Science Lessons - Inclined Plane

SCIENCE LESSONS - INCLINED PLANE

OBJECTIVE Early childcare teachers will acquire additional science and scientific inquiry skills, particularly involving the inclined plane and the effects of friction, which will allow them to provide engaging science activities for the young children in their classrooms. From the learning acquired through their participation as both learners and teachers, they will be prepared to plan and teach additional science lessons on this topic.

STANDARDS Vermont Early Learning Standards: APPROACHES TO LEARNING 1. Play (A.3-5, B.3-5, D.1-2, E.1-3) Children engage in play as a means to develop their individual approach to learning. 2. Curiosity and Initiative (2.6, 2.7, 2.8, 2.10 - 2.12, 2.14) Children demonstrate curiosity and a willingness to participate in tasks and challenges. 3. Persistence (2.9, 3.10, 2.11, 2.14, 3.14) Children demonstrate an increased ability to show initiative, accept help, take risks, and work towards completing tasks. 4. Self-Organization (B.4, C.3) Children demonstrate an increased ability to establish goals, develop and follow through with plans. 5. Reasoning (2.1 - 2.14) Children demonstrate an increased ability to identify, evaluate and provide possible solutions to problems. 6. Application (B.4) Children use their prior experiences, senses, and knowledge to learn in new ways.

SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT 1. Play (3.3, 3.10 - 3.13, 6.9, 6.12, D3) Children use play as a vehicle to build relationships and to develop and appreciation for their own abilities and accomplishments. 2. Self Concept (3.3 - 3.5, 6.19) Children demonstrate and express a positive awareness of self and confidence in their capabilities. 3. Self-Control (3.3 - 3.7, 3.11, 3.12, 6.18) Children increase their capacity for self-control and for dealing with frustrations, and increase their awareness of their own capabilities.

LANGANGE, LITERACY, AND COMMUNICATION 1. Play (A.3-5, B.1, B.3 - 5, D.1 - 2, E.1) Children engage in play as a means to develop their receptive and expressive language skills. 2. Play (1.1, 1.9, 1.13, 1.15, 5.4, 5.5, 5.7, 5.12, 5.13, 5.16, A.3, A.4, B.1, B.3 - 5, C.4, D.1 – 2) Children engage in play as a means to develop early reading and writing skills. 3. Listening and Understanding (1.13, 1.14) Children develop skills in listening and in understanding language. 4. Speaking and Communicating (1.15, 2.1, 2.2, 5.17, 5.19) Children will use verbal and non-verbal language to express and to communicate information. 5. Vocabulary Children will acquire and use new words to increase their understanding and express ideas.

6. Early Writing (1.5, 1.8, 1.9, 1.12, 1.17, 5.21) Children demonstrate an interest in and ability to use symbols to represent words and ideas.

MATHEMATIC

1 1. Play (A.3 - 5, B.1, B.3 - 5, C.4, D.1 - 2, E.3) Children engage in play to develop and add to their mathematical thinking and problem solving.

2. Geometry and Spatial Sense (7.7) Children show an interest in recognizing and creating shapes and an awareness of position in space.

3. Patterns and Measurement (1.21, 7.7, 7.11) Children show an interest in recognizing, creating, and predicting patterns; comparing objects; and measuring time and quantity. (example c. Begin to order, compare or describe objects according to size, length, height, and weight using standard and non- standard forms of measurement.)

SCIENCE 1. Play (A.3-5, B.1, B.3-5, D.1-2. E.3) Children engage in play as a means to develop their scientific skills.

2. Scientific Knowledge (7.12-19) Children learn about the development of the natural and physical worlds. (example b. Use tools and their senses to make observations, gather and record information, and make predictions of what might happen. and example d. Answer questions through simple investigations.)

3. Scientific Skills and Methods (1.18, 1.19, 1.20, 1.21, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 7.1-3, 7.1) Children begin to use scientific tools and methods to learn about their world. (example b. Make simple observations, predictions, explanations and generalizations based on real life experiences.)

Next Generation Science Standards 1. PS 2.A: Forces and Motion – Pushes and pulls can have different strengths and directions, and can change the speed or direction of its motion or start or stop it.

