Ms. Walker is an FDR middle school science teacher who teaches 6th-grade and 8th-grade students. I chose her to interview because she is an expert in science education and she is knowledgeable of our middle school's curriculum. Although the original plan was to conduct the interview in person, due to scheduling difficulties, it was conducted via Gmail.

Inquiry questions asked include:

• What physics concepts do middle school students usually find most difficult?

• From your experience, which learning methods (visual, hands-on, etc.) are most effective for helping students understand these concepts?

• Are there any scientific concepts you feel currently lack enough accessible learning resources?

For the first question, she explained that the concepts middle school students struggle with the most are connecting math with physics. As math is an essential and significant part of learning physics, this difficulty becomes a major obstacle for the students. She emphasized that students often have trouble with scale, proportions, ratios, and fractions. More importantly, she identified Newton's second law of motion and calculations involving speed as particularly difficult for students. Her responses helped me understand that my tool must address both mathematical reasoning and the physics concept.

For the second question, Ms.Walker highlighted that direct instruction is very effective. After students get the basic ideas, hands-on activities and data collection help reinforce the concepts. Notwithstanding, she warned that students sometimes treat hands-on activities as play rather than a learning opportunity. This means that the instructional tool must be designed to ensure academic engagement.

For the last question, she noted that the accessible resources for analyzing data and creating graphs are limited. Middle school students need more practice in interpreting data sets and constructing data. 

Overall, Ms.Walker's feedback provided valuable information refining my idea and guiding future paths. It underscored the importance of the math-concept relationship and the need for clear, structured data analysis. Based on her suggestions, I decided to design a tool that focuses on Newton's second law, provides further space for math calculation, is interactive and engaging, and has clear instructions. 

Ms. Castro teaches coding and robotics at FDR High School, making her an expert in robotics, including Arduino. The interview was conducted in person on November 21.

After explaining my mission project to her, she suggested integrating my learning tool with Arduino, especially the Nano board. After researching existing products, such as Speed Detector, she guided me on what components I would need and how Arduino works. 

To enable students to manipulate variables and perform mathematical calculations, the Arduino will measure the time and speed of an object. These measurements require specific Arduino sensors and components: an Arduino Uno (or Nano), an IR Obstacle Avoidance Sensor Module, breadboards, an LED (to visualize if the object passes a certain point), a Liquid Crystal Display, and resistors (to resist the flow of electrical energy in a circuit). 

Ms. Castro's feedback and information were invaluable for the project, as Arduino played a major role in it. Moreover, she provided me with the required materials and a tutorial book (used for Benchmark 2).