30 October 2006s c i e n c e s c o p e

P H Y S I C S

by Cecily Criminale, Neda Esfan, and Mariam Mathew

ENERGYENERGYENERGYA bowling alley isn’t just a hangout where adolescents eat pizza,

drink soda, and socialize with their friends. Eighth-grade students from our school have turned a bowling alley into a giant physics laboratory, where students study energy transfer and calculate fac-

tors affecting their game. The study of the basic concepts in physics naturally lends itself to real-world analogies and hands-on activities in the classroom. This year, science teach-ers at the United Nations International School (UNIS) searched for a way to go beyond the classroom in order to combine an adolescent’s real-world interests with a whole-body, kinesthetic activity. At the onset of our search, most of what we brainstormed required more outdoor space or scheduled time in the gym than our urban campus could accommodate. We turned to the city’s resources to fi nd a venue. What we discovered was a nearby bowling al-ley. Our collaborative efforts, between the science and math classes, provided the framework for a whole-body approach to physical science and an activity through which our students discovered the joys of physics and bowling.

Cecily Criminale (ccriminale@acs-england.co.uk) is assistant principal at Middle School, ACS International School in Cobham, England. Neda Esfan (nefan@unis.org) is a math teacher at the United Nations International School in New York City. Mariam Mathew (mariam_mathew@asl.org) is the technology coordinator at the American School of London.

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31October 2006 s c i e n c e s c o p e

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What to know beforehandOur eighth-grade science curriculum involves a study of en-ergy with emphasis placed on understanding potential and kinetic energy, as well as the transfer of energy between the two states. In order to calculate gravitational potential energy (GPE = weight × height), students must fi rst be able to distin-guish between mass (the amount of matter in an object) and weight (the force of gravity upon an object). Students spend time in class determining weights of objects, such as them-selves and their textbooks (weight = mass × acceleration due to gravity). Once they have shown profi ciency in converting mass to weight, students engage in the calculation of potential energy of falling objects. Looney Tunes characters, the organ-isms most likely to fear the potential of teetering bank safes, anvils, and boulders, are essential demonstrators of potential energy in cartoon clips. In class, students watch Wile E. Coy-ote try to bring down the elusive Road Runner with a boulder (see Reference). After the giggles, students work in groups to solve math problems based on the clip, solving for GPE, mass, and height for a variety of Looney Tunes characters. Sample questions include, “Which would have more GPE, Wile E. Coyote’s large boulder or a small boulder? Which would have more GPE, a boulder dropped at 1 meter or 100 meters?” Students then have the opportunity to discover the re-lationship between mass and height and GPE by planning their own laboratory to determine the factors that increase (or decrease) GPE. Students are given marbles, metersticks, and sand and asked to design an experiment and method of data collection that would answer the question, “How do height and mass affect GPE?” For our group, the study of GPE and kinetic energy (KE) up to this point took eight, forty-minute class periods. After posing the question, “Why doesn’t a bowling ball keep slow-ing down after it’s thrown?” as an exploration about the loss of energy through friction on KE, students suggested that we should take our investigation to a bowling alley. Deciding that a bowling alley could be a physics laboratory, we turned the tables on our students, and asked what they could explore there. They came up with many of the same set of investiga-tive questions as their teachers:

• What is the force of gravity (weight) on a bowling ball? • What is the gravitational potential energy while the ball

is precariously balanced above one’s toes? • Who can throw the ball with the greatest velocity? • Does the kinetic energy with which the balls strike the

pins determine how violently the pins are dashed against the backdrop?

When announced that the eighth-grade science classes were indeed going to study the physics of bowling, students cheered.

The date, time, and location of the posting of the bowling team sign-up sheet were announced. Rules for sign-up included:

1. Each team will have no more than six people. (Groups of six generally meant that at least two people in the group were capable of assisting others.)

2. All individuals are welcome in a group. All individuals are responsible for helping and encouraging the members in their group.

3. You may only sign up yourself, not others, and you may only sign up once.

Several weeks in advance, reservations were made for three school buses and two hours of bowling. Permis-sion slips were collected and 12 faculty chaperones were secured. For 120 students, we reserved 20 bowling lanes, plus an extra one for the chaperones taking a break from assisting with math problems and taking digital photos. Though this may seem a great number of bowling lanes, urban schools may fi nd city bowling alleys tend to be large. Because bowling alleys are open late, the trip was planned for the afternoon. Also, though we would have preferred that students bring their own lunch, the bowling alley did not allow outside food and drink, except in case of food al-lergies or dietary restrictions. The price of lunch was added to the fi eld trip cost. Prior to the trip to the bowling alley, students spent one class period examining the types of questions they would need to answer on the day of the trip (see Activ-ity Sheet for examples). Working in groups, students discussed how to gather the required data and what equipment from the laboratory supply cabinet each group would need to take. Students also made sure that they knew which energy equations they would need to use for certain types of questions.

ENERGYBowling for scholars.

32 October 2006s c i e n c e s c o p e

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Bowlerama

Team # _____________

Team members’ full names Homerooms Bowling scores

Procedure1. While bowling with your friends, answer the following questions. Remember to return all items at the end of the games

(calculator, meterstick, timer, answer sheets, and bowling shoes). Packets will be graded. Formulas: PE = mgh and KE = ½ mv2.

