Day 18: Focus Group Testing Out the Experiment!

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The team gathered six students, with the help of a small incentive (delicious homemade cheesecake brownies), to have them test out the experiment we made. As seen below in figure 1, the students are reading/reviewing the theory of the experiment.

Figure 1: students reading the lab manual

Next they split up into groups of 3 and started recording the different trials.


Figure 2 & 3: The two groups conduct their experiments

As noted by our team members, some of the steps in our procedure were misinterpreted by the students. Later on this week, we will be reviewing/editing our labs to make it clearer and easier to understand correctly. Next, the two teams moved on to analyzing the videos using Pasco Capstone as seen below.




Figure 4,5,6: Students using Pasco Capstone

As seen from figures 4-6, the students are using our laptops to analyze the videos since we have the Pasco Capstone Software already downloaded. Our goal, after finalizing the lab manual,would be to get Pasco Capstone installed in the six computers in the lab room. 

The two teams only finished a total of 3 videos due to time constraints, however, in the class setting, students will have around 3 hours which should be enough time for the lab to be completed. The values of g the groups found ranged from -9.75m/s^2 to around -8m/s^2.

Overall, the two teams provided much needed feed back and will allow us to improve the experiment. For example, some steps in our procedure need to be more concise such as where some specific icons are located on which toolbar. More importantly, as expressed by some of the students, this lab portrayed theories/concepts in a much more interesting way. All-in-all, today was a great success and the results showed us what needs to be fine tuned and what we did right or wrong. 


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