Every year, I look forward to doing my Frequency Fun Lab. This is a kinesthetic experiment in which students get to measure their own maximum rates of frequency in performing a few simple tasks for 20 s. For example, how many times can you snap your fingers in that given time? From these data, they also calculate the period of each effort. In the end, the students learn to work with the units of frequency (cycles per second or hertz) and period (seconds). By graphing their data, they also learn to recognize the inverse relationship between period and frequency. In this paper, I discuss a lab that is fun and effective, involves no cost, requires no equipment, and can be done any time of year or whenever you have an extra 30 or 40 min in your teaching day (including emergency sub plans!).

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Keeping the time for data taking to 20 s seems to be very effective. It is short enough that nobody gets tired and helps to set a standard across which all the activities can be compared.
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Readers can access the Appendix at TPT Online at https://doi.org/10.1119/5.0147476, under the Supplemental tab.
© 2023 Author(s). Published under an exclusive license by American Association of Physics Teachers.
2023
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