Technology Enabled Projects for High School Physics

Louisiana Tech University has recently developed a high school physics curriculum called NASA-Threads which integrates engineering, mathematics, and physics concepts through handson projects. NASA-Threads combines NASA applications, fundamentals, technology, and communication with projects that are facilitated by an inexpensive robotic platform. Fundamentals are taught in this active classroom environment as projects unfold. The hands-on projects build excitement and foster the development of student confidence and creativity; they also develop student ability to solve realistic multiple-step problems. Each student participating in the NASA-Threads curriculum is provided with their own robot (Boe-Bot) which provides a tool for measurement and control of physical systems. We have adopted the Boe-Bot robotics platform from Parallax which comes equipped with a microprocessor, a variety of electrical components, sensors and two servos motors to provide robot locomotion. Students write computer programs using PBASIC to interface their robot with each project. The NASA-Threads curriculum begins with a focus on electricity and magnetism. Students use multimeters to measure voltage and current in simple circuits constructed on the breadboard of their own Boe-Bot. For example, students first build simple resistor networks powered by the DC voltage supply from the Boe-Bot to discover Ohm’s Law and to verify Kirchoff’s Current Law. Next, they write PBASIC programs causing LEDs to blink with specified timings; they then extend these skills by developing a countdown timer that utilizes a seven-segment LED number display. As students’ intuition for electricity develops, they are introduced to the couplings between electric current and magnetic fields through projects involving motors and speakers. Other projects discussed in this paper include trusses (vectors and forces), servo efficiency (energy conversion), accelerometers (programming, vectors and gravity), homemade guitars (waves and sound), solar ovens (energy and heat), and digital cameras (gravity and projectile motion). The central focus of the NASA-Threads curriculum is to tie fundamental STEM topics to interesting applications. This paper documents a selection of our major projects and also provides data related to teacher self-efficacy for a summer 2011 workshop that prepared 26 high school teachers to deliver the curriculum at 14 high schools.