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The Physics Teacher -- December 2011 -- Volume 49, Issue 9, pp. 554

Additional Crime Scenes for Projectile Motion Unit

Dan Fullerton1 and David Bonner2

1Irondequoit High School, Rochester, NY
2Hinsdale South High School, Darien, IL

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Building students' ability to transfer physics fundamentals to real-world applications establishes a deeper understanding of underlying concepts while enhancing student interest. Forensic science offers a great opportunity for students to apply physics to highly engaging, real-world contexts.1 Integrating these opportunities into inquiry-based problem solving in a team environment provides a terrific backdrop for fostering communication, analysis, and critical thinking skills. One such activity, inspired jointly by the museum exhibit “CSI: The Experience”2 and David Bonner's TPT article “Increasing Student Engagement and Enthusiasm: A Projectile Motion Crime Scene,”3 provides students with three different crime scenes, each requiring an analysis of projectile motion. In this lesson students socially engage in higher-order analysis of two-dimensional projectile motion problems by collecting information from 3-D scale models and collaborating with one another on its interpretation, in addition to diagramming and mathematical analysis typical to problem solving in physics.

© 2011 American Association of Physics Teachers

Article Outline

  1. Crime Scene #1: Gangster Shooting
    1. Context:
    2. Potential scenarios:
    3. Background information:
    4. Your assignment:
  2. Crime Scene #2: Hotel Jumper
    1. Context:
    2. Potential scenarios:
    3. Background information:
    4. Your assignment:
  3. Crime Scene #3: Road Rage
    1. Context:
    2. Potential scenarios:
    3. Background information:
    4. Your assignment:
  4. Results and assessment

KEYWORDS and PACS

Keywords

ballistics, forensic science, physics education, projectiles, student experiments

PACS

PUBLICATION DATA

ISSN

0031-921X (print)  

Publisher

$abstract.society.value is a Member of CrossRef American Association of Physics Teachers

ARTICLE DATA

Digital Object Identifier
http://dx.doi.org/10.1119/1.3661100

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