Phone Physics: Prototype

Learning Goals

1. Students can program an application in the App Inventor/Thunkable environment

2. Students can develop a physics laboratory investigation that utilizes their product

Program the Application

Students use App Inventor to program the application. As they progress through the development they should document the road blocks that they encounter and research how to overcome those issues.

There is no set timing for this portion of the activity as it is more deadline driven. The programming should be completed in time to have their laboratory method verified and initial results published by the instructor defined deadline, recommended to be anywhere from two to four days dependent upon the teacher's judgment.

Student Resources

• • • App Inventor

    • Thunkable

Develop a Physics Laboratory Investigation

General Description

Students will develop a quantitative physics laboratory investigation that utilizes their app function.

The test should:

• • 1. Control for all variables but the one being measured and the one being manipulated

    2. Measure some change in state for the device with respect to some controlled variable

    3. Output the collected data to a file that can then be imported into a graphing program such as Google Sheets, MS Excel, Graphical Analysis, or other data analysis software

    4. Insure the safety of the device during the performance of the experiment