Teaching and Learning under Quarantine
Teaching and Learning
under Quarantine
Education in an Era of COVID-19
We sincerely hope that all of you are healthy and coping well under quarantine. We also recognize that, as of this writing, schools are closed for over 90% of the world's student population. Educational systems' responses are mixed, with some school systems cancelling classes entirely and others trying to get by with e-learning platforms. For a large portion of teachers, however, many are making do with what they can, from disseminating lesson via WhatsApp or providing bundles of physical materials to families.
In addition the troubling inequities that might arise from the technology gap, teachers are especially challenged when they teach disciplines that usually call for hands-on manipulation of equipment (including many laboratory sciences and vocational topics). We hope that tools like Physics Toolbox can be of some support to teachers and students to fill these kinds of needs, be it for open exploration or more sophisticated lab assignments.
We encourage you to check out our Lessons Page, which has plenty of exploration ideas and a limited number of student worksheets you can copy from Google Docs:
- Introductory Content
- Physics Toolbox Play User Guide (for use with Play mode)
- Secondary / Intro University Content
- General Sensor Exploration Worksheet (also in Spanish)
- Height - Measure tall objects with the inclinometer and trigonometry
- Circular Motion - Measure centripetal acceleration and tangential velocity
- Pressure - Measure height with the ambient pressure sensor
- Gay-Lussac's Law - Measure changes in air pressure, temperature, and humidity in a closed container with an environmental sensor
- Beats - Observer beats using two smartphones
- Speed of Sound in Air - Use a tall tube and cylinder of water to find resonance points (can be accomplished with large straws or paper tubes)
- Color by Addition - Use a dark room and two or more smartphones to project and mix light
- Magnetic Fields - Use the AR capabilities of newer phones to model planetary magnetism (from Magna-AR.net)
- Electromagnetism - Use a battery and wire to observe how flowing current affects the orientation of compass
We also hope that you will share any needs you might have or success stories of doing mobile science, at support@vieyrasoftware.net.
Breaking Your Device with a Magnet
Overcoming a common computer myth
We are often asked by users if it is "ok" to have strong magnets near their phones, for fear that that they will destroy the screen, wipe the device's memory, or destroy the internal magnetic field sensors. Fortunately, many of these concerns are only valid for older technology that depended upon cathode ray tubes (CRT) and floppy disks. (See the video below to see how magnets and flowing electricity interact with one another). To understand whether these fears are founded for modern technology, it is important to first understand what the original role of magnets and magnetism was.
Magna-AR
A companion website for Physics Toolbox AR / Magna-AR
We have recently released a new website, Magna-AR.net, linked to VieyraSoftware.net, that is dedicated specifically to our collaborative AR project with the American Modeling Teachers Association and Embodied Games, Inc. Visit this site to get more specific information about how the app works, as well as forthcoming updates on the project's lessons, research, and technology.
Clever Lab Ideas
Don't forget to check out our Lessons Page for nearly 50 ideas!
Physics educators from the Italian Association of the Teaching of Physics put together a guide to showcase how smartphones can be used in dozens of at-home lab experiences.
New article from The Physics Teacher presents a simple laboratory activity for measuring quadrupole magnetic fields.
Three undergraduates prepared a report showcasing multiple ways to use the smartphone accelerometer in physics laboratories. They notably show a nice setup for suspending a phone as a pendulum.
US teacher Mike Vargas uses cups and magnets to introduce his children to graphs in a fun way while under quarantine during the Easter holiday.
Physics Toolbox around the Web
Smartphones and cows: Australian "agritech" researchers have been using Physics Toolbox to educate about the importance of livestock monitoring.
Follow @mattemagnus to see some great magnetic field visualizations using Physics Toolbox' AR mode.
Physics Toolbox was used in this master's thesis to measure accelerations caused by bridge loading, with the goal to improve civil infrastructure testing technology.
Uruguayan colleague Arturo Martí recently shared that he gave an online seminar for his Latin American colleagues on how to use smartphones for distance learning.
Have Physics Toolbox Apps been useful to you? We'd love to get your feedback on this quick 5-minute survey.
Have a great story to share about how you are using Physics Toolbox Apps? We'd love to feature you and your ideas in our newsletter or on our website! Drop us a message at any time to share your story.
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