Way back in college, I recall seeing a special on National Geographic called Fight Science. At the time, I was studying Isshinryu Karate and was pretty interested in combining the study of martial arts with Scientific theories and measurements. While the "measurements" were presented in a manner that promoted the show rather than the Science, it was still an interesting show with some good explanations of fundamental concepts of Physics.
In class today, we're talking about force. I have my students make a hypothesis about which fighter will be able to punch the hardest based on what they know about force. The fighters hit a crash test dummy, and we get results in pounds (I convert to Newtons).
This usually leads to pretty thoughtful discussions about how the size/mass of the fighter affects the force of the punch and how each fighter can generate speed in a punch.
It's an interesting lesson that grabs the attention of a lot of the students whose interests lie in the somewhat unsavory realm. I think its actually a good idea to promote this kind of training for students who get in trouble a lot. Any martial art teaches discipline and structure, which most kids need. Also, they're a lot of fun.
No comments:
Post a Comment