Our year 11 Physics students took their learning beyond the classroom with a hands‑on excursion to Koolangka Koolangka Waabiny in the city. Using accelerometers, they investigated forces, speed, and acceleration through real‑world experiences while reflecting on the way God has designed us to enjoy and interact with His creation.
Tuesday 10th March saw the Year 11 Physics class enjoying a morning out at a playground in the city: Koolangka Koolangka Waabiny. But not just to have fun – they were collecting acceleration data and applying their Physics understanding to understand the forces, speeds and accelerations involved – and how God has made us to experience these forces and enjoy them!
Some of the apparatus we measured acceleration for:
- very tall slides, with plenty of downwards acceleration
- flying foxes – initial acceleration with a sharp jolt of deceleration at the end
- jumps, swings and the merry/go-round
- Table-tennis and basketball – with accelerometers (their phone) on their hand, students measured the acceleration while hitting the ball.
Finally, some of the best acceleration data came from the trampolines and is shown on a graph. Can you tell on the graph each time that the student is touching the trampoline? Every time the trampoline is most stretched, there is a large spike of acceleration while the trampoline exerts the most force on the student.
Overall, we thank God for a morning filled with enjoyment of the playground equipment that also showed us how to gather real-world data, including the difficulties associated with it!