ENGAGING STUDENTS WITH CRASH SAFETY TOPICS IN THE INTRODUCTORY PHYSICS LABORATORY

“Crash Into Physics!” seeks to develop laboratory experiences that are based on pedagogical research and relevant to students’ engineering and technical interests. The mechanics content encountered in introductory physics is critical to the work of the Crash Safety Center on the campus of Kettering University. Video clips and a tour of the Center are incorporated into the Introductory Physics Laboratory. New lab activities are designed to model aspects of crash testing. Stand alone items such as video for motion analysis will also be available from the project website. All curricular materials are developed to emphasize the link to real world innovation and improve student attitudes about the relevance of physics. The second goal for the lab activities is improved conceptual understanding through active discovery/inquiry, where students must take initiative to plan and execute experiments as a part of a learning cycle. Sample activities and video clips from crash testing and student work will be presented to demonstrate the curriculum. (This work is supported by the NSF-CCLI grant DUE-0736766.)