Another Example of Physics Problem Solving in Desmos

Here is another example of some prototyping for problem-solving in physics using desmos. [Click image]

Some features:

(1) Students make a guess about an angle and velocity that will work to get a volley ball serve. They get immediate visual feedback about their guess int he form of an initial velocity vector.

(2) Students then work the problem they’ve chosen I’ve added some scaffolding to do this. I’m hoping to get this into the activity builder, so when they place their two points, all other students can see other group’s attempts (both successful and failed).

(3) Right now, there’s a feature to check your answer–it shows the whole trajectory for the points you calculated.

(4) You can also change parameters of the task in the bottom folder (e.g., change length or height of the court, right now it’s set to men’s volleyball. You can also change the initial height to make it a jump serve)

This certainly isn’t great, but it’s kind cool.  Some of the cool things are:

1. Some student choice (students decide what problem to solve based on their guess)
2. Their is chance for feedback (with initial guess visualization, with overlay function from other students (once I get something working in the activity builder, and then with check your answer)
3. It’s easy to extend and explore further questions.

Some downsides–

A. The scaffolding might force students into doing a particular way with less thinking and deciding for themselves.

B. Having the check your answer might lead students to just find a speed an angle without working it out.

What else?