My Project Sketch

The final project assignment for the course I am taking has the following goal statement:

Goal: Develop an authentic and engaging project for your students which meets both your curricular standards and at least one of the NETS standards.

In high school science, we do not do many "projects" but rather focus on experimentation and inquiry. As much of this process develops valuable hands on laboratory skills in grades 9 and 10, I am thinking of focusing on senior classes where certain aspects of the curriculum do not easily lend themselves to experimentation in a traditional sense. I see this as an excellent opportunity to incorporate some aspects of technology.

The more I think about it, the more I feel that there are a number of opportunities within the IB Physics Relativity unit. Although I question how "authentic" in the true science research sense these opportunities are (there is very little authentic science done in schools - depending on how you define authentic), there is an opportunity to create authentic project tasks that although not typical of relativistic physics research, certainly can provide a valuable experience.

At present, my ideas include various models for relativistic vs non-relativistic physics with regards to mass, length and time variations in objects moving at near light speeds. To keep things authentic, and also to tie in with syllabus objectives, the two best ideas would be to look at particle accelerators (what happens to small (like alpha particles) in an electric field) or to recreate/simulate muon experiments that provide conclusive evidence for half-life dilation and hence special relativity theory.

Students could be given a set of parameters (probably quite broad) and be asked to model and present the results that (theoretically) would be observed. With regards to alpha particles, different groups could look at different aspects of the problem and then collaborate together to produce a comprehensive project.

Students would use spreadsheet software for the modelling exercise, and present results in a power point or other media format to the rest of the class. Each group would contribute results to an overall project composite - probably on the class WIKI. Discussion, reflection, feedback and editing can occur to "stream line" results into a concise format that would be suitable for examination review.

NETS - Standards for Students Addressed
1. Creativity and Innovation (parts c. and d.)
2. Communication and Collaboration (part a.)
3. Research and Information Fluency (part d.)
4. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving and Decision Making (part b.)