Today we did an exploration on how force can affect the motion of an object. Students were given a supply bag with a golf ball, tennis ball, ping pong ball, 2 measuring tapes, and 2 plastic rulers. They set up the exploration to where they placed the ball at the beginning of the ruler and then pulled back the ruler to 1 cm. The force of the ruler caused the ball to move. They did this 3 times and then pulled the ruler back to 2 cm., 3 cm., 4 cm., and then 5 cm. They did 3 trials for every distance they pulled the ruler back. They did awesome!! As I went around and discussed what was going on in their exploration, most students told me that the greater the force they applied, the farther the ball went. I also questioned on why they chose the ping pong ball (most of them did :)). They told me since it had less mass, then it would go farther!
After every exploration, we discuss the independent variable (what we changed), the dependent variable (what we measured, depends on independent variable), and what remained constant. This is part of our scientific thinking.
I am so amazed at my students!! They have become quite the scientists. They do the explorations and I can see how much fun they are having while they are learning! Makes me smile :)
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| The girls setting up their exploration. |
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| Nora, Emma-Lee, and Andrea seeing how force can affect the motion of an object. |
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| Thomas recording his data. |
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