Sep 02 2008
lesson in a lift
I took my Higher Physics class to a strange venue for their lesson today. We have been looking at apparent weight and had been trying to jump off desks while holding a spring balance to see the change in weight displayed while falling towards the ground.
Textbooks and teachers often use the example of a lift moving between floors/starting to move upwards/starting to move downwards but it’s rarely more than a thought experiment really since they can’t be followed up with a tangible, practical illustration.
Since our school has been made more accessible by the recent addition of a lift at reception, I spoke to our Head Teacher and, with a bemused look, she agreed that I could use the lift for a whole period to do experiments.
We worked in pairs, taking turns at moving up and down between floors, looking for any signs of movement on the spring balance. We successfully confirmed our “thought experiment” and some sharp pupils spotted evidence for Newton’s 2nd Law and shared their findings with the rest of us. Pupils finding links to other aspects of the course without prompting was the icing on the cake!