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PHY 202
Your 'collaborative labs' report has been received. Scroll down through the document to see any comments I might have inserted, and my final comment at the end.
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You will participate during the semester in two series of collaborative lab activities.
The first is designed to be relatively painless, and to begin to develop a degree of teamwork and collaboration.
These activities are designed for teams of four individuals, each with a specific function:
• The designer will come up with the idea for the activity and will specify for other team members how the activity is to be conducted.
• The experimenter will follow the designer's instructions to set up the experiment and collect data.
• The analyzer will analyze the data.
• The interpreter will describe what the results mean.
For each series of activities, you will participate in four different investigations, one as designer, another as experimenter, another as analyzer and another as interpreter.
As each investigation progresses, you will follow the work of your fellow team members.
Please summarize the above, as best you can, in your own words:
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There will be two series of collaborative lab activities in which teams will be comprised of four students, each with a different role. The roles include the experiment designer who proposes the experiment idea, the experimenter who carries the procedure out and collects data, the analyzer who will perform statistical analysis on the data, and the interpreter who will determine what the analysis means. Each student will participate in four different investigations and perform each one under a different role.
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The first series of activities will be spread out over the first half of the semester, the second series over the second half of the semester.
The first series will be based on systems you have seen in the Key Systems videos.
You will begin by describing at least three ideas for investigations related to the Key Systems videos. Valid ideas will ultimately be developed proposals, each of which will describe a question that could be investigated and tested using simple materials such as those seen in the videos. You will eventually develop three proposals, one of which will be chosen for an investigation. You will be the designer for that investigation.
At this point we're just beginning to explore ideas for the first series of investigations. Your instructor will work with you to further develop your ideas, and perhaps to explore other related possibilities.
Right now you don't have a wide variety of experimental techniques available to you, so this first series of investigations will be relatively simple.
List below three ideas for things you think might be fairly easy to test, based on the systems you have seen so far.
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1. Find the density of an egg by placing it in varying concentrations of saltwater
2. Determine change in velocity of falling objects with increasing mass
3. Rate of capillary action by paper towel as water reaches equilibrium
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Discuss your first idea. How do you think it might be tested? What sort of items do you think might be required? How do you think your idea might be tested?
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Prepare various solutions of saltwater, beginning with a control solution of freshwater, increasing the concentration of salt from that point on. Drop raw eggs in each glass and determine the egg’s density by its position within the solution. All that is needed is water, raw eggs, salt, and a kitchen scale.
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Discuss your second idea. How do you think it might be tested? What sort of items do you think might be required? How do you think your idea might be tested?
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Obtain light objects, such as tissues or coffee filters. Drop one from a predetermined height and measure the time it takes for it to reach the table/floor. Add a second object to the first and drop it again from the same height. Measure the time it takes to fall. Add a third, and so on. How does the velocity change in relation to its mass? Graph the data and calculate slope to determine the relationship between the two. All that is needed is the objects to be dropped (that must be able to be dropped together as one mass), TIMER program, and possibly a meter stick to ensure the object is dropped from the same height.
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Discuss your third idea. How do you think it might be tested? What sort of items do you think might be required? How do you think your idea might be tested?
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This experiment requires two glasses of water, one full, one empty. Fold a paper towel lengthwise a few times, then, with the two glasses next to each other, put one end of the folded towel into the full glass and one end into the empty glass. Collect data until the glasses are both at same water level. Does the rate of water transfer change over time? Does it slow down as the water level approaches equilibrium?
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Your instructor is trying to gauge the typical time spent by students on these activities. Please answer the following question as accurately as you can, understanding that your answer will be used only for the stated purpose and has no bearing on your grades:
• Approximately how long did it take you to complete this activity?
45 minutes
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Good ideas.
We will follow up after I've received ideas from a few more people, probably within a week.
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