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- Age 12 - 13
- Hours 1 - 2
Introduction
Students will understand the interaction of the bodies through the gravitational field (referring to the Solar System), will measure the force of attraction exerted by Earth, will calculate the gravitational acceleration at the place where they live. Students will collaborate and develop projects in which they will apply the knowledge learned using Zappar, StoryJumper and HP Reveal.
Process
1. Drawing attention, stimulating students' interest in the theme of the lesson:
The teacher presents to students the film https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lY3XV_GGV0M – How to Think about Gravity– Jon Bergmann (TEDEd lessons) and asks them to observe the fall of different bodies. This introduces the notions of gravity, gravitational field, attraction force, mass.
2. Understanding the lesson from the Physics textbook. Teacher uses the SINELG Method: explains to students how they use the signs √, +, -,? in the active reading of the lesson. Students reflect on what they read and classify the information in a table. They discuss in groups about the ideas discovered in the text they had just read. Not all students can link previously learned concepts (interaction, force, field,dynamometer) and the new ones (gravitational field, weight, attraction force, gravity acceleration g, G formula calculation). Teacher shows the movie from link 2 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suQDwZcnJdg – Gravity - The Dr. Binocs Show), asks questions and guides the students towards understanding the new concepts.
3. Applying the new knowledge Learning by doing (group work)- Students make measurements for G and mass m using the dynamometer and the weighing scales, calculate the G / m ratios. They compare the results and estimate the value of the gravitational acceleration in the place where they live. Applying the new concepts in another context (critical thinking) – Students use the Zappar application and educational resources provided by www.StoneOakMedia.com about The Rockwell Adventures: Solar System expedition. They have to make measurements (about gravity, diameter, temperature on the planet surface, the length of the day, the composition of the planet) and fill in a worksheet. Project activity: Students will use the information to create a story titled Journey on your favorite planet (using the StoryJumper editor) or they could create a poster My favorite planet (using studio.aurasma.com).
4. Evaluation The Tree of Ideas – group work. The teacher asks students to organize graphically, in the form of a tree, all the important ideas of the activity. The keyword is Gravity. Each group presents in class what they have done. The teacher provides feedback.
Learning Objectives
- Students will be able to: - read different short information, articles for understanding the interaction of bodies through the gravitational field
- - measure the gravitational force using the dynamometer
- - put intopractice the new knowledge: calculating g and G
- - use the new knowledge in a different context (for example: Solar System, Moon gravity, planets gravity)
- - improve reading skills (English and Romanian)
- - develop digital competencies (using different software or applications)
Tools & Equipment
- • Physics textbooks, dynamometers of 1 N and 10 N, kits with marked bodies, weighing scales, different corps, laptop, videoprojector, tablets or smart phones.