AAPT Digi Kits are specially selected multimedia collections that bring together the work of many authors, content developers, editors, and peer reviewers. The goal of the Digi Kits is to promote interdisciplinary explorations that integrate physics with life science, chemistry, and earth science in a format that blends modeling, hands-on investigation, video, and interactive digital representations.
The AAPT Digi Kits are curated, edited, and annotated by Caroline Hall, managing editor and eBook developer for the AAPT and the ComPADRE Digital Libraries in Physics Education.
Please contact chall@aapt.org with questions, suggestions, or to report errors.
Relevant Links:
ComPADRE Digital Libraries in Physics Education
The Amusement Park Science Digi Kit was inspired by a 2014 article in The Physics Teacher magazine, titled "Analyzing Forces on Amusement Park Rides Using Mobile Devices." The article was authored by Rebecca Vieyra and Chrystian Vieyra.
The turn-key Lesson Plan with Assessment, Teacher Guide, and Student Worksheet were authored by AAPT K12 Program Manager Rebecca Vieyra.
Special thanks go out to the following people and organizations:
- Wolfgang Christian for Mobile Device Models, a ComPADRE-hosted eBook
- Tom Henderson, author/creator of The Physics Classroom, for his free-access tutorials on Uniform Circular Motion, Speed and Tangential Velocity, Roller Coaster g-Forces, Mathematics of Circular Motion, and for the problem set "Circular Motion and Gravitation Problems"
- Tom Henderson and Nerd Island Studies for the "Uniform Circular Motion" interactive simulation
- American Association of Physics Teachers, Six Flags America Physics Day: Teacher's Resource Manual
- CK12 Foundation for the "Elevator Simulation"
- Michael R. Gallis, Associate Professor of Physics, Penn State/Schuylkill, for the "JS Free Fall Ride Model"
- Mario Belloni, Professor of Physics, Davidson University, for the "Ferris Wheel JS Simulation"
- Peter Bohacek, Co-leader, SERC Direct Measurement Video Project, for "Einstein Rides the Gravitron" and "Conservation of Energy in a Roller Coaster Using High-Speed Video"
- Bill Hammack, Professor of Chemical Engineering, University of Illinois-Urbana, for his video, "How a Smartphone Knows Up from Down"
- National Carousel Association for the "Carousel Interactive Map"
- Portage, Inc., for its community outreach program "Phenomenal Physics", source of the "Carousels-Rotational Motion" activities
- Franco Normani, mechanical engineer, for the Real World Physics Problems collection, source of the "Ferris Wheel Physics" activity
- John Donovan, former Editor-in-Chief of Low Power Design: The Engineer's Portal to Green Design, for his article, "MEMS Motion Sensors: The Technology Behind the Technology"
- Rebecca Vieyra, Chrystian Vieyra, Philippe Jeanjacquot, Arturo Marti, and Martin Monteiro, for their 2015 article in The Science Teacher, titled "Turn Your Smartphone into a Science Laboratory"
- Rhett Allain, Associate Professor of Physics, Southeastern Louisiana University, for his article in Wired.com titled "What is a G Force?"
- Peter Tyson and the WGBH Educational Foundation, for the blog post in NOVA titled "All About G-Forces"