This week I set up an inquiry lesson for myself to try out!! I wanted to try and answer the question "How does the steepness of a slope and mass affect a collision outcome?". Seeing that my last physics class was taken about 8 years ago I was fumbling around a bit until I settled on the design that I was happy with. Physics and I have never gotten along, apparently my brain thinks the exact opposite of physics concepts and that makes it hard for me to understand the concepts.
I set up my experiment as such: a small marble (7g) trial and a large marble(23g) trial. I tested three different slopes three different times. The more data I can collect will give me a more reliable answer. I placed a three composition notebooks on top of each other, and took a ruler to create the slope that the marble would travel down. At the bottom of the ruler was a toy car. I placed the marble at the same place on the ruler EVERY TIME to take out that variable. Once the collision had occurred, I measured the distance the car traveled and the overall disruptions of the car.
I saw a difference in the distance the car traveled and overall disturbance of the car in the large marble trials. The small marble did not do much damage, even when the slope was increased. I had expected to see changes in the collision with the large marble trials, but also expected to see a difference in the small marble trials. I was disappointed when that did not happen, but then I stepped back and started to think. The marbles were not traveling a long distance. Maybe next time I would increase the distance that the marbles traveled and that would give them more time to pick up more speed? I also have to keep in mind that the longer distance they travel, the more friction they would incur as well, which can slow down speed.
I would like to set this up in my classroom towards the end of the year. Since I teach Life Science it will be hard to fit it in before our "free teaching time" at the end of the year. I think many of my students will enjoy a hands on inquiry such as this, and I would have them graph their results and see if every group had the same outcome. This could lead into a great discussion of controls and variables. Actually, this might be a good way to introduce controls and variables in the beginning of the year, it is something that students continually struggle with and looking at it hands on would be a great way to help them understand!
Hi Kaydee, I selected the marble and momentum activity but have done the collision activity before. In the state testing, our inquiry activity was about that concept. We get to keep the materials from the inquiry and our 7th grade science teachers now use the kits to do the inquiry when they are on physical science. I hope this class helps you get "along" with physics a bit better. With physical science, I feel like you can make so many activities apply.
ReplyDeleteGood luck.
Lori,
ReplyDeleteI am finding that physical science is great for different activities. My problem is I have to learn how to understand why everything is doing what it is doing. With my move in the middle of next year, if I get a job with a DOD school I will have ot teach some physical science. So I am very glad to be taking this course and having these materials to help me learn first!!