After selecting a testable question from our brainstormed list, decide with your partner(s) how you will investigate this question. Include materials you will need, what you will do during the investigation to gather data, and explain how it will be a fair test. During your investigation, make sure you draw a diagram to show what you did, record your results and data, and draw some conclusions about what you learned. You will then present your investigation to the class. 1 of 12
Suggested Grade Span 3 5 Task After selecting a testable question from our brainstormed list, decide with your partner(s) how you will investigate this question. Include materials you will need, what you will do during the investigation to gather data, and explain how it will be a fair test. During your investigation, make sure you draw a diagram to show what you did, record your results and data, and draw some conclusions about what you learned. You will then present your investigation to the class. Big Ideas and Unifying Concepts Cause and effect Models Physical Science Concept Motion and forces Mathematics Concepts Data collection, organization and analysis Graphs, tables and representation Measurement Patterns Time Required for the Task Approximately three 45-minute sessions. Context As part of our unit on motion, we observe and investigate the concept of inertia. Before students attempt this inquiry task, they have already participated in a number of observations and guided investigations using balls and ramps. They have also observed several demonstrations done by the teacher that involve inertia. As a group, we then raise questions we still have about inertia and use these as starting points for our independent investigations. 2 of 12
What the Task Accomplishes This task will do several things. First, it will give the teacher an idea of any misconceptions students still hold about inertia. It will also demonstrate their ability to plan and carry out an investigation and fair test on their own. Finally, the conclusions they draw will help in assessing their conceptual understanding. How the Student Will Investigate Before beginning this task as a group, we raise several questions about inertia. This list is then posted and students, in groups of two or three, select the one they would like to investigate. Students then decide how they will plan and carry out this investigation including what materials they need and the steps they will take to complete it. They will also plan how to make their investigation a fair test and make a prediction about what they think will happen. Finally, students will conduct their investigations, draw a diagram of what they did, record their results/data, and draw some conclusions about what they learned. A recording sheet is given to students to assist them with this process. The groups discuss and decide how they will present their investigations to the class. Interdisciplinary Links and Extensions Science Students often discover some additional questions they have about inertia that they would like to investigate. If time permits, allow these extensions in class or as family science extension activities at home. I also have students try and find examples of inertia in the real world that they bring in and share. The planning process of independent investigations will help with further and extended investigations. Social Studies I often include a social studies unit on transportation with this motion unit. Students conduct research, complete time lines, and report out on what they learned. One format for the time lines can be an accordion book folding paper accordion style and drawing different illustrations on each panel with the time line running the entire length of the book. (Just be sure that the spacing of the dates on the time line is to scale one panel for each 50 years, etc.) Language Arts I do a number of poetry writing activities along with this unit. We write poems about things that move (i.e., frogs leap, kangaroos jump, people walk, etc.). Students also write a poem about one form of transportation such as an airplane or train. We read several stories and poems about different things that move. These can be done as acrostic poems (acrostic = writing the name of the object vertically to begin each line with a letter of the word) using some of their science vocabulary in the poem. 3 of 12
Movement A fun activity to do with students that involves inertia is riding on the bus. Arrange chairs so they resemble seating on a bus. You be the driver and alternate signals for stopping and starting as the students demonstrate how their bodies move during these stops and starts. (As the bus starts moving forward, their bodies move backwards and then forward, as the ride becomes steady. When the bus stops, their bodies are still in motion for a short time depending on the speed.) Have students monitor this when they ride home on the bus and discuss it the next day. Mathematics The nature of many of these investigations includes using measurement tools, for such things as timing duration or measuring distances. I always try to integrate a unit on measurement during this science unit. Teaching Tips and Guiding Questions As students are raising the questions to investigate, prompt them by asking if their question can be investigated in class, and guide them toward appropriate questions. Often students will raise questions that are inappropriate or not scientifically investigable (not testable questions). A demonstration beforehand will also help focus students on the concept of inertia. I usually do several inertia tricks, such as starting and stopping a bowling ball versus starting and stopping a beach ball, pulling a tablecloth off a table filled with various items, pulling an index card with coins piled on it over the top of a cup, and stacking wooden blocks and pulling out the bottom one. The students will have many questions after watching these demonstrations. Students should also be given the opportunity to observe the motion of various sized balls on different ramps. How far does the metal ball go versus the pingpong ball? Some guiding questions might be: Can you investigate your question using the materials we have in this room? What materials will you need? How will you use them? Why do you think that ball went farther? What characteristics or properties made that happen? What did you notice that was the same or different about this ball? What are you and your partner doing to ensure this is a fair test? What change will you be watching for? What is your prediction? How are you going to measure that? Why do you need to measure that? How will you organize your data? What did you discover during your investigation? What surprised you? Explain why you think that happened, using what you observed and what you have already learned. 4 of 12
