Starting a New Physics Unit at Incarnate Word

The seniors started a new unit on velocity, speed, and acceleration in physics. To kick off the new topic in a fun and memorable way, we bowled. 

Dr. Daponte first gave a student a stopwatch to time how fast a marble would roll one meter. But we ran into a problem. There is plexiglass around our desks as a Covid precaution, and the Plexiglass got in the way. So Dr. Daponte pulled out a bowling ball out from under his desk, handed out stop watches to six students, and said “You girls in the back can't see the marble. Let's go into the hall.” 

Dr. Duponte also brought a cardboard box full of bowling pins. The class set up the pins and elected the bowlers. The six stopwatch girls were to stand a meter apart from one another and stop the watch when the ball would pass them. 

Bowling in physics class was a big hit with IWA students.

The only rule was to not let the ball hit the wall! The rule to which fifth period was completely successful. When the first girl went, she completely missed the pins and thankfully, the wall as well. Then the second girl went and again, no pins and no wall. Finally after three girls went, we got a strike and the best time overall taking the ball three seconds to travel the six meters and hit the pins. 

As the first class to participate in this activity, all the other classrooms on the second floor were anxious to find out what we were doing. Imagine trying to focus while hearing a bowling ball hit and knock down pins while you are taking a test or even presenting in a class. 

Every time a student hit even one pin, the whole school knew. It was definitely a fun and exciting way to kick off a new unit in physics.