🚀 go-pugleaf

Michael,

        It depends on how the Amusement Park Physics test is written if
it could be called alternative assessment.

        For the last 6 years, teachers from Western PA., Eastern OH, West
Virginia and Maryland have been going to Kennywood in Pittsburgh, PA to
participate in the annual physics test.

        Kennywood's test does not use plug and chug problems for the
test.  The test is an open ended test that requires the students to
justify theiur reasoning and provide and answer to the questions.

        There are question sets on 18 rides.
        There is a set of 31 Fermi Questions
        There is a contest.

        The ride questions require the students to generate their own
data from observations and then provide an answer to the questions.  The
test is a challange for the students because it does not provide numbers
that the students then plug into an equation and crank out answers.  This
makes it more difficult to grade, but it makes it more interesting for
the students.

        The grade depends upon the justification given to each answer.

        The Fermi questions ask them a number of different things.  One
asks the students to estimate the number of gallons of paint needed to
paint all of the picnic tables in the park, another askes the students to
estimate the number of grains of salt on all of the soft pretzels sold in
the park in one day.  Many oif the students come up with novel approaches
to solving the questions.

        The contest is optional for those schools that must have a
conmpetation in order to participate.

        There is enough material to keep any group of students busy for
ten days.  Since the test is only given one day a year, there is enough
material for a  school to use that it would  take several years before
the studnets would be able to doo all of the questions.  Each student is
asked to do 3 to five ride questions, depending upon the ability of the
class.  ( The individual teacher decides and then grades the tests for
his or her own studnets.)  The students are also asked to do 3 to five
fermi questions.  ( same conditions as the ride questions.).


        The test is flexible to meet the needs of all levels of physics
students from a variety of school types.

        This is only one form that alternative testing might take.  As I
said before,  it depends upon the form that the amusement park physics
test takes if it could be considered alternative testing.


Ed Henke
George Westinghouse HS
Pittsburgh, PA



______________________---------------------

On Thu, 3 Mar 1994, Michael Grasse wrote:

> I'm surprised that amusement park physics wasn't mentioned. We take 100 or
> so kids to Great America every year, ride the coasters and give them a test
> to do analyzing various rides (with partners). Do you consider this kind of
> stuff "altenative assessment" or do you mean cooperative groups, projects and
>