2. PS 2.B: Types of Interactions – A change in motion of an object can depend on the effects of multiple forces.

3. ETS1.A: Defining Engineering Problems – A situation that people want to change or create can be approached as a problem to be solved through engineering. Such problems may have many acceptable solutions.

4. K - PS2 – 2 – With guidance, plan and conduct an investigation in collaboration with peers.

5. K - PS2 – 2 – Analyze data from tests of an object or tool to determine if a design solution works as intended to change the speed or direction of an object with a push or a pull.

6. K - PS2 - 1, K - PS2 – 2 – Simple tests can be designed to gather evidence to support or refute student ideas about causes.

Common Core Math Standards 1. K.MD.A.1 – Describe measurable attributes of objects, such as length or weigh.

2. K.MD.A.2 – Directly compare two objects with a measurable attribute in common, to see which object has "more of" / "less of" the attribute, and describe the differences.

National Science Education Standards

POSITION AND MOTION OF OBJECTS 1. E.B.2C – The position and motion of objects can be changed by pushing or pulling. The size of the change is related to the strength of the push or pull

2 UNDERSTANDING ABOUT SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY 1. E.A. 1 b – Plan and conduct a simple investigation.

2. E.A. 1 c – Employ simple equipment and tools to gather data and extend the senses.

3. E.A. 1 d – Use data to construct a reasonable explanation.

4. E.A. 1 e – Communicate investigations and explanations.

5. M.A.1 h – Use mathematics in all aspects of scientific inquiry.

VOCABULARY All vocabulary words are not necessarily for children's use, but will help the teacher to better understand the science work they are doing with the children.  Force - a push or pull

 Motion - a change of position caused by unbalanced forces

 Friction - the force that always acts in the opposite direction of an object's motion that is caused by irregularities on the surfaces

 Inertia - the tendency of an object to keep doing whatever it's doing - the inertia of an object is measured by its mass

 Mass - the measure of an object's inertia

 Acceleration - any change in the motion of an object - a change in direction or speed

 Weight - the force the Earth's gravity exerts on something

 Velocity - the speed and direction something is moving

 Gravity - the force that pulls everything on the Earth's surface toward the center of the Earth

 Design - to make a plan for how you are going to do something

 Investigate - carry out a systematic or formal inquiry to discover facts or information

 Scientist - a person who is studying or has expert knowledge of one or more of the natural or physical sciences

 Trial - a test or an experiment

3  Experiment - a test or a trial for the purpose of discovering something new

 Record - to put in writing the information gained during the experiment

 Prediction - indicating what you think will happen before you do an experiment

MATERIALS A variety of small toy cars or trucks (encourage each child to bring one from home and mark initials of owner on bottom with a permanent pen), several lengths of vinyl or plastic rain gutter, marking pen, masking tape, at least 12 blocks of wood, multiple lengths of waxed paper, aluminum foil, sandpaper, and paper towels

DURATION OF UNIT 5 - 7 days, depending on student interest and extension activities they may decide to work on

INVESTIGATION Will small toy cars move forward on a length of vinyl gutter without a push? How do you think we might use some of these supplies to get the cars moving without pushing them along on the rain gutters? Will the height of the ramp affect the cars' speed?

PROCEDURE: You are encouraged to use the questions that you developed during the pre- workshop and workshop session in addition to or instead of questions indicated here. Those questions are intended only as suggestions. You may find that you are very comfortable with the inquiry process and do not need to use them at all. First Experiment and Recording Tools 1. Discuss what makes the little toy cars move easily during play.

2. Discuss of whether or not the cars' wheels can produce motion without a push or pull.

3. What could you design with these materials that would make the cars roll forward?

4. Allow time for small groups to design ramps for their cars.

5. Trial time - each child should place his/her car at the top of the ramp and allow it to roll down - no pushing allowed. Record with a piece of tape where that particular child's car came to a stop.

6. Discussion time - why would scientists repeat the same experiment multiple times?

4 7. Using the same design and procedure from #4 and #5, repeat the design trial and see if the results changed much. Leave individual cars where they stop rather than adding more tape.

8. Is there something you would change about how you designed your ramp if you did this experiment again?

9. Teams will produce their new design and predict what you think will be the results of this trial. Do another trial. Record results with the tapes.

