MatchGraph software is the most intuitive way to teach motion graphing. Engage your students with a kinesthetic experience that teaches graphing centered on motion. In MatchGraph, students attempt to match one of the nine provided graphs and are given a score showing how accurately they match their chosen curve. This activity gives them a deeper understanding of interpreting graphs as they see their own position and velocity graphed in real time.
When students use a PASCO Motion Sensor, they can create graphs of their own motion that they can then analyze. When they use a Smart Cart, students view real-time graphs of a cart they move.
MatchGraph is great for teaching:
Fundamental graphing skills
Basic concepts of position and velocity
The concept of slope
What it means when the slope is zero
How position and velocity graphs relate to each other
MatchGraph is compatible with:
PASCO Wireless Motion Sensor
PASCO Wireless Smart Cart
PASPORT Motion Sensor with a PASCO Interface
ScienceWorkshop Motion Sensor with a PASCO Interface
MatchGraph Screens
When students see their motion graphed in real time, it helps them quickly internalize and understand concepts around motion graphs.
The relationships between position, velocity, and acceleration are easier to understand when presented visually and connected to motion.
The MatchGraph Toolbar
MatchGraph has an intuitive user interface that allows teachers and students to simply set up and begin matching immediately. You can add students, view high scores, export data, and more with a simple click or touch.
Toggle Between Position and Velocity
Students can choose from nine different position profiles and their derivative velocity curves. MatchGraph also allows students to collect position and velocity data freely, without using a MatchGraph profile.
Turn science learning into a class activity.
MatchGraph creates a fun and competitive way to let students experience the concepts of motion graphing as well as rate of change. Enter student names and keep track of individual scores for each curve. High scores are tracked for each individual MatchGraph profile.
To some degree, all technology today includes coding. With coding becoming more relevant than ever, Ontario science courses are now integrating coding into the curriculum.
Coding environments allow for rapid ideating, prototyping, testing, and evaluating as students refine and debug their projects.
One way students can apply these skills is through robotics. The PASCObot is a fun way to teach students about data, robotics, programming, and sense and control. Using Blockly coding, students can make the PASCObot move, navigate and avoid objects, follow a line or path, and many more. The PASCObot encourages students to problem solve and overcome challenges to achieve a goal.
In the Ontario Grade 9 science course, a key goal is:
Providing students with the skills and knowledge required to apply engineering design processes to help find solutions to complex problems.
The //control.Node Sense & Control Kit includes materials and instructions for six projects that use elements of the engineering design process to turn on lights, run a cooling fan, open doors, launch rubber bands, and more. The activities allow students to gain skills in designing, building, and problem-solving by writing and executing code.
I had the opportunity of trying two of the projects associated with the kit:
In the Engineering a Winch activity, students engineer a device that can lift and place down an object. In this activity, you start by putting together a pulley device using a winch wheel and a high-speed stepper motor. By measuring the circumference of the wheel, you can calculate the number of rotations required to move the string and magnet a certain distance to pick up a paperclip. Using Blockly coding, students have to find a way to program the wheel to rotate according to the measurements taken.
The Nightlight activity teaches students how coding with loops and conditions can be used in a real-life setting. By covering the light sensor on the //code.Node, students can analyze how brightness is affected by looking at the live data on SPARKvue. This provides students with data that they can interpret to create code that will turn the light bulb on when brightness is below a certain percentage.
A key change in the biology portion of the Grade 9 science curriculum is:
Students will have an opportunity to learn about the many factors that contribute to ecosystem sustainability, including soil health, air and water quality, biodiversity, and succession.
The Greenhouse Sense & Control Kit provides experiments that encourage students to gain hands-on experience in each of these topics. Students can design, build, program, and study their very own greenhouse.
In our experience with the Greenhouse Sense & Control Kit, we decided to design an environment for a Ring of Fire Pepper Plant. We had to research conditions that would be essential for the plant to grow. This included factors such as relative humidity, temperature, soil moisture, hours of sunlight, and how much water it needs each week. The Greenhouse Sense & Control kit provides the materials for students to design the greenhouse for the plants’ needs. Through code, you can program a fan, grow light, and irrigation system to provide the optimal conditions for your plant. This teaches students how changes due to soil, water, air, and temperature in an ecosystem can affect a plant’s growth in good and bad ways. The activities provided by this kit allow students to learn about ecosystem sustainability firsthand and in real-time.