Concepts to be Assessed (Unifying concepts/big ideas and science concepts to be assessed using the Science Exemplars Rubric under the criterion: Science Concepts and Related Content) Physical Science Motion and Forces: Students investigate motion and forces that act upon a moving object. Students understand the terms (or explain the concepts of) inertia, motion, weight, force and distance. Scientific Method: Students appropriately describe cause-effect relationships with some justification, using data and prior knowledge. Students observe and explain reactions when variables are controlled and choose useful models to explore concepts. Mathematics: Students identify trends and patterns and use numerical data and (precise) measurements in describing events, answering questions, providing evidence for scientific explanations and challenging misconceptions and/or predictions. Skills to be Developed (Science process skills to be assessed using the Science Exemplars Rubric under the criteria: Scientific Procedures and Reasoning Strategies, and Scientific Communication Using Data) Scientific Method: Raising questions, planning, designing, and carrying out an investigation, making predictions, fair testing, recording results, drawing conclusions, using tools, raising new questions and communicating. Other Science Standards and Concepts Addressed Scientific Method: Students describe, predict, investigate and explain phenomena. Students control variables. Scientific Theory: Students look for evidence that explains why things happen and modify explanations when new observations are made. Physical Science Motion and Forces: Students understand that inertia is a force that acts upon the path and distance an object travels. Mathematics: Students identify trends and patterns and use numerical data and (precise) measurements in describing events, answering questions, providing evidence for scientific explanations and challenging misconceptions. 5 of 12
Suggested Materials I provide ramps and balls of different sizes and materials, Hot Wheel tracks, tablecloths, cups, coins, index cards, blocks of wood, a bowling ball and beach ball. From questions raised during brainstorming, other materials might be suggested or needed. Possible Solutions While solutions and results will vary depending on what investigation students plan to do, their conclusions will be similar. Students should discover and be able to state in their own words what inertia is (an object in motion tends to stay in motion, and an object at rest tends to stay at rest) and that weight, mass and/or friction play a role in how far and fast an object travels. Two different examples are provided for the Practitioner level. Task-Specific Assessment Notes Novice The student s investigation is missing a number of steps and lacking in detail. Thus, it is unclear as to what and how s/he does it. The student includes his/her question and prediction but not what s/he does to test the question, nor does the student list all the results or indicate how this is a fair test. There is also no diagram to show what s/he did. His/her conclusions are incomplete and not explained clearly, making it difficult to assess the student s conceptual understanding and scientific reasoning. Apprentice Although the student completes the task successfully and communicates his/her conclusions clearly, the report is lacking in detail. The student s question is not fully written out, nor are his/her steps clearly stated. The student only testes one material (the water bucket) but his/her results do not reflect this. S/he tests a number of objects but does not list them in the results. The diagram is not labeled. The student does, however, begin to show some understanding of the science concepts. Practitioner Practitioner (#1) The student successfully completes the task and clearly explains his/her investigation. The question is stated clearly. The conclusion given, while missing some detail, shows an understanding of inertia and makes a connection between weight and motion. S/he is beginning to demonstrate knowledge of fair testing, and with further investigations this should become more explicit. The diagram needs labeling, and the student needs to represent the results in a more organized way. Practitioner (#2) The student s solution is also complete and clearly explained. His/her conclusion includes details and demonstrates good understanding of the scientific concepts. S/he also begins to extend thinking to make some connections between friction and motion. The student clearly 6 of 12
explains the steps followed and begins to show an understanding of fair testing (e.g., by stating that s/he rolled it underhand lightly). The diagram is labeled, and the results are listed out in a narrative, although a chart would have organized the data more clearly. Expert The student successfully completes the task and clearly explains and depicts what s/he did during the investigation. The conclusion demonstrates good understanding of the concepts, and s/he begins to make some connections to friction as well. The student s results are clearly displayed and organized in an ordered list and show that s/he used measurement tools effectively. The diagram is labeled and easy to read. The student describes how s/he made this a fair test (by throwing the ball lightly each time), although s/he could have included more detail about what else s/he did during the investigation. Note: In later investigations, I would expect more at the Expert level. It was difficult to select a benchmark for Expert. I included two benchmarks for practitioner because each demonstrates this level in different ways. 7 of 12
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