I recently completed one of my favorite units of all time. It was also one I was teaching for the first time. The topics we covered were kinetic and potential energy, conservation of energy and simple machines. For kinetic and potential energy we used the anchoring phenomena of a skateboarder on a halfpipe. We analyzed her energy as she moved through the half pipe. Students used an amazing skate park simulator to explore the skaters energy changes. We learned about simple machines through a station rotation and trebuchets. The culminating project was construction of a trebuchet that was built in groups with the goal of launching a marshmallow two meters. I have rarely seen student engagement like I saw in this unit. They were excited to come to class and wanted to stay after to continue working. But, being that it was a unit I had never taught before, I knew that it could be better. So, I thought, who better to help me make it better than the students? I knew i...