The technical skill this project focused on was building a web page using a fluid grid template, making it easy to view a page on a variety of devices, including desktop computers, tablets, and smart phones. The goal was to design a page to be used as part of an activity that goes beyond the walls of a traditional classroom.
Each spring, amusement parks throughout the United States host physics days when the park fills with high school physics students applying what they've learned about mechanics, conservation of energy, and other physics topics to the rides. In my area, the typical destination is Valley Fair in Shakopee, Minnesota. Unfortunately, most of the physics day activities I've seen simply involve having students complete problems about the various rides, largely due to the limited measurements which can be made with most high school lab equipment and the logistical challenges of getting the equipment into students' hands while at the park.
This project struck me as an excellent opportunity to explore how smartphones could be used to overcome the challenges associated with having students make direct measurements at an amusement park. When the majority of students are carrying a smartphone capable of making and recording measurements, the teacher doesn't have to spend the majority of the day checking out sextants and stopwatches to students. In addition, a variety of apps for both Android and iOS allow students to make very direct measurements of speed and acceleration, opening up new possibilities for the kinds of analysis students can perform on a ride. As a result, the m-learning page I wrote can not only serve as a reference for students as they explore the amusement park, but a gateway for completing the project almost entirely on a smartphone.
Valley Fair Physics Day Mobile Learning
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