Saturday, May 06, 2000
Exam uses bricks, balloons
By Sue Kiesewetter
Enquirer Contributor
UNION TOWNSHIP - Sara Tyburski sat cross-legged against the fence at the Lakota West High School stadium with a pile of bricks in front her.
She had one goal: lay the 10 bricks atop one another in such a way that her overhang would be longer than that of John Felini, a classmate who stacked his with a 1.5-brick overhang.
""It's harder than I thought,” said Sara, a senior.
The Leaning Tower of Bricks was one of 21 labs devised for the honors physics students by the advanced placement physics class for Physics Day 2000. The all-day event began in the gymnasium, then moved to the football and soccer stadiums.
""This is basically a review of every equation from the first 20 weeks of class,” said physics teacher Linda Noble. “This is my version of an interactive final exam.”
It was up to the students to design, build, test and staff each station. They also had to prepare a lab book for the honors students that contained information and exercises to be completed at each station. The honors students had to complete the calculations at six stations for credit and could then enjoy the others.
Among the stations were a water balloon launch, penny pitching, homemade and commercial hovercraft, golf and pool table exercises, and ring tosses. At each, the students had to calculate distance, velocity, trajectory and more.
“It's a lot more fun than last year when we did it,” said senior Melanie Cade. “Now we're behind the scenes not doing the calculations.”
“I don't like doing the related problems,” said senior Andy Dunn. “I think the AP (students) were out to get us.”
After 40 minutes of tossing, Senior Stephen Hall fi nally got a penny to stay on one of several plates set at various heights at one station.
“I didn't know projectile too well,” said Stephen.
“I think it's a really good idea to do it here instead of at Kings Island,” said senior Amy Reed, just after she tested her skills on the water balloon launcher. “There's no line.”
Friday was also math and science day at Paramount's Kings Island. The park was opened to students from across the region who worked on packets revolving around the rides, covering topics such as physics and health.
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