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A Lesson in Probability and Statistics: Voyager/Scratch Coin Tossing Simulation

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Submitted by Rich on Wed, 02/14/2018 - 19:25

This lesson introduces students to a variety of probability and statistics concepts using PocketLab Voyager and Scratch—ScratchX is not required.  The Scratch program simulates tossing any number of coins any number of times, displaying the number of heads in each toss with a square having varying shades of grey—black for zero heads and white for the maximum possible number of heads in each toss.  The simulated coins are tossed once each second with Voyager’s light sensor recording the results for each toss.

Subject

Color and temperature of objects

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Submitted by PocketLab on Fri, 02/09/2018 - 20:39

Introduction:
On a hot, sunny day, would you rather wear dark or light-colored clothes? Have you ever walked across dark pavement barefoot on a hot day? How did that feel? Would you rather walk on the dark pavement or a lighter colored sidewalk along green grass? In this experiment you will investigate how the color of objects can affect it’s temperature. 

Temperature changes in sand versus water.

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Submitted by PocketLab on Fri, 02/09/2018 - 20:36

Introduction:

Objective: The objective of today’s lab is to determine if water or sand heats up more quickly and “keeps” its heat longer. You will then use your collected data to answer the following question: How does a hot, sunny day at the beach affect a fish in the water differently from a crab on the sand? Explain.

Energy Conservation – Transferring Kinetic Energy to Thermal Energy

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Submitted by PocketLab on Fri, 02/09/2018 - 20:33

Introduction:

The law of conservation of energy states that the total energy of an isolated system remains the same. Over time, all energy is conserved. Energy is neither created nor destroyed – instead it transfers from one form to another. Objects in motion have kinetic energy. Thermal energy is energy in a system due to its temperature.

Hot Wheels Racing with PocketLab

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Submitted by PocketLab on Wed, 01/31/2018 - 18:45

Engage your students in engineering practices and classic force and motion and energy concepts in a fun and unique way. With a PocketLab attached to a Hot Wheels car and a track full of magnets, you'll be able to collect data on position, velocity, acceleration, and energy as your car zips up an over hills and around loops. Turn your students into theme park engineers and have them design "roller coaster" tracks, iterate on car designs for races, or teach basic concepts on position and velocity. This activity is sure to help engage your students in a meaningful way. 

No Ice Skates, No Rink, No Talent: NO PROBLEM!

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Submitted by Rich on Sat, 01/27/2018 - 21:55

Almost everyone enjoys watching the figure skating events in the Winter Olympic Games!  But only a select few worldwide with the required skills and God given talent have the opportunity to compete.  What about the rest of us?  We can’t even imagine how the Olympians manage to perform all of those fancy quad jumps and camel, layback, upright, and sit spins.  But we can sit in a chair, and with the right chair, we too can do a sit spin of sorts!  Add PocketLab and we can also learn some physics about conservation of angular momentum.

Grade Level

Maker Project: Voyager and littleBits™ Music Visualizer

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Submitted by Rich on Sun, 01/21/2018 - 19:49

It’s not always enough to just hear music.  Many of us enjoy visualizing it while listening.  4th of July fireworks are commonly synced to Sousa’s The Stars and Stripes Forever.   Concert goers see spotlights flashing to their favorite pop songs.  Modern home owners play their sound systems synchronized with Phillips Hue lighting and nanoleaf® light panels with a Rhythm module.  For many years, classic visualizers have di

Subject
Grade Level

Maker Project: Voyager and littleBits™ Pet Monitor

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Submitted by Rich on Fri, 01/19/2018 - 22:31

Have you ever wondered what your dog does all day long while you are at work?  Is resting the major “activity” or is there some occasional wandering?  Is there silence or periodic barking, such as when the mailman comes or a squirrel is seen through a window?  The author of this lesson has a couple of schnauzers, known for their predisposition for barking.  “Welcome to the Bark Side” is a frequent phrase voiced to passersby while I am taking the schnauzers for a walk.  But how much do they bark when cooped up in the house and I am out someplace?   And do they move around a lot or mostly nap

Six Shades (not fifty!) of Grey: PocketLab Voyager/Scratch Dice

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Submitted by Rich on Tue, 01/16/2018 - 22:20

This is a programming project that capitalizes on PocketLab-Scratch Integration.  This project makes use of the Scratch random number block to simulate rolling an ordinary six-sided die.  The six random but equally likely outcomes are mapped to sprites of six different shades of gray.  Voyager’s light sensor is then used to determine the value of the die’s roll, mapping light sensor values to the corresponding sprite from six images of the face up side of the die.  A short action video of the author’s solution accompanies this lesson. 

Subject

CloudLab Curve Fit Feature Preview: Inverse Square Law of Light

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Submitted by Rich on Fri, 01/12/2018 - 22:15

The ability to quickly match empirical data to well-known mathematical models is an essential feature in the analysis of experiments.  This technique is generally referred to as curve-fitting.  The up-and-coming, but not yet leased, CloudLab software from PocketLab provides an easy way to fit data to models including linear, quadratic, power, exponential, and logarithmic.  This curve-fitting can be done for any selected region of PocketLab data.  This lesson provides a sneak preview of this CloudLab featu

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Grade Level

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