SMARTPHYSICSLAB for International Community
SMARTPHYSICSLAB for International Community
Join SMARTPHYSICSLAB
SMARTPHYSICSLAB is an international "initiative to find an exchange ideas and resources for creative physics laboratory activities," led by physics educators in France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, the United States, Uruguay. The website includes a growing list of activities with detailed teacher guides, student instructions, and sample data. Fill out the simple information form to become a part of the community!
Educational Applications
Getting to Know Your Smartphone Magnetometer
The National Association of Geology Teachers (NAGT) provides an in-depth resources for teaching students how to use their magnetometers with Physics Toolbox (with separate instructions for Android and iOS).
A Teacher-Research Collaboration in Building Scientific Competencies
These conference proceedings for ESERA'19 describe how Italian high school teachers and researchers worked together to explore how a hands-on data collection activity could prepare students for their national physics exam (see article starting on page 1597).
Terrestrial Magnetism Studies
This article describes how students in a non-major physics class crowdsourced data to look at magnetic field variations across campus.
Magna-AR in the UK
BHASVIC Physics shared a visualization of the inclination of the Earth's magnetic field. Follow @bhasvicphysics for more.
Curious to try out Magna-AR yourself? Click below.
Sound Absorption Tests
Check out some wonderful images of student work in Catalonia from @victorlopezsbd. Students lined boxes with various materials, then placed a sound-generating smartphone inside, while measuring the intensity outside with additional smartphones.
Stroboscope and Motion
If you are lucky enough to have a device on which Physics Toolbox's Stroboscope mode works (it is perpetually in beta version because of its numerous incompatibilities), you might check out this Spanish-language article on measuring motion in a collaborative learning environment.
In the News
Energy Expenditure of Full-Time Wheelchair Users
Understanding caloric requirements is important for everyone, including wheelchair users. Researchers from Spain used Physics Toolbox to determine energy use in place of more expensive accelerometers.
"Fingerprinting" for Better Location-Based Data
This article in Nature Publication's Scientific Data journal explored the possibility of using smartphones to improve Location-Based Services where GPS is not practical.
Radiological Imaging and Medical Injectors
Physics Toolbox was used to measure the effect of x-rays and CT scans on on-body injectors (devices used to dose medications).
Smartphones to Monitor Civil Infrastructure
Authors of this article demonstrate how simple materials, including smartphones, can replace more expensive commercial hardware for measuring the degradation of bridges.
Use of Apps for Sensor Activities
On January 26, we presented a virtual workshop for high school science teachers through the University of Santiago Chile (Dept. of Physics) and the Central University (School of Engineering and Architecture).
We know that teachers are ultimately the experts about what they can reasonably do with Physics Toolbox in the classroom, but we're happy to provide guidance and lead conversations in English or Spanish. (Just write to us at support@vieyrasoftware.net).
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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