Google Glass, an upcoming glasses / camera / internet hybrid, is finally in the hands of developers. There are a few videos of people walking around and doing ... normal things, but the one that really caught my attention was this go kart race by Google's Josh Armour. This video shows off the smooth, high definition video that can be captured at decent speeds.
My imagination runs wild in terms of STEM education. Imagine bringing a group of kids to a carnival and having a fun day of go karting. How about using a video editor to mark two points and time the distance between them, to calculate velocity? How about measuring the change in velocity between points to calculate acceleration? Now imagine this with trains ... or roller coasters ... or airplanes!
How about having kids throw the ball around, and thing bring it back to class and examine the parabolic motion of a ball? How about showing that you can reasonably calculate the horizontal and vertical position based on how hard it was thrown and the time? This could also be used to show how equations are for ideal situations and that variables such as wind, humidity, etc can affect measurement. You don't even have to mention the term "projectile motion" for the kids to get it. - because it would be their own physical actions!
Opportunities are everywhere to teach our children how physics is represented in the world around us. This can all be done with current technology, but having the ability to easily create videos from our vantage points puts the stamp of personality that resonates heavily with the "me" generation reared on YouTube. Essentially, it's a dynamic textbook where the examples are tuned specifically to the student - a far cry from the stale books that bore most students today.
If technologies such as Google Glass can get into educator's hands and avoid the $1500 developer price, we all win.
Check out other cool Google Glass videos on Gizmodo!
This post also appears on This Week In Blackness.
