Upcoming Field Trip

In Mr. Ambrose's physics class, they're now covering electric potential, preparing to do a little bit with circuits. They're also preparing for a field trip which some of them are taking - a trip to Cedar Point on Monday. I've been invited me to join them, so Mr. Ambrose and I will be carpooling down there, and the students will be on the bus with physics students from the other physics classes (taught by a different teacher). It should be a lot of fun - I've just put new batteries in my camera, so I should be able to get one or two pictures of students using homemade accelerometers on amusement park rides. Watch this blog for a few good photos... if all goes well with the camera, I'll post pictures and a summary of the trip sometime next week.

In Ms. Colwell's class, they were working on a review sheet for an upcoming test - they're having a test on trigonometry next Tuesday. Ms. Colwell mentioned that she'd like to take a field trip, if there was something that would be both fun for the students and relevant, and I thought that perhaps a planetarium trip would be suitable, if someone could explain how trigonometry has been used for celestial navigation. I'm going to investigate the possibility and see if there's anything suitable at U of M - even if it doesn't work out for this year (time is rapidly running out), it might make a great trip for her classes next year. I'm sure there are lots of great things at U of M that would make good field trips for students - maybe someone could make a list of them, and supply that to our partner teachers. Not only would it make it easier for them to plan field trips to the university, it might spark some ideas on their part for programs or trips.