WCMC-Q Makes Engaging Physics Labs Available
to Local High Schools
January 2011
Syed Hasnain, senior physics lab assistant at WCMC-Q,
with a materials to illustrate Newton's Third Law--that
every action has an equal and opposite reaction.
For three years, WCMC-Q has been hosting high school physics teachers for workshops on how to teach practical, engaging lessons. This year, the medical college is taking that program to the next level by making equipment and gadgets for more than 100 lab experiments available to high school teachers through a loan system.
“The physics workshops have been great; when we’ve finished them, the teachers have left happy and excited,” says Syed Hasnain, senior physics lab assistant at WCMC-Q. “But what happens after that, when they go back to their classrooms? We needed to help the teachers more directly, and loaning out these labs is a way to do it.”
Hasnain has been working on the equipment website for more than a year. Cornell faculty, including Dr. Phil Krasicky, teaching support specialist and senior lecturer in the physics department, and Jenny Wurster, teaching support specialist and demonstration facility manager, have provided assistance, ensuring that quality standards match those in Ithaca, Hasnain says.
The labs relate to different topics. To explain Newton’s Third Law, that every action has an equal and opposite reaction, the teacher will run an experiment involving two carts; to explore friction and drag, the students will learn how these concepts play out in front vs. rear breaks; and a pendulum will model conservation of energy, just to name a few.
Some labs relate more directly to medicine. One example, “bicep muscle tension,” demonstrates the physics of arm movement using a mechanical model that Hasnain constructed using wood, springs and weights.
The lab equipment can be expensive to buy and a lot of it is unavailable locally, Hasnain says. Engaging students in physics at the practical level is critical, and once the teachers have attended the workshops, they are excited to engage their students more deeply yet need the equipment to do this.
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“I’ve already visited teachers who have attended the workshops to help them set up experiments for their students,” Hasnain says. “This new lending library makes the process more formal—we will not only lend materials to the teachers, but also provide assistance by visiting the classrooms and helping demonstrate the experiments.”
The physics lending library will start out small, with about 100 pieces of equipment available to past participants in the physics workshops. Once the system is running smoothly, Hasnain says, videos and other items will be added on an ongoing basis.
By Emily Alp
