Gift ideas for my mom who is a physics teacher.

[ningrim]

My mom teaches high school physics (standard level and honors/AP). I want to get her a gift that will help her in the classroom.

It could be a piece of lab equipment (nothing over a few hundred dollars) or a book of experiments, or even a display that goes on a wall that students would find informative/useful.

Just curious if you guys have any suggestions as to something every physics teacher should have. Not sure what all she already has, I know she has air tracks and photogates and one of those Vandergraff things. I'm sure she has other stuff as well.

Thanks in advance!

 

[cepheid]

-- How about a Newton's Cradle?

-- Or maybe a hologram, if there is a unit about optics and inteference? I'll post if I think of anything else.

 

[cepheid]

These, in addition to being able to be used to view things in 3D, could also double as polarizing filters. I suppose if you got two pairs of the linearly polarized variety, you could show how placing them on top of each other and oriented perpendicularly results in blocking out all of the light: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polarized_3D_glasses

Also, a friend of mine who teaches high school physics said he made a demo in which he dissolved (saturated) something (sugar maybe) in a large transparent rectangular tank of water. Since the excess naturally settles to the bottom, you get a gradient in the refractive index from top to bottom. Shine a laser through the tank, and you get a very obvious demonstration of refraction.

 

[Andy Resnick]

My mom teaches high school physics (standard level and honors/AP). I want to get her a gift that will help her in the classroom.

It could be a piece of lab equipment (nothing over a few hundred dollars) or a book of experiments, or even a display that goes on a wall that students would find informative/useful.

I'm not sure if you are asking for something specific, or instead a general source that you could browse through.

Pasco (http://www.pasco.com) makes great stuff. It's a little pricey, tho- not sure what you can find.

Edmund Optics/ Edmund Scientific also has a lot of fun toys (http://www.scientificsonline.com/)

For specific ideas, I guess it depends on a lot of things- demo stuff vs. give-aways (e.g. slide-mounted diffraction gratings, polaroid/polarizer strain viewers, fresnel lenses), if there's a specific topic you'd like to cover (mechanics, e&m, thermo, sound&waves, etc.), etc.

Personally, I am drooling over this:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0006J31ME/?tag=pfamazon01-20

AFAIK, the students could map their own DNA- and compare it to their siblings/parents, etc. Which could turn out to be fun or...

 

[mathwonk]

particle accelerator? volunteer to grade her homework for a semester?

 

[mishima]

How about FunFlyStick? Its a handheld van der graff generator.

http://www.grand-illusions.com/images/articles/toyshop/funflystick/funflystick.wmv

 

[turbo]

My wife brought home a Galileo thermometer from her friend's lawn sale yesterday. It's a pretty neat item, and you can get one for less than $30.

 

[cepheid]

This is kind of an old thread. I imagine that the gift would have long since been bought.

 

[turbo]

Oops! Still, the thermometer would be a really nice item for a classroom.