Debunking a Video on YouTube as an Authentic Research Experience

Students are exposed to a variety of unrealistic physical experiences seen in movies, video games, and short online videos. A popular classroom activity has students examine footage to identify what aspects of physics are correctly and incorrectly represented.1-7 Some of the physical phenomena pictured might be tricks or illusions made easier to perform with the use of video, while others are removed from their historical context, leaving the audience to form misguided conclusions about what they saw with only the information in the video. One such video in which the late Eric Laithwaite, a successful British engineer and inventor, claims that a spinning wheel "becomes light as a feather" provides an opportunity for students to investigate Laithwaite's claim.8 The use of video footage can engage students in learning physics9 but also provide an opportunity for authentic research experiences. © 2015 American Association of Physics Teachers.