The list of great Physics applications for PASCO’s new Smart Cart keeps on growing!
This fantastic new video previews 15 activities in just over 3 minutes. So fasten your seatbelt and prepare to be entertained as PASCO’s two seasoned physics specialists, Brett Sackett and J.J. Plank, go into high gear to present a very colourful demonstration of some of the best ways to use a Smart Cart in the classroom.
Students have a hard time concentrating when the topic is solution concentration. The solution may be having them create their own solutions.
Using some solid solutes and glassware, have them make a solution with a specific molarity. They should write down their own steps and follow their procedure. Make sure they are specific with the type of glassware and the quantities of solute and solvent. This is a good way for them to review items or steps that they may have forgotten and to put theory into practice.
Have them make two solutions of the same molarity: one from an ionic solute and the other from a covalent solute. After revising their procedure and correctly massing their solutes, you can take stock of their work, while they create stock solutions. Add a splash of food coloring to each solution to help them distinguish between the two. There is a good pedagogical reason, and an added bonus that a dash of color makes any activity more festive!
After making up their stock solutions from the solid solutes, they can concentrate on the concentration even more by making dilute solutions. They should create a series of dilutions that are the same volume. Before they start pouring, make sure they understand mole and volume relationships by have them write out their calculations and procedures.
Those drops of food dye will really come in handy as they prepare the solutions because they’ll serve as a visual check on the concentration! They can see that the solution is getting more dilute, and you can quickly see if they are on the right track.
Now it’s time to kick this solution investigation up a notch. They can measure the conductivity of the solutions using SPARKvue and the Wireless Conductivity Sensor.
First have them test the solutions with the ionic compound solute. As they collect the data, they should plot Conductivity vs. Concentration.
There are a couple of key concepts that they can quickly discern from this graph. The solutions containing the ionic compound are definitely electrolytic (they conduct electricity), and the conductivity is directly related to the concentration.
What happens with the covalent compound solutions? Will they see the same relationship?
There is a straight line on the graph for the covalent compound— it just happens to be flat and approximately zero for all the concentrations! Even though they could see from the dyes that the solutions were different, the conductivity did not change. But why? These solutions are non-electrolytic. No matter how high or low the concentration, the conductivity will not be affected.
Through this activity, students get to concentrate on concentration by making and testing their own solutions. The food coloring and the Wireless Conductivity Sensor provide visual cues and quantitative data as the students construct their own cognitive concentration concepts (say that five times fast). Even a measurement of zero can be important because, in this case, it can drive home the important difference between electrolytes and non-electrolytes.
On August third, PASCO Scientific won Teach & Learnings ‘International Society for Technology in Education 2016 Best of Show Award’ for their cutting edge wireless sensors. These sensors connect directly to computers, tablets, smart phones and Chromebooks which provide the freedom and flexibility without compromise for a lower price.
You can read the complete article here or find out more about PASCO’s range of wireless sensors here.
The IB Conference of the Americas, organized by the International Baccalaureate Organization, was held July 14-17 at the Sheraton Centre in Toronto. PASCO, together with AYVA, was proud to showcase their new wireless sensors and dataloggers – a key requirement in the IB curriculum where students are encouraged to make connections between their studies and the real world. It was a fabulous professional development opportunity for coordinators, teachers, district and school board representatives to promote best practices and to develop ideas to foster inquiry-based learning. We too enjoyed the inspiring featured speakers and breakout presenters.
PASCO has recently released their latest video featuring the new Wireless Smart Cart. This video shows off some of the new cool features which are built directly into the cart itself. It is now capable of measuring force, position, velocity and 6 degrees of freedom in acceleration.
The Wireless Smart Cart will be the last sensor before the Phase 2 wireless sensors are released in July 2016. These sensor will include: Wireless Conductivity, Wireless Light Sensor, Wireless Voltage and Wireless Current. Click here for more details.
Check out the video below along with other How Do I? videos
Once again, the AYVA Team had the opportunity to network with PASCO distributors from around the world. This year’s theme was Re-Imagine the Science Classroom and we were excited to share stories of how PASCO’s new wireless sensors and dataloggers are fostering STEM education and engaging more students.
During the Awards Ceremony, AYVA was honoured to have our efforts recognized by PASCO’s Management Team. We want to thank everyone at PASCO for their hospitality and we can’t wait until next time.
