What does a traffic jam on an urban freeway or the queue for a popular amusement park ride have to do with golf? Wait time! It’s a problem that the United States Golf Association (USGA) and others associated with the sport see as a huge issue in getting people out to play (or to watch). Use Science of Golf: Pace of Play and its accompanying lesson plan to explore movement of materials through a circuit, whether those “materials” are people or molecules in a fluid.
This video joins 19 others in the Science of Golf series developed by the partnership of NBC Learn, USGA, and Chevron. Each has a related NSTA-developed lesson plan to enhance your STEM efforts and foster the development of science and engineering practices. The Pace of Play lesson plan focuses on developing and using models, but not the kind science teachers usually think of. Here, students are encouraged to devise a simulation, which in reality is a game. Thinking of a game as an analogy for how a situation might play out gives modeling a whole new spin.
The series is available cost-free on www.NBCLearn.com, or jump to the video and lesson plans at the links below. From these blog entries you can download the lesson plans in an editable format to add your personal touch.
And if you’re of the age to have seen Caddyshack in the theater (or drive-in), you’ll love the USGA’s PSA campaign to raise awareness about pace of play. Find direct links in the “writing prompt” section and connect to Common Core ELA at the same time!
Video
SOG: Pace of Play examines how flow rate and cycle times are used to determine why bottlenecks occur on the golf course and what can be done about them.
STEM Lesson Plan—Adaptable for Grades 4–12
SOG: Pace of Play guides students in designing and a game model for fluid motion according to criteria and constraints established by the class. It also provides ideas for STEM exploration plus strategies to support students in their own quest for answers.
Image of boy waiting for the green to clear courtesy of Andy Simonds.
You can use the following form to e-mail us edited versions of the lesson plans: [contact-form 2 “ChemNow]