USING GEOGEBRA AND VPYTHON']PYTHON SOFTWARE FOR TEACHING MOTION IN A UNIFORM GRAVITATIONAL FIELD

This article presents an interdisciplinary approach of teaching at high-school level some topics related to the movement in a uniform gravitational field. Our approach is based on the methodology of learning Physics by modelling. We create the computer models of the studied phenomena, using free but very versatile software, like GeoGebra for analytical modelling, respectively the VPython programming language, for numerical modelling. The built models are related to themes with a major role in the history of Physics: projectile motion and gravitational pendulum. Firstly, we construct and interpret the mathematical models for the studied systems, and then based on these we achieve the models on the computer. The equation of the safety parabola for the motion of a projectile is inferred and is plotted, both in the case when only the gravitational force is acting on the projectile, and also in the case of an additional horizontal force. An application of the model of the gravitational pendulum is the construction of the mathematical and computer models of the transversal wave generated by a set of uncoupled pendulums of different lengths. In GeoGebra we realized a two-dimensional model of this wave, and by using the VPython programming language we built a three-dimensional model of the system, based on the method of numerical modelling. The activities described in this article are the result of a research project of the authors in the field of Physics Education and this result was applied to lessons of students of the interdisciplinary study group focused on mathematical and computational modelling in County Centre of Excellence of Satu Mare.