Project Soundbyte - Science Idol and Project Surf
Steps Needed to Initiate Project. The following are only a few possible suggestions:
| Teacher Preparation |
| 1. |
Science Idol Curriculum Requirements:
Science Idol -> As this is an end of the year project and requires several weeks to complete, you will want to finish as much of your science curriculum as possible before beginning. This project is a really great way to review key concepts and prepare students for the 7th grade version of this project. |
| 2. |
Project Surf Curriculum Requirements:
Students need to be able to calculate the force of an object given only the distance, time, and mass of a traveling baseball. As this is middle school, we ignore the motion of the pitcher prior to the pitch and begin timing once the ball leaves his hand. We count the initial velocity as zero meters/second at this point. |
| 3. |
Grants: We write grants through Best Buy and our Linwood Educational Foundation to obtain the necessary equipment for this project. For Best Buy grants, check out www.bestbuy.com - it is called the Best Buy Te@ch Grant. |
| 4. |
Science Idol Requirements and Budget:
- MiniDV Camera - $300 to $1000 depending on how many "bells and whistles" you want. We have a great Sony camera bought by the Linwood Education Foundation.
- A great inexpensive alternative is to use VHS cameras and do your editing by copying the desired material to a VCR recorder. I often use this method with my news crew club before we go to the computers.
- Interactive White Board (IWB) or Projector - you can watch the videos on either system depending on what your school has. A typical IWB system costs $4000 per classroom.
- Outfits - most thrift stores carry inexpensive items that can be used for outfits. The students usually supply the costumes for their videos. You can shoot the movies at school or you can choose to have students shoot the movies at home depending on what type of equipment they have access to.
- Computer - must be capable of running Windows Movie Maker (comes with Windows XP) and have a firewire port to capture video. I highly recommend a firewire IEEE adaptor for your laptop. Unless you are capturing using a USB 2.0, you should use firewire. Adaptors run from $25-$50 and firewire cords are relatively inexpensive.
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| 5. |
Project Surf Requirements and Budget:
- 5 Stop Watches - these usually cost a few dollars each at any sports equipment store. You can also probably borrow them from the Physical Education department.
- 10 Tungsten Palmone PDA's - $2500 (includes the PDA's, screen guards, and extra stylus pens). I wrote and received the Best Buy te@ch grant to get this equipment. They are very easy to use and provide an environment for taking substantial field data as done in "Project Surf"
- Interactive White Board, Starboard, or SMARTboard - in order to demonstrate how to take the data for the students, you need one of these to enter data with. I show a baseball video clip, time the pitch, and write the data in to show students how to perform the lab. I also show the directions prior to the trip and set expectations.
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| 6. |
Home and School Grant for Field Trip:
$500 Total Cost of Field Trip (game and transportation): $1500 (it came out to about $10 per student which included bus, admission, and lunch at the Sandcastle Stadium). |
