Calculus-Based Physics Lab Kit

[DonHomeschool]

Hello Everyone,

I would like to know if anyone can recommend a lab kit, with an answer key, for a calculus-based physics course.  I am using the textbook, Physics for Scientists and Engineers (Cengage), 10th Edition, by Serway & Jewett and would like a lab kit (with an answer key) to complement the studies. 

Any suggestions would be truly appreciated.  I thank you all in advance.

[Lanny]

I was hoping that regentrude would visit this forum and see your thread. She teaches Calculus based Physics in a university in the Midwest. Possibly she can suggest Lab Kits for you. You might sent her a PM.

[Lilaclady]

You may want to

look at hands on science labs. They have good quality labs for physics both mech and E&M.
https://www.holscience.com

They typically supply community collegesand private schools so there is quite a bit of hoop to jump through as a homeschooler. the lab kits are not cheap but come with everything the student needs for the lab.
The one big con is that the set up is all online and you can not change the order of the labs. You have to complete one before the next one will open. 

[DonHomeschool]

Lilaclady,

Thank you for your suggestion.  However, they are the reason why I am on this forum asking for help.  They are under Science Interactive, which is the parent company of HOL Science and eScience Labs(https://esciencelabs.com/product-category/physics).  Unfortunately, they told me to look somewhere else because at this time, they are not working with homeschoolers. 

[MamaSprout]

4 hours ago, DonHomeschool said:

Lilaclady,

Thank you for your suggestion.  However, they are the reason why I am on this forum asking for help.  They are under Science Interactive, which is the parent company of HOL Science and eScience Labs(https://esciencelabs.com/product-category/physics).  Unfortunately, they told me to look somewhere else because at this time, they are not working with homeschoolers. 

Yes. They told me this a year ago, as well. We ended up doing biology piece-meal. Quality Science Labs doesn't have an advanced kit, but maybe you could adapt it? https://www.qualitysciencelabs.com/

QSL and Home Scientist (who doesn't do physics kits), seem to be the only ones who will work with homeschoolers for kits right now. Otherwise it's pieces and parts from Home Science Tools, but they don't have much in the way of lab manual, even for their one-off kits. It's really a missed opportunity.

[cintinative]

OP, am I understanding you correctly, you are looking for an Escience lab kit?  If so, have you looked on Ebay? Often times I see used kits/unused kits on there. The complicating factor is I think the naming has something to do with the college that hosts the course in question. So you aren't going to be able to be super specific on the name of the kit. I got some hits using "escience lab physics"  https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m570.l1313&_nkw=escience+lab+physics&_sacat=0

 

ETA: I bought a used Escience kit off of shopgoodwill a long time ago and it came with a CD that described the labs.

ETA2: I am not seeing an advanced physics lab kit on the Escience site. So I think I must be wrong in my assumption.

Edited September 15, 2020 by cintinative

[cintinative]

@regentrude??

[DonHomeschool]

MamaSprout,

I used Quality Science Labs (QSL) for my daughter's 9th Grade Biology, 10th Grade Chemistry, and 11th Grade Algebra-Based Physics.  However, QSL never created a kit geared towards Calculus-Based Physics.

Cintinative,

I'll do any kit that my daughter can use for Calculus-Based Physics.  The issue is that I am very "weak" when it comes to sciences, especially physics.  Therefore, I need something with an Answer Key.  Previously, I put together my own lab and manual for Calculus-Based Physics; nevertheless, my oldest daughter (who is now a junior in college) advised me to make this course better for her younger sister because the lab I previously attempted to create was limited.

Again, I just need a Physics lab kit, with an Answer Key.

By the way, thank you all for ALL of your input (you have no clue how great it feels to have this community help me every time I face a dilemma). 

[Lilaclady]

I am sorry to hear that Don. If you are on the homeschool to college group you can look up a gentleman who is a professor at UC Santa Clara. Or  look up gas station without pumps. He designed a high level physics course with labs for his son. 

[regentrude]

20 hours ago, cintinative said:

@regentrude??

No idea. Never used a prefab lab kit; we created our own labs.

ETA: I am also not sure what an "answer key" for a lab would possibly be. You design and set up the experiment, record data, do analysis, compare with theoretical calculations.

Btw, you can use any lab, even if it's for an algebra based course. Not using calc in the lab analysis is no big deal.

Edited September 16, 2020 by regentrude

[Lanny]

OK this is worth a few minutes of your time. Nothing ventured and nothing gained...

When my DD was a TTUISD student, we bought a number of Lab Kits, and some other things (eBooks, etc.) , from MBS Direct, which was the "official" book store for TTUISD (TTUISD now has a newer name which is TTU K-12). MBS Direct is located in Columbia MO.

I cannot remember the name of the company that made those Lab Kits. There were two (2) Lab Kits for the TTUISD High School Physics course. I suspect that the contents were selected by TTUISD, but I try not to assume. That was before my DD had Calc, but regentrude wrote that you can use any Lab Kit...   🙂

Whether or not they will sell directly to a Home Schooler I don't know, but their toll free phone number, email and chat are on this URL, so it will be very easy for you to contact them and see if they can help you out. Here's the URL:

https://www.mbsdirect.net/contact-us/index.php

OT:  Recently (early August 2020) DD needed the 9th edition of the Astronomy textbook, which at that time was incredibly expensive ($353 USD, Used). DD sent an email to the professor and he said she could use the 8th or 7th edition. I searched on BookFinder and bought the 7th edition for $5.90 USD, including Shipping and NC tax and they shipped it in a cardboard box. That was from a company with a different name, on eBay, but it was MBS Direct...

