The Sphero Ball that is.
Mrs. Davis- high school Physics instructor - gave her students the opportunity to delve deeper into the concepts of force and motion by bringing the robotic sphero balls to class.
Excitement rose in the room the first day they were brought in. Curious minds want to play. That is exactly what Mrs. Davis allowed them to do the first day - experience the power of play. Once students synced their spheros via bluetooth to their ipads, learned how Sphero works - through programming commands - students scattered everywhere to roll their spheros.
Watching the students interact, problem solve, and just have fun was awesome to experience. It didn't take long for the students to figure out a plethora of ways to maneuver the sphero.
And.....
All of this play led to deeper conceptual meaning, fantastic collaboration, greater student agency and understanding as Physic students learned about force and motion.
Check out the lesson plan Mrs. Davis created!
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
Part I
1. Students will program spheros with iPads to manipulate their movement in order to
collect appropriate data.
2. Students will design an experiment in so that they can obtain data necessary to calculate
velocities of spheros on different surfaces.
3. Students will collect data.
4. Students will analyze data and solve for average accelerations on different surfaces.
Part II
5. Students will analyze data and solve for relative coefficients of friction on different
surfaces.
6. Students will prepare lab report.
REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE/SKILLS:
1. Students will “play” with spheros in order to learn how the programming works.
2. Students will understand velocity and acceleration.
3. Students will be able to solve motion problems using kinematic equations.
4. Students will understand that net force produces acceleration (Newton’s 2nd Law)
5. Students will be able to solve force problems.
LAB REPORT REQUIREMENTS:
1. Title
2. Purpose
3. Procedure
4. Apparatus
5. Procedure
6. Data
7. Calculations
8. Conclusion
Summary of procedure and results
Sources of Error
Answers to questions
What is the rank of surfaces in order of increasing friction?
Is the order the same when the cover is used on the sphero ball?
Are the results what you expected?
Where would this type of information be relevant in real life situations?
ALIGNMENT TO STANDARD:
HS-PS2-1. Analyze data to support the claim that Newton’s second law of motion
describes the mathematical relationship among the net force on a macroscopic object, its
mass, and its acceleration.
Super awesome Mrs. Davis! What will the Sphero Balls do next?