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EXAS
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NSTRUMENTS
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NCORPORATED
G
ETTING
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TARTED WITH
CBR
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Teacher information
How might your classes change with CBR?
CBR
is an easy-to-use system with features that help you integrate it into your lesson plans
quickly and easily.
CBR
offers significant improvements over other data-collection methods you may have used
in the past. This, in turn, may lead to a restructuring of how you use class time, as your
students become more enthusiastic about using real-world data.
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You’ll find that your students feel a greater sense of ownership of the data because they
actually participate in the data-collection process rather than using data from textbooks,
periodicals, or statistical abstracts. This impresses upon them that the concepts you
explore in class are connected to the real world and aren’t just abstract ideas. But it also
means that each student will want to take his or her turn at collecting the data.
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Data collection with
CBR
is considerably more effective than creating scenarios and
manually taking measurements with a ruler and stopwatch. Since more sampling points
give greater resolution and since a sonic motion detector is highly accurate, the shape of
curves is more readily apparent. You will need less time for data collection and have more
time for analysis and exploration.
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With
CBR
students can explore the repeatability of observations and variations in what-if
scenarios. Such questions as “Is it the same parabola if we drop the ball from a greater
height?” and “Is the parabola the same for the first bounce as the last bounce?” become
natural and valuable extensions.
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The power of visualization lets students quickly associate the plotted list data with the
physical properties and mathematical functions the data describes.
Other changes occur once the data from real-world events is collected.
CBR
lets your
students explore underlying relationships both numerically and graphically.
Explore data graphically
Use automatically generated plots of distance, velocity, and acceleration with respect to time
for explorations such as:
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What is the physical significance of the y-intercept? the x-intercept? the slope? the
maximum? the minimum? the derivatives? the integrals?
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How do we recognize the function (linear, parabolic, etc.) represented by the plot?
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How would we model the data with a representative function? What is the significance of
the various coefficients in the function (e.g., AX
2
+ BX + C)?
Explore data numerically
Your students can employ statistical methods (mean, median, mode, standard deviation,
etc.) appropriate for their level to explore the numeric data. When you exit the
RANGER
program, a prompt reminds you of the lists in which
REALTIME=NO
data for time, distance,
velocity, and acceleration is stored.