularly heavy traffic from website visitors during the past week. This week's winners are …

1.Newton's Third Law at The Tutorial

Pages on Newton's Laws are always popular pages on our website. This week, the Newton's Third Law page at our Tutorial was particularly popular. This is the first of a two-page lesson describing Newton's so-called law of action-reaction. There are so many misconceptsions among students regarding the topic; the lesson addresses common misconceptions and difficulties. Force is described as a push or pull that results from an object's interaction with another object. As the page puts it, "forces always come in pairs" - action-reaction force pairs (or better yet, interaction force pairs).

https://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/newtlaws/Lesson-4/Newton-s-Third-Law

2. Interference Concept Builder

The Wave Interference Concept Builder targets student understanding of what interference is, of the distinction between constructive and destructive interference, and of how the principle of superposition can be used to determine the shape of the resultant wave (or wave sum) that results from the interference of two waves. There are 20 total questions organized into 10 different Question Groups and spread across three different activities.

https://www.physicsclassroom.com/Concept-Builders/Waves-and-Sound/Interference

3. Roller Coaster Model at The Physics Interactives

One of this week's hottest simulations was the Roller Coaster Model. This Interactive allows a learner to study the interplay between forces, accelerations, velocities, and kinetic and potential energies for a roller coaster car. The track can be modified by lowering and raising strategic locations and by changing the amount of curvature of loops and hills. The simulation is accompanied by a classroom-ready exercise. It is an HTML5, mobile-friendly Interactive that suits itself as an ideal accompaniment to any classroom, but especially for the 1:1 classroom.

https://www.physicsclassroom.com/Physics-Interactives/Newtons-Laws/Free-Body-Diagrams

Children's Science - How to Make a Lemon Battery

Earliest forms of batteries were made towards the end of 18th century. In fact, it was in the year 1799 AD that the first battery was made by Alessandro Volta. Since then, batteries have been improvised time and again; and are used to operate many different machines. Basic principle used in the working of a battery is the transfer of electrons from one electrode to the other when they are dipped in a chemical solution that conducts electricity. The lemon battery made at home also makes use of this principle. This activity provides straight-forward directions for making a lemon battery. Enjoy at ... 

https://www.ibuzzle.com/articles/how-to-make-a-lemon-battery.html

Concept Builders Version 2.0

We have been working very hard on Concept Builders these past two months. We are about to release Version 2.0 of the program. Our developer, who is also a high school Physics teacher, has been testing Version 2 with his own students. He reports that it is working very well. There are some improvements needed with the Teacher module. Once done, Version 2 Concept Builders will be available for "public consumption."

So what is a Version 2 Concept Builder? A Version 2 Concept Builder is like a typical Concept Builder with some added functionality. The additions allow students and teachers to use an account and log-in system in combination with the Concept Builders, allowing student progress on a Concept Builder to be automatically saved and retrieved during the session. So with Version 2, a teacher creates an account, makes courses, adds students to the courses (a very easy task), and decides on what Concept Builders will be assigned to each class. The chosen Concept Builders then populate an Assignment Board that students can view. Students then log into our website and view their assigned Concept Builders. Once they start the Concept Builder (by a click on a link on their Assignment Board), the Concept Builder opens and their username is atuomatically displayed in the Name Entry field. When the Main Menu screen opens, the trophies for any previously completed Difficulty Levels will be displayed. As the student complete Difficulty Level,s the details are stored in a database, allowing teachers to view progress for each student on each assignment. 

We have never recommended using Concept Builders as out-of-the-classroom assignments. There has simply been no means of keeping track of student completion of the work. With Version 2, all that will change. Teachers who love CBs and who have been desparate to assign them have typically resorted to a screen-shot method ("Take a screen of your Main Menu with the trophies displayed.") As we feared, students of such teachers typically learned that such screen shots can be easily PhotoShopped. Now with Version 2 Concept Builders there will be no more need to screen shot one's trophies. Simply acquire an account, populate your classes with students, and confidently assign Concept Builders for homework. (But don't forget, they still work great in the classroom as well.)

So in a few short weeks, we will be announcing the opportunity to try out Version 2.0 for FREE. Stay tuned. And once announced, please join in and see why we are so excited about Version 2.0 Concept Builders. Learn more about Version 2 on our website at:

https://www.physicsclassroom.com/Concept-Builders/Version-2