Physics of Skateboarding with PocketLab

NGSS standards: (Physical Sciences), (Forces and Motion)

The PocketLab team knows that our products can be used for some very cool experiments. But we LOVE when we get videos like this from our fans using our sensors to help students understand that the world around them is full of science.

Teachers around the world have faced this problem: What do you when your students are more interested in the skate park than your physics class? You take citizen science to them using PocketLab!

Skating is all about physics, so when Assistant Research Professor at Oklahoma State University, Center for Research on STEM Teaching and Learning, Nicole Colston noticed that the local skate park was filled with "flying physicists" she took the first opportunity to get them involved.

Nicole and her team attached PocketLab Voyagers to their skateboard decks and recorded data in real-time. They were able to measure angular velocity, acceleration, and even track the complete skateboard rotation in three dimensions when the students perform tricks!

Being able to share this data with the students while they are doing what they are passionate about, allowed Nicole and her team to get through to them in a way not possible in a stale classroom setting.

Using the PocketLab system, teachers around the globe can bridge the gap between the classroom and the outside world. When students can "see" science everywhere, they get excited. And the world needs more excited STEM students.

Using PhET Interactive Simulations: Energy Skate Park tool, we created a lesson you can use with your students today in PocketLab Notebook. 

Your students can simulate the physics of skateboarding to understand the principles involved.

Access the lesson for free by clicking here. 

The OSU College of Arts and Sciences in partnership with the city are helping fund renovations to the local skate park to maintain it as a place where athletes can train and with the help of PocketLabs learn more about the physics of their sport.

Watch this video below to see students getting excited about the science of skating.

You can learn about OSU and their STEM program here:

https://education.okstate.edu/research/center-research-stem-teaching-learning/

https://pushforward.okstate.edu/

We want to hear from you! If you are doing something interesting, fun, exciting, or unique with the PocketLab system, reach out to us! We LOVE hearing from our PocketLab fans about all the amazing things they have measured or experimented with. Drop us a line using this form.