Jack Reacher and the Deployment of an Airbag

• Gregory A. DiLisi ^[1] ; Richard A. Rarick ^[2]
  1. [1] John Carroll University

     John Carroll University

     City of University Heights, Estados Unidos

     
  2. [2] Cleveland State University

     Cleveland State University

     City of Cleveland, Estados Unidos

     
• Localización: The Physics Teacher, ISSN 0031-921X, Vol. 63, Nº. 2, 2025, págs. 95-98
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • As teachers of introductory physics and engineering courses, we are always looking for ways to bring current events into our classrooms. We are especially interested in finding examples where basic principles of physics can be used to cast skepticism or validation on assertions made by celebrities, politicians, or professional athletes. In fact, over the past several years, various articles in The Physics Teacher have shown how a forensics-style reexamination of popular or historic events can be used as a motivation to introduce fundamental concepts to students in introductory physics and engineering courses.1–9 These exercises afford students the opportunity to apply basic principles of physics to explore significant events or unsolved mysteries and potentially settle such debates. The literature also contains many examples of how television and motion pictures also provide fertile ground for classroom exploration of introductory-level topics and critical analysis of physics.10–12 The lessons learned and best practices of these activities have been formalized into a pedagogy for teaching topics in physics, engineering, problem solving, critical thinking, and ethics.13,14 As 2023 came to a close, another such example aired on the Amazon Prime smash (pun intended) hit series Reacher.