Educators chose the PASCO Meter Stick Torque Set as the 2022 winner for Best of STEM: Physics and PASCO’s STEM Sense & Control Kits for Best of STEM: Engineering.
We are thrilled to share that the PASCO Meter Stick Torque Set and STEM Sense & Control Kits have been named winners of the 2022 Educators Pick Best of STEM™ Awards! This year’s competition was stiff, and it is an honor to have our innovations recognized by the program’s distinguished educator judges. Check out highlights from their reviews below!
PASCO has reinvented the Meter Stick Torque Kit into a core piece of equipment in the STEM toolkit. The Meter Stick Torque Set is integrated with all of PASCO’s other products (and others by other manufacturers), and has various online experiments, videos, and teacher resources, so that it can easily be incorporated into lesson plans.
– Judge, Educators Pick Best of STEM Awards
PASCO’s STEM Sense & Control connects students to the science and engineering of tomorrow. Smart homes are becoming increasingly more sophisticated, and through the use of the STEM Sense & Control [line], students can learn by designing their own engineering products. It’s real-world learning for today’s connected students.
For the past week, Mia and I have been working on a new project involving a pepper plant named Pete, the SPARKvue software, and PASCO’s new Greenhouse Sense and Control Kit. Pete is a Ring of Fire pepper plant which thrives in temperatures between 26-29 degrees Celsius and a relative humidity of around 70%. We knew that we had to set up Pete’s optimal conditions if we wanted him to grow and produce any peppers, so Mia and I immediately got to work on it. We started by setting up the greenhouse itself, including the fan and grow light accessories, followed by the greenhouse sensor which includes a soil moisture probe and the temperature, humidity, and light sensing pc board. Once we connected the //control.Node to our laptop we were able to begin the programming process. Using the information available on the PASCO website, we were able to create simple code designed to regulate the temperature and relative humidity by activating the fan accessory anytime the relative humidity level went over 75% and deactivating the fan accessory once the level drops back down to 70%. This would keep the relative humidity within the desired 70-75% window. We also found that this would keep the temperature of the greenhouse between 25-26 degrees Celsius, ensuring that ideal conditions for the Ring of Fire pepper were met.
The Greenhouse Sense and Control kit contained a wide variety of equipment which allowed us to monitor the temperature and relative humidity inside the Eco Chamber. The values collected during this process helped us to create the code we needed on SPARKvue to regulate Pete’s environment easily. This code was uploaded to the //control.Node so that it would run throughout the off-hours without any constant monitoring, which was very convenient for Mia and myself, and ensured that Pete would be well taken care of in our absence.
Pete was watered manually about 3 times throughout the work week to keep him hydrated and to regulate the moisture levels of the soil, and we made sure to give him multiple hours under the grow light each day, and before long we noticed that small flower bulbs began to appear. This week, we will be focusing on maintaining the optimal environment for Pete’s success so that he continues to grow and flower. We also want to experiment more with the USB water pump, and aim to create a watering or drip irrigation system within the greenhouse!
As a future environmental engineer, I’ve truly enjoyed working with the Greenhouse Sense and Control Kit. Being able to grow a plant right here in the office has been a really great opportunity, and it’s allowed me to apply the experience gathered from my studies of soil and water to a really interesting project, as well as expand my knowledge!
It was great to be back in person interacting with teachers! We discussed ways to integrate PASCO products into the classroom to create a fun, educational, and hands-on environment for students.
We were very impressed with Assumption College’s extensive PASCO collection and how they are using multi-generations of PASCO in tandem for their labs.
Thank you to David Page for arranging the visit and we are looking forward to visiting more schools in the future!
Last Friday, I was given the opportunity to take a trip to Centennial College alongside a colleague of mine to help a group of professors with the assembly of the TecQuipment AE1005V Wind Turbine Dynamics Apparatus. The apparatus is comprised of a bell shaped mouth and honeycomb to reduce turbulent airflow, a silencer to reduce excessive noise, an anemometer to record wind speed, and a digital display for pitch, yaw, fan speed, and turbine speed, all of which are adjustable. We arrived at the campus early in the morning, where we met with our contact at the school. He led us through the college into the machine shop and we began to assemble the AE1005V.
