Obstacle course

Two of the science standards the children were building up to working on were these:

1.  Plan and conduct an investigation to compare the effects of different strengths or different directions of pushes and pulls on the motion of an object

2.  Analyze data to determine if a design solution works as intended to change the speed or direction of an object with a push or a pull.

So I let the children know they were going to participate in a small obstacle course.  The plan was to have a ball make it into Goal #1 first, and then Goal #2 next.  Instead of using their hands to push the ball, they had to use three different "pushers."

We made predictions about the good and bad of each "pusher" before the children got to work using them.

Everyone got a turn to set up the obstacle course and try it three times- once with each "pusher."  The goal was to think about force and motion, while analyzing the effectiveness of the things that pushed.  To do this, the children worked through the obstacle course and then talk about it with a teacher, writing down their findings.  Here are some examples:

The mit was too big.  The paddle gave a little push.

The paddle was the best because it had more leverage.

And the general consensus?  The paddle was the best because it was easier to manipulate and caused the right amount of force.