Using our Understanding of Kinematics to Shape Public Policy Regarding Transportation Safety
photos courtesy of
http://www.carbuyingtips.com/
A WebQuest for High School Physics
By
Nicola Vitale
Introduction:
Every day people die or are injured in car crashes. People lose their lives, their loved ones, and sometimes their ability to walk or work. In addition to the personal and emotional costs of these tragedies, there are financial costs as well. Hospital care and lost wages are examples. In this WebQuest you will be looking at the nature of this social problem, its causes, and policies that attempt to address it. Using online resources, and using your knowledge of kinematics, you will suggest solutions and evaluate them against existing ones.
Task:
Using the public policy approach
and your knowledge of physics, you will analyze the problem of transportation
accidents.
- You will specifically look at a public policy
that addresses the problem and analyze its benefits, its costs, and its
effectiveness.
- You will decide whether the policy should be
continued or stopped
- You will suggest an alternate or additional
public policy that should be put into effect to address the problem
- Using your research and your knowledge of
physics, you will write a proposal that convinces the reader that the
existing policy should either be continued or stopped (you decide which)
and convinces the reader that your suggested policy should be put into
effect.
Process:
Step 1:
Become familiar with using the steps involved in analyzing
public policy and using the Public
Policy Analyst.
Visit the links below. Read the explanations, look at the
examples and fill out and print the worksheets for each step. At this point you
can use any problem you wish, choose something simple. This is only to get you
familiar with the steps and terminology and concepts. Later, you will use these steps to analyze a problem that
involves transportation safety.
Step 2: Gather information. Use the links below.
Did
You Know? (Interesting statistics from NHTSA)
National
Automotive Sampling System
(Check out electronic
cases!)
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
National
Center for Statistics and Analysis
National
Transportation Safety Board
Fatality Analysis Reporting System
Do your own
search with 
or
your favorite search engine
Some specific problems you should look at are:
·
car crashes at
intersections
·
high-speed collisions
on highways
·
speeding
·
driving while
intoxicated
·
too many large S.U.V. s
and trucks on the road
·
other safety problems
involving cars, trucks, trains, or planes
Step 3: Do a public policy analysis.
Use the links above to find evidence to support each step.
PPA Steps:
- Define the
problem – fill out and print worksheet 1
If you have trouble defining the
problem, you might start with a public policy (speed limits on highways or
towns, seat belt laws, air bags, laws regarding traffic lights, stop signs,
etc.) and then figure out what social problem it tries to address.
- Gather evidence
– fill out and print worksheet 2
Check out online
resources.
- Identify causes – fill out and print worksheet 3
Use
your own knowledge and online research.
- Evaluate policy – fill out and print worksheet 4
- Develop
solutions – fill out and print
worksheet 5
- Select best solution – fill out and print worksheet 6
- Benefits and costs
- Identifying Benefits
– fill out and print worksheet 7
- Identifying
Costs – fill out and print worksheet 8
Step 4: Scientific Analysis
Write a brief scientific analysis of the existing policy
and your proposed policy. Explain, through your knowledge of kinematics, why
these policies may be effective or ineffective.
Depending
on the issue, explain the policies’ effectiveness in terms of:
o
Newton’s laws of motion
o
Force, velocity, and acceleration
o
Momentum and mass
o
Kinetic energy
o
Conservation of energy
o
Reaction time and distance
o
Friction
Try to give physical examples of how the policy would be effective
or ineffective.
Quantitative examples are preferred!
Step 5: Using
your PPA analysis, your scientific analyses, and information from the Internet,
write a proposal that convinces the reader whether the existing policy should
be continued or discontinued and that your policy should be started. Try to convince the reader that your policy
should be adopted.
The
proposal should be like a persuasive essay, make sure you include social,
economic, and physical evidence for your reasoning.
Resources:
- Define the
problem
- Gather evidence
- Identify
causes
- Evaluate
policy
- Develop
solutions
- Select best
solution
- Benefits and
costs
Did
You Know? (Interesting statistics from NHTSA)
National
Automotive Sampling System
(Check out electronic
cases!)
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
National
Center for Statistics and Analysis
National Transportation
Safety Board
Fatality Analysis Reporting System
Do your own search
with 
or
your favorite search engine
Evaluation: You will be evaluated by:
·
How well you demonstrate an understanding of public policy
·
How well you demonstrate the ability to apply your
scientific understanding to evaluating public policy
·
The quality of your written proposal
Conclusion: By becoming more scientifically
literate, we are able to make better decisions about things that affect our
lives. By developing our understanding
of public policy, we become more able to shape the society we live in. By using these tools together, we can escape
being victims of ignorance.
Standards: NYC performance standards
·
SCIENCE:
S1(d,e), S4(c,b,d,e), S5(a,d,e,f), S6(d,e), S7(b,d,e), S8(d)
·
ELA : S1 , S3, S4
·
SOCIAL
STUDIES: S5