Chelle's Corner

In this lab, students will roll a car with a piece of clay on top, down a ramp and into a roadblock. When the car hits the roadblock, students will observe that the clay demonstrates inertia because it flies off the car and wants to keep going. Then, students will test different heights of the ramp to see how this affects the clay’s inertia and distance. Finally, students will use their knowledge of inertia to explain why we should wear seat belts in our car.

In this lab, students will test the misconception that bigger objects fall faster. Students will test the gravity of three different objects by dropping two balls at the same time (tennis ball, golf ball, and marble) from the same height. Then, they will observe which ball hits the ground first. At the end of the lab, students conclude that the balls hit the ground at the same time because Earth's gravity is pulling them down.

In this activity, students use a marble, golf ball, and tennis ball to determine if heavier objects fall faster than lighter objects. First, students find the mass of each ball. Next, students hold the ball at the top of the meter stick and time how long it takes the ball to hit the ground. After testing all three balls multiple times, students will conclude that all of the balls fall at the same rate because they all have the same gravity. As an extension, students explain why this experiment

In this lab, students will adjust the height of a ramp (created from textbooks and a paper towel tube) to see how a marble and a cup’s kinetic and potential energy change.

In this lab, students will roll a ping pong ball down a ramp (textbook and tube) into a cup. Underneath the cup, the students test four different surfaces (sandpaper, carpet, tile, and wax paper) to find out which surface creates the most friction for the cup. In my class, students did this with a partner, but it can easily be done in small groups or independently.

As a final project, students will write about three different types of force. They will describe the force, when they experienced the force, and how force affected the motion of an object. Once students have finished their writing prompt, they will rate their work according to the rubric.

While reading Force and Motion, students will use a table to guide note taking. Then, students will answer comprehension questions from the reading.

For this lab, students will need a text book and large paper towel tube to make a ramp, a red solo cup (cut in half), and a golf ball and ping pong ball. Students will roll the balls down the ramp into the cup and measure how far the cup moves. The students will discover that the more mass an item has, the more inertia the item will have. (The further the item will go).

After studying force and motion, students will complete open - ended questions about friction, gravity, and push/pull. These questions also help students understand variables and trials when experimenting.