BOUNCEABILITY EXPERIMENT

EDP 621

COOPERATIVE LESSON PLAN

Jeff Bruns

KEY PROCESS SKILLS

Measuring Students measure the heights of ball bounces
Making graphs Students graph their data
Controlling variables Students plan an experiment to assess the bounceability of various balls

PROBLEM QUESTION

Question #1

Will different size balls made of different materials rebound at the same height?

Question #2

Will the balls rebound from the floor with the same percentage of compression when dropped from twice the previous height?

HYPOTHESIS

MATERIALS

Per group of four students: Design manager, Materials manager, Recorder, Construction manager

1 each of a tennis ball, ping pong ball, super ball, and a golf ball

PROCEDURES

1. Show the students the balls they will be testing. Ask them to think about which one will be the best bouncer, then have them rank them in order from highest bouncer to lowest bouncer.

2. Ask the students if we change the variable of height, will the rebound height be proportional to the original height of the first experiment.

3. Planning the experiment

Tell the students that today you are going to investigate two of the variables that affect how high a ball bounces: the material the ball is made of and the height that it is dropped. A reasonable experimental plan is to drop each ball from a standard height of one meter and measure the rebound height. Have the students eyeball the rebound height and mark it on a large piece of paper that has been taped to the wall.

4. Conducting the experiment

a. If sufficient wall space is available, tape meter sticks to the wall, or tape lengths of paper to the wall so that the Rebound Checkers can mark the paper and measure the height. Repeat all previous steps from a two meter drop.

CONCLUSION

Instruct each group to make a bar graph of their data on a chart large enough for the whole class to see. They should have a bar for each type of ball and the height of the bars should show the rebound height achieved by the bouncing ball. Each group should use a vertical bar graph measuring zero to one hundred centimeters. Repeat the same graph using the results of the balls dropped from two meters. Each group should use a vertical scale of zero to two hundred centimeters for the second graph. Explain to the class that energy is lost when the ball hits the floor and does not bounce all the way back. Also, discuss if the percentage of compression is the same between a one and two meter drop for all four balls.

COOPERATIVE LESSON STRATEGIES

INDIVIDUAL ACCOUNTABILITY-

The students are placed in groups with three different jobs. These tasks consist of one person being responsible for setting up the experiment. This person is the design manager. These people will use the Jigsaw method and come to an agreement on what is the best and easiest way to conduct the experiment and how to present their data as well. This helps with the retention of the scientific method. The next job is the materials manger. These people will be responsible for getting all the materials for the lab and putting them away at the end of class. The construction managers will get the data from the recorder and they will be responsible for the completion of the bar graphs. The last job is the recorder. These people will write down all data and mark the heights of all the dropped balls on the paper that is taped to the wall.

POSITIVE INTERDEPENDENCE

The groups will present their findings to the class and will state if their hypothesis was correct or not. They will compare their data to the other groups and also show their results with bar graphs.

SOCIAL SKILLS/FACT-TO FACE INTERACTION

The groups have to interact by choosing a hypothesis, deciding who will take which of the roles for the lab, and presenting the data to the class. All of this will promote interaction; along with the entire problem solving that is involved.

HETEROGENOUS GROUPNG

The students will be will be put in their groups based on his or her results from a Right/Left Brain test. Each group will have at least one person that represents Right Brain and Left Brain learning. Also, each group must have at least one male and one female represented in their group.

EVALUATION

There is a rubric that each student can fill out and critique each member of the lab group. This will create peer motivation and help keep all students accountable. Also, the presentation from each group will be evaluated as well.

PROCESSING

Each group will reflect on their results compared to the other groups in the classroom. Assessment of this refection/critique will be graded by the teacher using a rubric. This Writing to Learn/Learning to Write component needs to cover these topics: potential/kinetic energy, conservation of energy/momentum, Newton’s Laws, and deformation/compression of surfaces.

HSA Rubric for Constructed-Response items Science

		Use of Accurate	Application of	Synthesis of	Use of Supporting
	Use of Supporting Details	Scientific	Application of	Synthesis of	Use of Supporting
		Terminology	Information*	Information	Details
			An effective application
	Pertinent and complete	The use of accurate	of the concept to a	The response reflects a	Pertinent and complete
4	supporting details	scientific terminology	practical problem or	complete synthesis	supporting details
	demonstrate an integration of	enhances the response.	real-world situation	of information.	demonstrate an
	ideas.	enhances the response.	reveals an insight into	of information.	integration of ideas.
			scientific principles.
		The use of accurate	The concept has been	The response reflects
3	The supporting details are	scientific terminology	applied to a practical	some synthesis	The supporting details
	generally complete.	strengthens the	problem or real-world	of information.	are generally complete.
		response.	situation.
		The use of accurate	The application of the	The response provides
2	The supporting details are	scientific terminology	concept to a practical	little or no synthesis	The supporting details
	adequate.	may be present in the	problem or real-world	of information.	are adequate.
		response.	situation is inadequate.
		The use of accurate			The supporting details
1	The supporting details are	scientific terminology	The application, if	The response addresses	The supporting details
1	only minimally effective.	is not present in the	attempted, is irrelevant.	the question.	are only minimally
	only minimally effective.	is not present in the	attempted, is irrelevant.	the question.	effective.
		response.
0	The student has NO UNDERSTANDING of the question or problem. The response is completely incorrect or irrelevant.

*On the High School Assessment, the application of a concept to a practical problem or real-world situation will be scored when it is required in the response and requested in the item stem. As per MSDE February 2002