Friday, 6 October 2006 - 11:20 AM
Dickinson (Holiday Inn Binghamton - Arena)
225

Seeing the unseeable: demonstrating with technology

Walter Rohr, Vernier Software & Technology, Beaverton, OR

With the use of modern technology, such as Vernier's Logger Pro Software, one can add a new repertoire of demonstrations and a heightened level of understanding to existing activities. Instead of telling your students what happens after a demonstration, they can now see for themselves and form their own mental images. Using techniques such as fast data collection, data collection integrated with videos, and frame by frame video analysis, teachers can introduce phenomena never seen before which becomes the basis for interesting classroom discussions. Demonstrations need not be complicated. The simple act of squeezing a bottle, blowing up a balloon, or throwing a ball in the air may be all that is needed to teach a principle. Long term studies such as photosynthesis can be reduced to a minute or two by replaying the experiment at higher speeds. While most consider technology expensive, it is not. Innovative activities can be filmed with an inexpensive webcam. Depending upon the probes selected, data collected with the latest interfaces and software could cost as little as a few hundred dollars.

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