The assembly process was very simple and easy to follow from the provided instructions. Once the silencer is removed from its stowed position and fastened to the back of the apparatus, we connected the Control Cabinet to a power supply and opened the sliding door to attach the fins to the turbine. We then connected the apparatus to a laptop which was running the Versatile Data Acquisition System, or VDAS, which automatically collects data, calculates experiment parameters, and allows the user to create graphs and tables for the collected data. Once the fins were secured and the security door was closed and locked, we began to experiment with the fan speed, pitch, turbine speed, and anemometer. This data was also digitally displayed on the Control Cabinet.
Now that the apparatus was fully set up, we began to work through the first experiment to determine the influence of pitch angles and turbine speed on the coefficient of performance and power generated. As a future environmental engineer hoping to specialize in air hydrology, I was really grateful to be able to have a hands on experience with this kind of equipment. The option to switch out the included turbine fins for ones that have been 3D printed by students made the AE1005V even more interesting to use, with students being able to create and test different fin designs to determine optimal performance, and this really piqued my interest.
Eventually, I would like to spend more time using and learning about the AE1005V Wind Turbine Dynamics Apparatus, and other technology like it, and I am grateful that I had the opportunity to speak with the professors about what they plan to use theirs for throughout the upcoming fall semester.
The PASCO Data Streamer app enables Windows® 10 users to stream real-time data from PASCO Wireless Sensors into Microsoft® Excel. All that’s required is a compatible PASCO Wireless Sensor, the PASCO Data Streamer App, and the Office 365 Excel® Data Streamer Add-in.
1Download the Windows® App
Install the PASCO Data Streamer app for Windows® 10 by opening the Microsoft Store on your Windows computer and searching for PASCO Data Streamer.
The Windows® app is free. Visit the app’s product page in the Microsoft Store »
2Download the Excel Add-in
Download the Microsoft® Excel Data Streamer Add-in using your O365 subscription.
Don’t have a subscription? Click here to get free access to Office 365 Education for you and your students.
On Monday, June 6th, the AYVA team attended the OAPT 2022 Conference at McMaster University! Thank you to everyone who visited our table, we hope you enjoyed engaging with many PASCO products. A special thanks to the CAP and OAPT organizers for an awesome event, we are looking forward to connecting with everyone again next year!
Today I got to work through an experiment using PASCO’s Wireless Smart Cart and Blockly code on SPARKvue. I followed the Blockly Extension: Vector Display lab from the PASCO Experiment Library. This lab guides you to use Blockly code to display text on the screen depending on the speed of the Smart Cart.
I connected the Smart Cart through Bluetooth to SPARKvue and read through the lab procedure. I started off by slowly moving the Smart cart along my desk while observing the velocity graph. I conducted three runs, one to determine a low velocity, a medium velocity, and a high velocity. I took note of these three velocities, as shown in the image on the right, so that they could be included within the code. After getting familiar with the lab, I copied the example code, adjusting the velocity values to the ones I recorded, as shown in the image on the left. I tested my code by clicking start and moving the Smart Cart. At first, I was not sure where to look for the displayed text. I realized I had to change my display from a graph to digits. Then, by clicking the variable being displayed, I switched from Sensors to User-entered and chose Velocity Vector (the variable I created in the Blockly code). This time when I pressed start, the vectors I assigned to each velocity displayed on the screen depending on the Smart Cart’s speed. I decided to change the text displayed from vectors to words. As shown in the video below, I used simple terms such as slow, medium, and fast to describe the carts’ velocities.
I found this lab super cool! It was my first time experimenting with the Wireless Smart Cart using Blockly code and I am looking forward to coding more products.
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Marie Claude Dupuis
I have taught grade 9 applied science, science and technology, grade 10 applied, regular and enriched science, grade 11 chemistry and physics for 33 years at Westwood Senior High School in Hudson Québec. I discovered the PASCO equipment in 2019 and it completely changed my life. I love to discover, produce experiments and share discoveries. I am looking forward to work with your team.
