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Home Interactives Vectors and Projectiles The Monkey and the Zookeeper Notes

The Monkey and the Zookeeper Notes

Notes:

The Monkey and the Zookeeper 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.

Teaching Ideas and Suggestions:

This Interactive is intended for use near the beginning to middle stages of a learning cycle on projectile motion. When used with the provided activity page, the Monkey and Zookeeper Interactive provides an engaging experience with an intriguing question. The question (Where should a zookeeper aim his banana cannon if s/he wishes to launch a banana to a monkey that drops from a tree-limb the moment the banana is launched?) The concept that emerges from the experience is that the monkey falls from the tree branch at the same rate that the banana falls below the straight-line, gravity-free trajectory.

Related Resources:

There are numerous resources at The Physics Classroom website that serve as very complementary supports for the Monkey and Zookeeper Interactive. These include:
  • Minds On Physics Internet Modules:
    The Minds On Physics Internet Modules include a collection of interactive questioning modules that help learners assess their understanding of physics concepts and solidify those understandings by answering questions that require higher-order thinking. Assignments VP7, VP8, VP9, and VP10 of the Vectors and Projectiles module provide great complements to this Interactive. They are best used in the middle to later stages of the learning cycle. Visit the Minds On Physics Internet Modules.

     
  • Curriculum/Practice: There is a single Concept Development think-sheet at the Curriculum Corner that would be very useful in assisting students in cultivating their understanding. It is named

    Projectile Motion

    Visit the Curriculum Corner.

     
  • Labwork:
    Simulations should always support (never supplant) hands-on learning. The Laboratory section of The Physics Classroom website includes several hands-on ideas that complement this Interactive. Six notable lab ideas include ...

    Basketball Analysis
    Launcher Speed
    Projectile Problem-Solving I
    Projectile Problem-Solving II
    Maximum Range
    Hit the Target

    Visit The Laboratory.
  • Science Reasoning Activities:
    Science classrooms should be filled with reasoning activities. There are three related activities in the Projectiles section of the Science Reasoning Center that will challenge students to employ close reading, data analysis, and logical reasoning. The activities are named ...

    Up and Down
    Maximum Range of a Projectile
    Juggling

    Visit the Science Reasoning Center.

Additional resources and ideas for incorporating the Monkey and the Zookeeper Interactive into an instructional unit on projectile motion can be found at the Teacher Toolkits section of The Physics Classroom website. Visit Teacher Toolkits.

Visit: The Monkey and the Zookeeper Interactive