Lesson plan from Italy…

Students research the history of bikes and their shapes and compile a list of the component parts with pictures. These could be published using a photo sharing tool such as Flickr.

This activity could be combined with a physics lesson in which students verify that if the bike is stationary it is not stable, while it remains stable if it moves forward and you are pedalling .

Other possibilities are –

• Physics: mechanics (statics, kinematics, dynamics) and thermodynamics
• Mathematics: relation between sizes which are directly or inversely proportion , Cartesian diagrams, set of real numbers.
• Biology: ideal food for a healthy bike ride , metabolism and digestion,
• Chemistry: energetic content of food, energetic transformations (dynamo and batteries), Eco-friendly mobility.

How to do it – description of activities

The working groups will face the following thematics

– history of bikes (transformation of bikes during the years), list of the bike events which occur on  the territory, collection and cataloguing of images;

– static balance (forces and movements);

– motion kinematics (space, time, speed);

– dynamics (friction, brakes, pneumatics, racing or riding  handlebars, gears , ecc.);

– research of the most suitable food to carry out  an enjoyable bike ride, examination of the energetic content of food and  their assimilation;

– energetic transformation of the dynamo and battery , eco-friendly motion and pollution.

Each group relates to the others on the activity carried out with the use of electronic tools. All the material produced, conveniently organized ,is loaded in Moodle (platform FAD) to be disseminated on web.

Tools

Internet, fastone (image visualization), slideshare (presentations), vlc (visualization of videos), office, autocad, wikipedia, moodle, www.openrunner.com, www.mapmyrun.com, google maps, foursquare, twitter

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