Dr Skateboard's Action Science: Teaching Physics in Context

In order to create student interest and promote new connections to the understanding of fundamental physics concepts, there is a need for new approaches and methods that are both contemporary and relevant. Dr Skateboard’s Action Science, a curriculum supplement comprising video instruction and classroom activities, is an example that focuses on the physical science concepts found in the areas of forces, motion, Newton’s laws of motion, and simple machines. The use of familiar activities, situations, and objects, such as skateboarding and bicycle motocross (BMX), around which students can explore and explain scientific concepts can be defined as action science. Dr Skateboard’s Action Science is designed to teach fundamental physics concepts using an approach that utilizes transformative educational strategies that help students move from memorizing facts and content to constructing knowledge in meaningful and useful ways. Students learn to develop questions, consider multiple points of view, and seek explanations in ways that require critical thinking and problem solving. The goal of this approach is to make physics education transformative through action science, a process in which educators integrate familiar experiences and materials from students’ lives in order to amplify scientific concepts. In the case of Dr Skateboard’s Action Science, the materials and experiences focus on skateboarding and bicycle motocross (BMX). Dr Skateboard’s Action Science integrates specific scientific concepts in a curriculum that contains both video instruction and classroom activities. Both sets of materials are designed to address both physics content and scientific process skills in both the National Science Standards (U.S.) and Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). The main purpose of this educational approach is to provide an interesting way of instructing students in the areas of motion, forces, Newton’s laws of motion, and simple machines set in a real world context. Background and Description Dr Skateboard’s Action Science was designed and developed by a collaborative team that included university faculty and personnel from local school districts, as well as teachers and students. The development team also included pivotal videographers who captured footage from school demonstrations, edited the four video parts following the script for each part, and placed appropriate graphics throughout each episode. The action sports footage provided a contemporary approach for providing students with physics content from familiar places that included skate parks, schools, classrooms, and community sites. In order to create relevance in the action scenes that appear throughout the videos, a group of professional athletes in BMX and skateboarding were utilized. The athletes demonstrated physical science concepts, such as the relationships between centripetal force and moment of inertia, by performing high-flying and intricate maneuvers that included back flips and spins. With extensive experience performing for students in schools, this group provided the visual content that became the backbone of the video as it served to engage learners in the fundamental physics concepts. This is also another pathway to invite students to learn, in that they may not be initially attracted