CJH Science Teachers Present at National Conference

Elaine Smith — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 19:03:38 +0000

CJH Science teachers Leanna Aker and Phil Moseley presented Toys and Technology-Using Hot Wheels® to Teach Motion at last week’s National Science Teachers Association Conference in Portland. This was one of fourteen short courses which were available to conference participants at additional cost. Fifty teachers bought a ticket to this session and several others had to be turned away at the door.

Mrs. Aker and Mr. Moseley shared their development of a sequential series of activities, including both guided and open-ended inquiry, to teach motion and energy to ninth-grade students. Using a Hot Wheels® track and cars purchased using money they were awarded from a Toyota TAPESTRY grant and Vernier software students collect data that would match the desired uses of the track and cars.

During this unit of study students work through twenty labs involving velocity, instantaneous/average speed, frame of reference, acceleration, Newton’s laws, and energy. Emphasis is placed on hands-on experiential learning, which is supported by teacher-led discussion. These activities offer many opportunities for inquiry learning where students have the opportunity to plan and carry out their own experiments.

During their presentation the two teachers shared the processes involved in obtaining the grant and producing the templates, and discussed how these activities relate to state and national standards. A highlight of the session for participants was the ability to engage in some of the lab activities themselves.

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CJH Science Teachers Present at National Conference