Banked Curves – A Physics Project Based Learning Activity (PBL)

Description

This is an engaging, problem-based inquiry activity that gets your students to examine banked curves to solve a real-life problem and learn to think critically. Designed for science students in high school physics, this activity is NGSS, Common Core, and STEM-aligned and uses common experiences and materials to apply your lessons in a meaningful way. Your resource is fully-editable and can be uploaded to your class site or printed for students’ use.

Learning Goals:

– Develop a set of reliable mathematical procedures that can be used to solve a real world problem

– Properly draw free body diagrams for objects on an inclined plane

– Perform calculations using the centripetal acceleration equation

Prerequisites:

– Newton’s Second Law

– Free Body Diagrams

– Centripetal Force and Acceleration

NGSS

HS-PS2-1 Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions

This activity will motivate and engage your students and force them to think critically, analyze a common situation, apply what they’ve learned in a meaningful way, problem-solve and work collaboratively.

In this activity, your students’ job is to:

1) Apply what they have learned both inside and outside the classroom to solve the posed problem in the best way possible

2) Conduct their own research to decide if they need to learn anything else in order to solve the problem

3) Make sure they answer all the questions you asked them by collecting data and providing evidence and reasoning for their responses.

Your complete resource includes a student and teacher version. The student version contains the basic information they can use to design and carry out their experiment. The teacher version includes the answer key, look-fors as well as teacher tips tricks to make everything go smoothly.

Here are some additional PBLs you might be interested in.

Physics:

• The Scientific Method

• Banked Curves

• Conservation of Energy

• Friction Safety

• The Electric Home

Chemistry:

• Polymers

If you have any questions, please send me an email – devon@teachwithfergy.com