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Physics Education Seminar - Matt Greenwolfe (Cary Academy) The Maiden Voyage of a Kinematic Robot

Matt Greenwolfe
October 27, 2016
3:00PM - 4:00PM
4138 Physics Research Building

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Add to Calendar 2016-10-27 15:00:00 2016-10-27 16:00:00 Physics Education Seminar - Matt Greenwolfe (Cary Academy) The Maiden Voyage of a Kinematic Robot In this talk, I describe the design of a robotic kinematic apparatus and a curriculum designed to make use of its unique features to shape the inquiry process. Students program a robot by drawing kinematic graphs on a computer, and the robot precisely and reliably produces the motion, providing immediate visual feedback. Preliminary results support the hypothesis that a physics apparatus precise and reliable enough to serve as a control of error minimizes the need for teacher intervention and improves student absorption in inquiry as well as learning outcomes. The importance of optimal feedback inertia emerged from the study. The turn-around time of several minutes to analyze a mistake and test a new idea encourages students to learn from their mistakes and really think things through. 4138 Physics Research Building Department of Physics physics@osu.edu America/New_York public

In this talk, I describe the design of a robotic kinematic apparatus and a curriculum designed to make use of its unique features to shape the inquiry process. Students program a robot by drawing kinematic graphs on a computer, and the robot precisely and reliably produces the motion, providing immediate visual feedback. Preliminary results support the hypothesis that a physics apparatus precise and reliable enough to serve as a control of error minimizes the need for teacher intervention and improves student absorption in inquiry as well as learning outcomes. The importance of optimal feedback inertia emerged from the study. The turn-around time of several minutes to analyze a mistake and test a new idea encourages students to learn from their mistakes and really think things through.