Editor's note: Today's post was written by T.C., 1st grade
E.G., 3rd grade
A.C.-S., 3rd grade
9-29-16
Yesterday we learned about force and mass. To do this experiment you need a golf ball, some books, a meter stick, a ruler, a balance, gram weights, and empty and full Jello boxes. (Teacher Materials Tips: In reality, even the "full" Jell-O boxes contain no Jell-O. Instead, I filled each with a bag of sand to prevent bugs from gathering while the boxes are stored from year to year. Also, our plastic rulers have a groove down the center that is the perfect guide for the golf ball.)
To set up the ramp, you get some books, stack them up, and position the ruler at an angle on the books. The variable is empty box or full box. After you set up the ramp, you place the empty or full Jello box on the floor at the very end of the ruler. Put the meter stick next to it.
[Teacher note: The children created scientific illustrations of their materials set-up in their science notebooks before the action started.]
Put the golf ball on top of the ruler and let go. It will hit the box and use its force to push the box.
Then use the meter stick to measure how far it went.
[Teacher note: The children created scientific illustrations of what happened after the ball rolled down the ramp for both the full Jello box and the empty box.]
After you do this three times for both boxes,
use the pan balance and gram weights to see how much mass each box has.
[Teacher note: The children used charts to record the distance (in cm) the ball traveled on each of three trials for both the full box and the empty box. They also used a chart to record the mass of each box.]
The empty box traveled the farthest because it had less mass!
"I liked the experiment because I like building ramps and stuff." E.G., 3rd grade
"I enjoyed this experiment because we got to measure." T.C., 1st grade
"I enjoyed it because we had to work as a team." A.C.-S., 3rd grade
Forces Make Things Move by K. Bradley
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