TRAFFIC JAMS -
A SIMULATION USING PEOPLE
NAVIGATION
This activity
is was kindly part-funded in its development by
and SETPOINT Derbyshire
The development history of this activity is detailed below
DEVELOPMENT BLOG:
March 2007
Initial discussion between Chris and Debbie Rogers (SETPOINT Derbyshire). We need to find some physics teachers to work with to help ensure the content is suitable for the intended age range. This is Debbie's part - I sit back and wait! The search begins...
April 2007
Debbie Rogers found Khipani Bhila of The Long Eaton School, Nottingham as a willing science teacher. Khipani is interested in working with years 10 to 12. Chris began developing materials and concepts.
May 2007
The first concepts have been put together. The basic outline is to introduce the main variables of traffic density and traffic flow rate. Along with this is an introduction to problem scale by considering the distribution of car lengths. A simple form of problem non-dimensionalisation is introduced. The theoretical flow vs. car density is derived and plotted. This is validated by experimentation using the pupils as cars in a cellular automata simulation.
Chris contacted Hayfield primary school and Year 5 students agreed to help test out the simulation as the project was topical to their current studies. The initial idea was to just test that the simulation worked. However, the pupils really did grasp the ideas behind the project and an initial 1 hour test session became 2 half day events! The work produced by year 5 showed that the basic science could be accessible by a wider age range than initially anticipated. An example traffic flow vs traffic density graph is shown below (remember this is year 5!). Data points were derived from simulation using pupils as cars and there is perfect agreement with the expected theoretical results.
Some feedback from the sessions from year 5:
June 2007
No traffic jam activity in June!
July 2007
Two schools were involved with traffic jam activities in July. The first was The Longeaton School organised by Khipani Bhila (who also helped in setting the level of the activity). The session involved years 8 and 10 (who had just finished exams!) and was split into one before lunch with a second afterwards and unfortunately we lost a little time after lunch and time constraints meant we couldn't quite finish the simulation. Mr Bhila commented:
"Thanks for the session, I found it very interesting and exciting. As we said before it would have benefited a lot from it being a single session instead of two bits. That is my end of the deal I guess. The students struggled with the theory, especially the mapping out the graph at the beginning. The year 8s were more into it than the year 10s.
The traffic jam simulation was actually very interesting and I think it would have got most of the students going. Unfortunately there was not enough time. I had a lot more students talk about what would have happened and different scenarios etc.
The session ties in well with the Motion topic for AQA GCSE Additional Science. The session can be adapted to tie in with the section on transport issues."
The second school was West Park School in Derby, organised by Fiona Goddard and was offered as an enrichment day for Year 9 pupils. The feedback was mixed (as expected) with the majority enjoying the activity but finding the theory somewhat challenging in places. Many liked the idea of the inclusive demonstrations and asked for videos to be included. A few even suggested the activity be made longer! The inclusion of videos and computer simulation is being considered for future activities.
Contact:
Tel: 01663 749785
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