Watch Your Steps

• This lesson explores the kinetic energy of a person walking at a constant speed. Your students will start by measuring the number of steps they've taken. They'll use that value to calculate the distance traveled, average walking speed, and average kinetic energy value for that motion. The Hub has an internal accelerometer that can detect movement on the 3 axes (i.e., up-down, left-right, front-back). When the Hub is clipped to someone's hip, it moves as they walk and records acceleration values. The resulting graph shows the minimum and maximum values of the recorded acceleration values. The precision of these minimum and maximum values will depend on the vertical position of the Hub while the student is walking. The "step count" precision will depend on the quality of these minimum and maximum values, and the calibrating values used in the program.

• Use various materials to engage your students on the topic of kinetic energy.

Ignite a Discussion

Start a discussion by asking questions related to the lesson. Here are a few suggestions:

• How can you measure how fast you're walking?
• How can you measure or calculate the energy of an object in motion?
• Which type of energy is that?

Have your students write down their thoughts as a hypothesis.

• Have your students build a pedometer that can count the number of steps taken. They can create their own models, or follow the building instructions in the app to build the Pedometer model.
• Ask your students to try out their models using the suggested program.
• Tell them to look at the graph of acceleration over time, and describe what a "step" is.

• Allow your students some time to adjust their programs to improve performance.
• Encourage them to record as much data as possible during their experiments.
• Have them export their data as a CSV file, so they can manipulate it in other software if they wish.

• If your students still have access to their SPIKE Prime Sets, have them complete the tasks from the SPIKE App, to elaborate with hands-on learning, for example:
  • Ask them to illustrate their kinetic energy as they walk or as part of their program. They can use the docking station as one device to program to accomplish this task.
• If your students don't have access to their sets, have them complete their Student Inventor Notebook, or assign one of the extension activities suggested below. Most of the extension activities can be done using the data collected during the hands-on session
• Facilitate a sharing session in which your students exchange information. This can be done using whichever method/tool is most efficient (i.e., in-person or online).

• Give feedback on each student's performance.
• You can use the assessment rubrics provided to simplify the process.

Teacher Observation Checklist
Establish a scale that meets your needs, for example:

• Partially accomplished
• Fully accomplished
• Overachieved

Use the following success criteria to evaluate your students' progress:

• The students can program a device to log data on a line graph.
• The students can interpret the values coming from the line graph.
• The students can explain kinetic energy in relation to speed.

Self-Assessment
Have each student choose the brick that they feel best represents their performance.

• Blue: I can graph data using the program provided in the app.
• Yellow: I can create my own line graph and explain my results.
• Violet: I've created new experiments on my own.

Peer-Assessment

Encourage your students to provide feedback to others by:

• Having one student score the performance of another using the colored brick scale above.
• Asking them to present constructive feedback to each other so that they can improve their performance during the next lesson. This is a great opportunity to use videoconferencing tools or blog posting tools in a blended learning scenario.

Simplify this lesson by:

• Asking your students to recreate the experiment using only the Hub. The data should be relevant for counting steps as long as the Hub is held perpendicular to the ground.

Take this lesson to the next level by:

• Asking your students to build their own pedometers
• Having your students repeat the experiment using a phone or a tablet as a pedometer, comparing the results of both experiments
• This will require an app that can visualize the device's sensor values

Building Tips

Coding Tips
Using Download Mode
This lesson is designed to be played in Download Mode. The Download Mode allows for a higher sample rate of data collection by the Hub. This means that the Line Graph has a better resolution. It also means that the data set has to be imported after the program has been stopped.

Using the Stop Program Block to transfer automatically data sets
Using this block will end your program and trigger automatically an upload of the collected data sets from the Hub to your device when connected via bluetooth. You need to manually upload data sets when using a USB connection.

Main Program

Science Data Tips

Here is an example of the data students can expect from this experiment.

Math Extension

To incorporate the development of math skills:

• Ask your students the identify the elements of their experiments that required approximation. Tell them to keep in mind that step lengths aren't always consistent and that pedometers have a limited rate of success (i.e., they're precise within a margin of error).
• Have your students develop theoretical versions of their experiments by describing what an ideal curve would describe a step.

Note: This will require additional time.

Language Arts Extension

To incorporate the development of language arts skills:

• Ask your students to research how smart watches or phones record step counts. Have them write a short explanation of how the technology works, including the percentage of error.
• Have your students explore how pattern recognition, from an AI point of view, helps these smart devices to detect steps.

Note: This will require additional time.

Career Links

Students who've enjoyed this lesson might be interested in exploring these career pathways:

• Therapeutic Services
• Engineering & Technology