Resumen de Feeling Newton’s Second Law
Vincent P. Coletta, Josh Bernardin, Daniel Pascoe, Anatol Hoemke
Physics instructors recognize the value of kinesthetic experience in learning fundamental physics concepts. We describe a kinesthetic experiment appropriate for both college and high school physics students. The experiment helps students achieve an intuitive understanding of Newton’s second law in a way they find quite enjoyable. It was devised by one of us over 20 years ago and has been performed by thousands of students at Loyola Marymount University (LMU) and by students at some Los Angeles area high schools. Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) call for high school students to be able to analyze and interpret data and to understand Newton’s second law, which are central to this experiment. The experiment gives students a feel for Newton’s second law by requiring them to adjust their own motion so that they move at constant acceleration in order to maintain a constant force on a cart carrying a second student.
