Ben Marquette

“Seeing Is Believing” is the innovative program developed by Marquette as a result of Marquette’s dream of a classroom that not only encouraged students but also enables them to look at the real world as scientists do. Using Apple’s iPod Touch devices, ninth-grade students at Roosevelt High School will be trained to capture video of objects during labs involving motion, forces, and energy transformations. For example, one of the labs will require students to use ball bearings on an electrical wire to build roller coasters in order to quantify the characteristics of a successful “loop-the-loop.” They will then answer questions on how the elements of the lab relate to the real world. The participating students will apply the use of apps to gather and analyze data from the video they capture. The final phase of the project will consist of creating voiceovers using the Apple iMovie app that describe principles of physics at work in real time, at a slower playback speed, or both. Marquette, who lives in Cuyahoga Falls, hopes the project will provide students with a deeper learning by uncovering truths on their own or asking questions that drive the lesson rather than passively observing their teachers.