Switch!

The children worked so well and so quickly grasped the concepts behind yesterday's experiment that I decided they were ready to switch things up.  I told them they had access to the same materials as yesterday, but they would use just one Jello box.  Instead, they would need to think of another variable.  They were full of ideas about other variables they could use, and they were excited about being given the freedom to design their own experiments.

Two groups decided to use the mass of the ball as the variable . . . I anticipated this and had a pack of ping-pong balls handy.  The children measured the masses of the golf ball and the ping-pong ball and then measured how far the empty Jello box traveled with the force of each ball hitting it.

golf ball: 47 grams

ping-pong ball: Only 3 grams!

9-30-16
Yesterday, we changed the variable of our experiment.  It's the same as the last experiment except we change from a golf ball to a ping pong ball.  The setup is easy--the same as the last experiment except you also use the ping pong ball.  You use the same tools to measure as last time.  

The ping pong ball made a huge difference because [the box] only went 5 centimeters.  I enjoyed this because we got to change the variable.   
T.C., 1st grade









Another group chose to use ramp height as their variable.

9-30-16

Yesterday we thought of experiments, and we did them!  We need: different sized books, a ruler, a meter stick, a golf ball, and an empty Jello box.  I was changing the height of the ramp.  So you set up the ramp and you need to put the Jello box at the end.  Let the golf ball go down the ramp three times on the shorter ramp and three times on the taller ramp.  I used a meter stick to measure how far the box went.  The taller ramp made the box go farther.  I liked it because I got to make the experiment.  E.G., 3rd grade

A final group designed an experiment that tested the effect of friction, comparing the distance a box traveled on the tile floor versus the carpeted floor (with everything else held constant).  They did three trials on the tile floor and three on the carpet.