Hands on Learning 1 Enhancing Student Learning of Newton s First Law using a Student Built Hover puck Thomas Pearse Department of Physics State University of New York Buffalo State College 1300 Elmwood Ave Buffalo NY 14222 tpearse buffaloschools org Hands on Learning 2 Abstract This paper describes a five dollar hover puck that can be built in the classroom in about thirty five minutes The hover puck can be used for discussion points and demonstrations to help students reform their conceptions on how moving bodies act according to Newton s first law of motion Acknowledgement This paper is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements necessary for PHY690 Masters Project at SUNY Buffalo State College under the guidance of Dr Dan MacIsaac Dr Steven Szczepankiewicz and Dr Phillip Sheridan of the Canisius College Science Camp also contributed to the development of this manuscript Hands on Learning 3 The Research Educational professionals have advocated both the processes and significance of hands on education for over forty years Knezek 2000 The primary source I refer to about hands on teaching of Newtonian Physics and the first law of inertia is Teaching Introductory Physics by Arnold Arons 1997 Through reading Arons I came to believe that a qualitative understanding of physical laws improves retention and primes the student for subsequent quantitative description Arons states that Learners must be confronted with direct experience and with contradictions and inconsistencies in such ways as to induce them to articulate lines of argument and reasoning in their own words and to lead them to abandon the deep seated plausible intuitive preconceptions that impede development of the contra intuitive but correct view Arons 1997 pg 57 Arons draws focus to the difficulty newcomers in physics have with understanding Newton s law of inertia due to being burdened with common sense ideas about the behavior of moving bodies Arons 1997 pg 59 Arons argues that due to a lifetime of experiencing motion within the confines of Earth s gravitational field students have a difficult time imagining bodies that when in motion do not come to rest on their own Arons suggests to his readers that they slide a 50 lb block of dry ice across the floor while making several guided observations This demonstration provided a large group of students a very real and significant base of observation needed for understanding the law of inertia Regents Physics Needs Arons advice about creating real experiences inspired my search for ways to demonstrate the nature of Newton s law of inertia My goal was to counter the students misconceptions about motion that are reinforced by their daily experiences One solution was to use a hover puck The Hands on Learning 4 basic operating principal of the hover puck is to lift the body of the hover puck on a cushion of air to greatly reduce friction as shown in figure 1 Fig 1 Hover puck Cross Section The cross section shows how air flows through the body of the hover puck Note that the exhaust vents need to be placed so that air is released into the inside of the skirt bubble where it then escapes under the skirt lifting the hover puck off of the floor The inertial properties of the hover puck become more observable once friction is reduced With Fig 1 a gentle push by hand a properly built hover puck can travel as much as one hundred meters with no apparent reduction in velocity Students will begin to form a foundation for their future framework of understanding through observing the inertial qualities of the hover puck The first hover puck I used was a hard plastic disc with a built in fan that was purchased for about 45 dollars The item is commercially called a Kick Dis Power Puck and was sold in local toy stores Carlson 2004 This was a great toy and remains in my classroom for smaller and quickly accessed demos One manuscript I read used the Kick Dis Power Puck in the physics classroom to teach kinematics and dynamics Sorensen 2007 The one problem I constantly had was the limited clearance of the Kick Dis s hard plastic skirt When attempting to push the Kick Dis long distances I found that even newer hallways in the school are uneven and the disc would often bottom out slowing down or changing direction due to increased friction Over the span of two years I tried other hover puck models For instance the student built compact disc which uses a balloon to force air between a compact disc and the surface the disc is sitting on White 2008 This disc works well for a table top demonstration but is limited to that Hands on Learning 5 type of surface due again to a hard plastic skirt I tried the single person hovercraft that students ride on which operates using a batter powered leaf blower Mauser 2005 The larger scale hovercraft did not work out due to safety concerns raised by school administrators During the summer of 2008 while working with the Canisius College Science Camp I had the opportunity and challenge of designing an inexpensive yet reliable hover puck that students could build with limited adult supervision and support After several weeks of testing we developed a hover puck that works incredibly well on most indoor surfaces that can be built for as little as five dollars The five dollar hover puck can be built by students in about thirty five minutes INSERT FIG 2 Image of the five dollar hover puck ABOUT HERE Unlike the previously mentioned hover pucks the five dollar hover puck is constructed with a soft skirt allowing it to travel farther on less than perfect surfaces The five dollar hover puck travels over fifty meters of hallway without showing significant slowing The five dollar hoverpuck can be used outside in a parking lot if the school halls aren t long enough The five dollar hover puck can carry the weight of a book and still perform the same as it does with only the battery pack For these reasons along with the relatively low cost of construction I recommend using the five dollar hover puck over other models Hover puck Classroom Activities Demonstrating Newton s first law with a hover puck provides students with real experiences thereby meeting a requirement set by Arons 1997 for a significant learning opportunity These experiences are manufactured to provide students new observations that work to change preconceptions brought with them into the classroom Arons 1997 Hands on Learning 6 I used the hover puck with my class over a three day period On the first day
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