10. Discussion about repeated trials and if / how the results were different. Make statements about what your experiments showed. In what way(s) were you working like a real scientist would work? These activities could easily take two days work. Be sure to keep the materials available for independent use during explore time as this and the following days' activities are completed. Second Experiment 1. Discuss results from the first set of experiments. What was true about the trials we did?

2. Introduce the word "friction" as the force that always acts in the opposite direction of the object's motion and is caused by irregularities in the surface.

3. Allow time for each child to feel small samples of waxed paper, aluminum foil, sandpaper, and paper toweling. What did you notice about how each of them feels? Encourage predictions about how each of those different items might affect how the little cars would move over them. Explore by allowing children to give the small cars a light push to start them moving over one of the different textures. (No ramps this time) How did we do with the predictions we made about how those surfaces would affect the cars rolling over them?

5 Third Experiment and Recording Tool 1. Promote a discussion about how the different surfaces affected how well the cars were able to roll over them the last time we worked on experiments.

2. Do you think the different surfaces might affect the cars' forward motion when they reach the end of the ramps you designed the other day?

3. Tell them that this time we're all going to use the same height ramps. Explain that when you're doing experiments you want to change only one thing at a time. And, friction is the one force we'll be changing because of the variety of surfaces you'll be working with.

4. Working in small groups, allow each child's car to roll down the ramp and record with tape (names on tape pieces) where the car stops naturally.

5. Do the very same trial, but this time add the various pieces of materials at the end of the ramp. Record with additional pieces of tape (names on tape pieces) where the cars stop on each of the surfaces. Because you are using four different surfaces, this may easily take two days to complete.

Fourth Experiment 1. Discuss what we found out about different surfaces and friction and how it affects how well cars can roll over the surfaces.

2. Does friction ever make it easier or harder for you to run and slide on surfaces like grass, pavement, stones, or ice? Which would be the easiest / hardest to slide on?

3. What makes the cars and you, if you were running on the surfaces we just were talking about, finally come to a complete stop? Allow for a discussion to encourage the misconceptions to be voiced.

4. Introduce the word "gravity" - a force that pulls everything on the face of the Earth towards the center of the Earth. Explain that's the force that makes things stop. Allow time for each child to roll a car (no change in surface) and watch it until it comes to rest. Provided it doesn't stop because it hits something, that's gravity at work.

Fifth Experiment 1. Discuss what you found out about allowing the cars to just roll down the length of gutter once you had designed the ramp.

2. This experiment will involve tennis balls and golf balls. Discuss the safe use of balls, particularly when using them indoors. Why do you think the balls will roll even though

6 they don't have any wheels? Predict if the balls will roll farther than the cars did. Have each child record her/his prediction by marking an "X" in the column that indicates that prediction. The one chart will be used for all predictions. The columns should be labeled "will go farther ------>" and "won't go farther <>". Read the words and indicate that this time the symbols mean "farther ----->" and "not farther <>". Provide help as needed. Will go farther Won't go farther ------> <>

3. Do a second prediction regarding which ball will roll farther - the golf ball or the tennis ball - and record with a check mark on a group chart marked with the golf ball at the top of one column and the tennis ball at the top of the second column. golf ball tennis ball

4. Work in pairs and allow the tennis ball and then the golf ball to roll down the ramp (use 2 blocks to make the ramp). Attach a card with a team number to the ramp, and change the number as a new team begins to work. The children in each team will determine who will roll the golf ball and who will roll the tennis ball. Remind them that scientists frequently watch quietly while other scientists are doing an experiment until it's their turn to do the same experiment. Scientists usually do an experiment more than once to prove that what happened was correct.

5. Follow up experiment with a review of what we predicted and if our predictions were actually true.

6. Encourage them to make a statement about the relationship between the size of the balls and the distance they travelled. This may be a two-day activity depending on the attention/needs of your particular group.

7 Sixth Experiment If an outdoor slide is available for you to use, you may want to do the above experiment again using larger balls. This time just verbalize your predictions and then discuss the end results of your experiment. The other pieces would probably be too difficult to use in and outdoor activity.