Do these two objects fall at the same rate? Students detect evidence of drag over short distances in an introductory physics lab.

I will describe a new “Falling Objects” lab designed to develop important scientific lab practices and discuss student experiences with the lab. The lab is intended for use at the introductory level (high school or undergraduate). Experimental skills are essential to physics education. Two documents outline key scientific practices for the introductory lab: AAPT Recommendations for the Undergraduate Physics Laboratory Curriculum, and the Next Generation Science Standards for secondary education. Both include the need for students to design experiments, and construct and revise models based on evidence obtained from those experiments. Traditional verification labs, such as the task of verifying the value of g near the surface of the earth, are rarely designed to build these important scientific skills called for in the recommendations. In this new lab, students are given two objects and asked whether they fall at the same rate. They first design an experiment to test their expectations. The constraints of the lab space limit drop heights to about 2 meters. One of the objects experiences no significant drag, while the other object experiences drag that is difficult to detect without an analysis of residuals, and a willingness for students to revise their models. Enhancements for the advanced lab (beyond the first year) will also be discussed, along with student results.