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Posted January 9th, 2009 by admin

Motion and Design

Author: Carol Swink
Level: Elementary School
Content Area: Science, Technology, Engineering

Lesson 5: Testing the Motion of Vehicles Carrying a Load

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Activities: 
  1. SCIENCE NOTEBOOK: Students write the question to be investigated: How will adding blocks to the vehicle change the way the vehicle moves? Students write a prediction about the question. For future replication, students also write the materials in the notebook that are used for this investigation.
  2. Discussion of predictions (with group and then with class).
  3. Show two blocks of wood and ask students how the vehicle could be adapted to carry this load (brainstorm).
  4. Distribute timers.
  5. Practice using the timers (shorter time = higher speed)
  6. With this experiment, students will conduct multiple trials of the investigation. Ask students about the importance of using multiple trials.
  7. Distribute 4-A and discuss how to use the graph to show results. Directions: Glue 4-A into the science notebook when complete. Handout 4-A is the data/observation portion of the lesson.
  8. Students use pages 20-22 from the student book to complete the lesson.
  9. SCIENCE NOTEBOOK: Students will record the procedure and results of the investigation.
  10. Number 10 - Discussion of results from the lesson. Then, discuss questions on page 56 of teacher’s guide:
    1. What did you observe when testing various loads (blocks)?
    2. How did the vehicle move when it was loaded with two blocks?
    3. How did the motion of the vehicle change when you removed one block? How did it change when you removed both blocks?
    4. What do you think would happen if you added a third and fourth block to the vehicle?
    5. When the vehicle carried no blocks, what was left to influence its motion? (the weight of the vehicle)
    6. What can you conclude about the effects of load (such as blocks) on a vehicle’s motion? (The heavier the vehicle, the longer the vehicle takes to respond to a force).
    7. What situations at home or in school may be similar to what you tested in this lesson?
  11. SCIENCE NOTEBOOK: Complete LOL from discussion and from content blast on mass versus weight (see also page 51 from the teacher’s guide).