We've been exploring motion together in the classroom as we've developed experiments to answer questions such as "Does the size of a piece of paper change how quickly it falls?" and "Does an object roll the same distance on different surfaces?" Questions such as these have helped us learn the power of carefully planning out experiments in which only one variable is changed. These experiments have also allowed us to revisit key mathematical skills such as measurement and finding the median value.
Today the kids are coming home with instructions for a project they'll do at home that parallels the work we've been doing in the classroom. Each of them have identified a question they want to test at home with you. They've also started the process of listing all the materials they'll need and the procedures they think they'll need to follow to carry out their experiment. Your job is to look over this with them, make any necessary revisions, and supervise their experiment. The experiment itself (and subsequent data collection) shouldn't take much more than 30 minutes or so. Once they have their data collected they'll need to create a project board/poster to share with us. I'm setting aside time during the last couple of days for the kids to present their home experiments to the class. We've been creating similar boards/posters together in class so they'll have some experience with this already. Here's an example of one...
These are due Friday, May 31st. There will be no reading log or other homework this week so that you guys can focus on the project. I will send home sheets of posterboard if anyone needs one on Monday. Thanks for your help.