QuestionsBowling is a sport that should be right up your alley!1. Convert the mass of your bowling ball from pounds (lb) to kilograms (kg). (Note: 1 kg = 2.2 lb.) 2. Calculate the gravitational potential energy (GPE) for release of the ball. You’ll need a meterstick and help from a friend! • From your hand hanging downward beside your body. • From your hand holding the ball up toward your chest. • From your hand as it is about to release the ball towards the bowling alley. If you can’t hear a pin drop, then something is definitely wrong with your bowling!3. Calculate the average speed of the ball during one of your bowls. You will need to use your timer here!

Speed = Distance/Time (Note: Lane regulation length is 62’ 10 3/16” = 754.1875 inches = 19.156 meters. So, Distance = 19.2 m.)4. Calculate the average kinetic energy of the ball. (Hint: You will need the average speed from above.)5. Given that you want to maintain a kinetic energy level of 20 J (joules), what velocity would you need to maintain for your mass of ball?

So, what did one bowling pin say to the other bowling pin? Hey, you’re a knock out!

Name of bowler Mass of bowling ball Average speed of ball Average kinetic energy Bowling score

6. Create four bar graphs (on graph paper) that include: • The mass of the bowling ball for each team member. Label axes as the name of the bowler, the independent variable (x-

axis) vs. the mass of the bowling ball, and the dependent variable (y-axis). • The average speed for each team member (from Question 3). Label axes as the name of the bowler, the independent

variable (x-axis) vs. the average speed, and the dependent variable (y-axis). • The average kinetic energy for each team member (from Question 3). Label axes as the name of the bowler, the

independent variable (x-axis) vs. the average kinetic energy, and the dependent variable (y-axis). • The bowling score for each team member. Label axes as the name of the bowler, the independent variable (x-axis) vs.

the bowling score, and the dependent variable (y-axis).

New rules of bowlingA ball should be declared dead when you bowl three games without a strike. It shall be the owner’s privilege to decide on the disposition of said dead ball—burial at sea, drop from an airplane over a live volcano, or a simple burial in the city dump. For a small fee, a league officer can be bribed to deliver a short eulogy!

Materials• SOCKS!!! (per person)• bowling shoes at bowling

alley (per person)• calculator (per person)• stopwatch • meterstick • formulas for weight, GPE,

and KE

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The “physics lab”To an outside observer, it looks like a normal day at the bowl-ing alley for a group of young teens. Yet, on closer inspection, it seems a bit odd that there is more than one bowler on a lane, not to mention the curious spectacle of a bowler posing in various positions while someone measures the height of the bowling ball with a meterstick. It is typical to hear cries of joy for a strike or a spare, but confusing why the timing of the ball from beginning to end of the lane also elicits a cheer. It’s normal to see pizza and soda on tables, but perhaps curi-ous how a calculator and mathematical computations figure in. But all of this seems perfectly normal to the students and teachers working through their Bowlerama activity sheets. At the end of two hours and approximately two to three bowling games per team, students gathered their supplies and planned which graphs each person would be responsible for turning in. Students were required to have the data table complete before returning to the bus. Back at school, stu-dents analyzed data during class, as well as created graphs on computers. They wrote paragraphs explaining their findings. Graphs and selected conclusions were displayed, alongside photos of the field trip, in the science corridors. From their graphs, students confirmed their previous intu-ition that bowling balls with more mass had greater potential energy, and that those with greater velocity had greater ki-netic energy. Moreover, they discovered that the best bowling scores were not necessarily correlated to the mass or velocity of the ball, though there were certain individuals for whom the greater the velocity, the better the score.

Extensions and suggestions The bowling laboratory was a great way to reinforce the concepts of energy transfer covered in class. At a mini-mum we would highly recommend this activity for teach-ers trying to find a kinesthetic approach to teaching and reinforcing physics concepts. However, we can see where the bowling laboratory could be expanded for those class-

es that are ready and eager to take the responsibility of carrying out their own bowling experiments. For a class at an advanced level, we would recommend providing more in-class time for students to design a research question on energy transfer during bowling, and to plan a method for investigation and data collection. We can also foresee the expansion of the assessment of the bowling laboratory. We suggest adding a written component—a conclusion of the data analysis. Moreover, to assess the success of the laboratory, ask students to evaluate their experimental designs, pointing out flaws, as well as making recommen-dations for improvements.

Did they learn anything? Students and teachers agreed that this was one of the best field trips they had ever taken. It wasn’t unusual that day to hear students say that they wished all their field trips were like this one. Did students learn anything? At this point, we can only give a subjective answer. We noted our students

• were quicker to connect how changing mass or height af-fected an object’s gravitational potential energy;

• were more fluid in their oral and written communication skills in expressing the relationship between mass, veloc-ity, and kinetic energy;

• comprehened and applied energy concepts better when tested this year than in prior years; and

• were more likely to attempt the bowling calculations, even if they struggled with math.

As middle-level teachers know, activities with groups aren’t just a useful means to learning curriculum content, stu-dents are also learning social skills. We were surprised by our observations of student behavior. Students were more likely than normal to encourage and support one another, including teaching group members how to bowl and how to do calcula-tions. Our students were eager to interact with their teachers on a social level, including telling stories of their individual successes and failures on the bowling lane. Photos posted on the walls of the science hallway after the trip also reminded students of the fun they had with physics and bowling. Regardless of whether you choose to use the bowling laboratory as an activity to reinforce concepts, or as an avenue to allow students to investigate their own research questions, we highly recommend that teachers bring addi-tional socks and Band-Aids!

ReferenceLooney Tunes Spotlight Collection—The Premiere Edition. 2003.

Warner Home Video.

Analyzing strikes, spares, and forces.