Race Track Notes

The Race Track Interactive is an adjustable-size file that displays nicely on smart phones, on tablets such as the iPad, on Chromebooks, and on laptops and desktops. The size of the Interactive can be scaled to fit the device that it is displayed on. The compatibility with smart phones, iPads, other tablets, and Chromebooks make it a perfect tool for use in a 1:1 classroom.

This Interactive is intended for use near the middle to later stages of a learning cycle on circular motion. The Interactive provides the learner with the challenge of guiding a car around an oval track. The guidance comes by the applying of a force to the car. The learner must watch the car speed - both horizontal and vertical components - and make decisions about the direction and magnitude of the force. Those decisions are made by clicking/tapping a button, with each click/tap on a button being "a move." The goal is to complete one loop in the least number of moves. Once successful at the novice level, learners can attempt the intermediate and expert levels. Each progressive level results in a narrower track; and in the case of the expert level, there are more choices of force buttons upon which to click/tap.

This Interactive has a true game-like nature to it. Much positive research has been done on the value of gamification to the learning process. While there will be many who do not equate gaming and learning, one thing is clear - there is a load of physics to be applied in this game in order to be successful. Force, or more importantly force components, have the effect of changing the velocity of an object in the direction of the force. Put another way, forces cause accelerations and the direction of the force is the direction of the acceleration. As in real driving, the learner in this Interactive must pay attention to their speed and be able to control the speed through the use of Newton's second law. Furthermore, to make a turn, one needs some tangential velocity and an inward force. The persistence of force buttons on the track provide an instructor a great opportunity to post-process the activity, discussing the need for a centripetal force in order to maintain circular motion. With the Race Track Interactive, gamification and physics learning is suitably mixed.

Our Race Track simulation is now available with a Concept Checker. Do the simulation. Then follow it up with the Concept Checker.

There are numerous resources at The Physics Classroom website that serve as very complementary supports for the Race Track Interactive. These include:

Additional resources and ideas for incorporating Race Track into an instructional unit on Circular Motion can be found at the Teacher Toolkits section of The Physics Classroom website. Visit Teacher Toolkits.