[DonHomeschool]

Lilaclady/Lanny,

Thank you both for your suggestions.

 

Regentrude

Thank you for letting me know about the option of using the algebra-based kits.

 

In response to your question regarding Answer Keys: I needed to compare the outcome of the experiment, which should lead to similar outcomes to the original.  In other words, as you know, one of the advantages of scientific experiments is that if all the steps are closely followed, then the research will yield to the same results.  Therefore, the Answer Key will serve as an asset to verify reliability.

[Farrar]

On 9/16/2020 at 10:32 AM, regentrude said:

No idea. Never used a prefab lab kit; we created our own labs.

ETA: I am also not sure what an "answer key" for a lab would possibly be. You design and set up the experiment, record data, do analysis, compare with theoretical calculations.

Btw, you can use any lab, even if it's for an algebra based course. Not using calc in the lab analysis is no big deal.

I can answer about the answer key as we did the QSL kit (which is only algebra based physics so it's not what the OP asked for, but it is a very comprehensive kit). I would say about half of the lab questions were background information tied to the lab or were questions about how to do the calculations (which formula would apply to what and how, etc.), so those answers were just straight up. Then they had sample data which was clearly marked as just a sample and did the calculations based on that. I would have personally found it invaluable to have the work for the calculations fully shown because while most of the time, we did fine with it, there were times when I really wanted to see more than the final answer for the calculations as we did something wrong when we used the sample data (and thus our data too) to try and get the answer. So as someone who doesn't know physics at all, the answer key was useful in some ways and really not in others.

[regentrude]

15 hours ago, DonHomeschool said:

In response to your question regarding Answer Keys: I needed to compare the outcome of the experiment, which should lead to similar outcomes to the original.  In other words, as you know, one of the advantages of scientific experiments is that if all the steps are closely followed, then the research will yield to the same results.  Therefore, the Answer Key will serve as an asset to verify reliability.

But the REALLY interesting part is when you do not get the results that are expected. That's when you have to figure out what you actually measured, what the sources of errors are, why there is a different result. Often, that is much more valuable than faithfully reproducing something expected.

The best and most valuable experiments are the ones where the student has an actual question to which they do not already know the answer.

[DonHomeschool]

Regentrude,

 

I agree with you that the beauty of scientific research is determining the sources of possible errors; however, how do I (the person overseeing the home school instruction) know what outcome to expect from a given experiment without an Answer Key?  In other words, I am looking for a Calculus-Based Physics Lab (that includes an Answer Key), which can advance my child in a subject area that is not my expertise. 

[regentrude]

2 hours ago, DonHomeschool said:

Regentrude,

I agree with you that the beauty of scientific research is determining the sources of possible errors; however, how do I (the person overseeing the home school instruction) know what outcome to expect from a given experiment without an Answer Key?  In other words, I am looking for a Calculus-Based Physics Lab (that includes an Answer Key), which can advance my child in a subject area that is not my expertise. 

I completely understand your motivation - but my point is that "what outcome to expect" is not really the important thing about a physics lab!
You can to a brilliant lab without achieving the "expected" outcome, without even having an expectation.

Build a ramp. Put a box on it, increase the angle of tilt, measure when box begins to slide. Will it depend on the size of the bottom of the box? On the weight of the box? On the surface of the box? The student need to know absolutely nothing about the outcome; they can design an experiment, perform measurements, vary their variables, do statistics, plot their data, come up with a conclusion. They will have learned a lot more than performing a canned experiment according to detailed instructions with the goal of replicating somebody else's findings. 

That's not to say you shouldn't use a lab kit - just pointing out that the focus on reproducing a known result is really not what physics lab should be about. 

 

[Farrar]

To note, there are experiments like the one Regentrude describes in the QSL kit. Ones where it has the student set up the equipment and then are asked to move things, redesign things, try it in a new way, etc. I remember my kids doing that with measuring the sound waves, for example. First they had to set up the water, the tubes, the sound fork thing... Once the steps had guided them through thinking about it, they had to decide how to move things, how to change the water level, the variables, etc. There were a lot of these in between sorts of things - ones where there was a sort of demo lab and then the chance to try a few things with the set up and decide how to vary the conditions a bit.

[Lanny]

regentrude brings up some interesting points. about Labs for Physics and other things.   It should be fairly easy to duplicate an experiment shown in a book and get the same results.  The really interesting things happen when someone tries something different. For example, what happens if I put this Resistor into the circuit, there. How will that change the results that I measure with the test meter?

To get off of Physics for a minute, 3 or 4 years ago, there was a Cadet at the Air Force Academy. She was in a Chemistry Lab and she put some things into a Dish and she invented something that was immediately Classified.  I believe it had to do with something that could protect troops and law enforcement people if they were shot.  She has probably graduated and probably is in a lab somewhere, working on her discovery.   🙂

Cooking is probably something like that. In the kitchen one has a certain number of different ingredients that can be used to cook something. They can be combined differently, to make different dishes.

To go back to Physics. One of my late uncles had a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering. When I was a very young boy, Stanford University built a lab for him.  He was a genius in his field and an inventor.  I think one can assume that he was not there to replicate what he already knew, but to try new things and see what would happen.