Innovative Uses
Around the World with LabPro
Ute Kaden is the first teacher in Brownsville ISD, Texas, to teach AP Physics. To keep the interest of her students at Hanna High School, she literally spans the globe in search of new and exciting ways to bring real-world data into the classroom. Recently she took her Vernier LabPro and sensors to the North Pole! At a latitude of 89° 58.5' she measured salinity, temperature, barometric pressure, and acceleration due to gravity. Her results?
g = 9.801 m/s2
Skiing with LabPro
Jean-Jacques Rochat spent a few days skiing near his chalet in Ovronnaz, Switzerland. Even though he is no longer a science teacher (now a principal), he could not resist collecting data. Here is a photo and a day's data from a temperature probe and a barometer, used to calculate approximate altitude. Note that you can see each run, his (short) waits in lift lines, and his visit to the store. The altitude data nicely matches the labeled altitudes of the tops of the chair lifts.
Published Articles of Innovative Use
Several education journals have recently published articles about great uses of Vernier products. Here are some examples:
"The Indirect Measurement of Biomechanical Forces in the Moving Human Body" by Melanie Cluss, Kenneth Laws, Natalie Martin, T. Scott Nowicki, and Allan Mira, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA, in the February 2006 issue of the American Journal of Physics, used both video analysis and a Force Plate to examine the forces on a jumping ballet dancer.
"Using a Force Plate to Correct Student Misconceptions" by Edward P. Wyrembeck, Howards Grove HS, Howards Grove, WI, in the September 2005 issue of The Physics Teacher, provided a great way to measure the impulse of a basketball vs. a dough ball.
"Using an Authentic Radioisotope to Teach Half-Life" by Scott Liddicoat and John Sebranek, Green Bay Southwest High School, in the December 2005 issue of The Science Teacher, used a Vernier Radiation Monitor connected to a computer or TI calculator to allow students to accurately determine the half-life of Barium 137.
"Simplifying the Motion of Coupled Oscillators Using the FFT" by Don Easton, Lacombe, AB, Canada in the January 2006 article of The Physics Teacher, used a Motion Detector and Logger Pro to analyze the harmonic motion of two coupled masses.
"Steel Wool and Oxygen: A Look at Kinetics" by James Gordon and Katherine Chancy, Central Methodist University, in the July 2005 issue of The Journal of Chemical Education, used our Oxygen Gas Sensor to determine the rate law for the reaction of iron with oxygen.
"Simple and Inexpensive Computer Interface to a Durrum Stopped-Flow Apparatus Tested Using the Iron(III)-Thiocyanate Reaction" by Craig M. Hoag, SUNY-Plattsburgh, in the December 2005 issue of The Journal of Chemical Education, used our Voltage Probe, Temperature Probe, pH Sensor, and Logger Pro software to determine rate constants and the equilibrium constant for this reaction.
"Using a CBL Unit, a Temperature Sensor, and a Graphing Calculator To Model the Kinetics of Consecutive First-Order Reactions as a Safe In-Class Demonstration" by Deborah A. Moore-Russo, State University of New York, Buffalo, NY and Josè E. Cortès-Figueroa, University of Puerto Rico, in the January 2006 issue of the Journal of Chemical Education, used temperature probes and the heating of cooling of water to model the behavior of consecutive, bi-phasic, first-order reactions.