Learning objects Energy skate park: basics

TLF ID M012215

This is an interactive teaching and learning resource that years 7 to 10 secondary school students can use to simulate the motion of a skateboarder descending and ascending on a variety of tracks. Height, speed and energy conservation are visually displayed. The skater's mass and starting height, as well as the drag he experiences, can be modified and the resulting motion observed. An extensive teacher's guide in PDF format provides a range of ideas on how the resource can be used as a teaching or student investigative tool.





Educational details

Educational value
  • The resource assists students to understand that differently shaped rising objects will reach different heights because the drag force each experiences will differ.
  • The resource provides some support for the Australian Curriculum content descriptions about comprehending that changes to an object's motion are caused by unbalanced forces, and that energy conservation can be accounted for by describing energy transformations.
  • The resource reflects the evidence-based multimedia design principles of efficient learning and the suggested activities in the teacher's guide are pedagogically robust.
  • The resource may help year 7 students to attain that aspect of the achievement standard requiring them to predict the effect of an unbalanced force on the motion of an object. It may also assist year 10 students to attain that aspect of the achievement standard that requires them to explain the concept of energy conservation by referring to energy transfers and transformations.
Year level

7; 8; 9; 10

Learning area
  • Science

Other details

Contributors
  • Contributor
  • Name: Education Services Australia
  • Organization: Education Services Australia
  • Description: Data manager
  • Address: VIC, AUSTRALIA
  • URL: http://www.esa.edu.au/
  • Copyright Holder
  • Name: PhET Interactive Simulations\, University of Colorado
  • Organization: PhET Interactive Simulations\, University of Colorado
  • URL: http://phet.colorado.edu
  • Publisher
  • Name: PhET Interactive Simulations\, University of Colorado
  • Organization: PhET Interactive Simulations\, University of Colorado
  • Description: Publisher
  • URL: http://phet.colorado.edu
  • Resource metadata contributed by
  • Name: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Organisation: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Address: AUSTRALIA
  • URL: www.esa.edu.au
Access profile
  • Unknown
Learning Resource Type
  • Interactive
Rights
  • Resource: © 2011 University of Colorado. This material is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 (CC BY 3.0) licence http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/. ‘Interactive’ image: © Education Services Australia Limited 2012. You may use, reproduce and communicate this image for non-commercial educational purposes provided you retain all acknowledgements associated with the image.