The equivalence principle comes to school : falling objects and other middle school investigations

• Comparing two objects falling together is a small-scale version of Galileo's classical experiment, demonstrating the equivalence between gravitational and inertial mass. We present here investigations by a group of ten-year-olds, who used iPads to record the drops. The movie recordings were essential in the follow-up discussions, enabling the students to compare the different situations and to discern situations where air resistance was essential and where it could be neglected. By considering a number of familiar situations and simple investigations that can be performed, e.g., on a playground, students may come closer to an appreciation of the deep significance of the non-influence of mass on motion under gravity.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap -- Didaktik (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences -- Didactics (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Fysik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Physical Sciences (hsv//eng)

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