Christopher Sarkonak
Having graduated with a major in Computer Science and minors in Physics and Mathematics, I began my teaching career at Killarney Collegiate Institute in Killarney, Manitoba in 2009. While teaching Physics there, I decided to invest in PASCO products and approached the Killarney Foundation with a proposal about funding the Physics lab with the SPARK Science Learning System and sensors. While there I also started a tremendously successful new course that gave students the ability to explore their interests in science and consisted of students completing one project a month, two of which were to be hands-on experiments, two of which were to be research based, and the final being up to the student.
In 2011 I moved back to Brandon, Manitoba and started working at the school I had graduated from, Crocus Plains Regional Secondary School. In 2018 I finally had the opportunity to once again teach Physics and have been working hard to build the program. Being in the vocational school for the region has led to many opportunities to collaborate with our Electronics, Design Drafting, Welding, and Photography departments on highly engaging inter-disciplinary projects. I believe very strongly in showing students what Physics can look like and build lots of demonstrations and experiments for my classes to use, including a Reuben’s tube, an electromagnetic ring launcher, and Schlieren optics setup, just to name a few that have become fan favourites among the students in our building. At the end of my first year teaching Physics at Crocus Plains I applied for CERN’s International High School Teacher Programme and became the first Canadian selected through direct entry in the 21 years of the program. This incredible opportunity gave me the opportunity to learn from scientists working on the Large Hadron Collider and from CERN’s educational outreach team at the S’Cool Lab. Following this, I returned to Canada and began working with the Perimeter Institute, becoming part of their Teacher Network.
These experiences and being part of professional development workshops with the AAPT and the Canadian Light Source (CLS) this summer has given me the opportunity to speak to many Physics educators around the world to gain new insights into how my classroom evolves. As I work to build our program, I am exploring new ideas that see students take an active role in their learning, more inter-disciplinary work with departments in our school, the development of a STEM For Girls program in our building, and organizing participation in challenges from the ESA, the Students on the Beamline program from CLS, and our local science fair.
Meaghan Boudreau
Though I graduated with a BEd qualified to teach English and Social Studies, it just wasn’t meant to be. My first job was teaching technology courses at a local high school, a far cry from the English and Social Studies job I had envisioned myself in. I was lucky enough to stay in that position for over ten years, teaching various technology courses in grades 10-12, while also obtaining a Master of Education in Technology Integration and a Master of Education in Online Instructional Media.
You will notice what is absent from my bio is any background in science. In fact, I took the minimum amount of required science courses to graduate high school. Three years ago I switched roles and currently work as a Technology Integration Leader; supporting teachers with integrating technology into their pedagogy in connection with the provincial outcomes. All of our schools have PASCO sensors at some level (mostly grades 4-12) and I made it my professional goal to not only learn how to use them, but to find ways to make them more approachable for teachers with no formal science background (like me!). Having no background or training in science has allowed me to experience a renewed love of Science, making it easier for me to support teachers in learning how to use PASCO sensors in their classrooms. I wholeheartedly believe that if more teachers could see just how easy they are to use, the more they will use them in the classroom and I’ve made it my goal to do exactly that.
I enjoy coming up with out-of-the-box ways of using the sensors, including finding curriculum connections within subjects outside of the typical science realm. I have found that hands on activities with immediate feedback, which PASCO sensors provide, help students and teachers see the benefits of technology in the classroom and will help more students foster a love of science and STEAM learning.
Michelle Brosseau
I have been teaching since 2009 at my alma mater, Ursuline College Chatham. I studied Mathematics and Physics at the University of Windsor. I will have completed my Professional Master’s of Education through Queen’s University in 2019. My early teaching years had me teaching Math, Science and Physics, which has evolved into teaching mostly Physics in recent years. Some of my favourite topics are Astronomy, Optics and Nuclear Physics. I’ve crossed off many activities from my “Physics Teacher Bucket List”, most notably bungee jumping, skydiving, and driving a tank.
Project-based learning, inquiry-based research and experiments, Understanding by Design, and Critical Thinking are the frameworks I use for planning my courses. I love being able to use PASCO’s sensors to enhance the learning of my students, and make it even more quantitative.
I live in Chatham, Ontario with my husband and two sons.