Engaging in Guided Inquiry

Originally Posted on March 11, 2012

\

     I began my experiment by gathering my materials.  My materials are a toy car, ruler, 1 x 4 board, tin box and books.  My hypothesis was that the greater slope and mass would cause my tin box to move the furthest.   I set my books at a height of 20 and 35 cm to create the varying slopes.  I used quarters to add mass to my car.  I first completed each experiment with no added mass.  Then I added a quarter for each experiment.  I completed three trails each time I added mass.  I continued this when I increased the slope.  The results of my experiment are as follows:

20 cm height of slope	Trail 1	Trail 2	Trail 3
No mass added to car	3.5 cm	4.5 cm	4 cm
One quarter added	5.5 cm	6.cm	5 cm
Two quarters added	8cm	7.5 cm	7.5 cm
Three quarter added	8.5 cm	9 cm	8 cm

35 cm height of slope	Trail 1	Trail 2	Trail 3
No mass added to car	9 cm	9 cm	8.5 cm
One quarter added	11 cm	11.5 cm	12 cm
Two quarters added	12.5 cm	12 cm	13 cm
Three quarters added	14 cm	13.5 cm	13 cm

     The results of my experiment confirm my hypothesis that the increased slope and mass would cause the tin box to move the furthest.   Tillery, Enger & Ross (2008) states,  it takes longer to stop something, when it has more momentum.  The increase in the slope and mass caused the car to gain more momentum as it traveled down the slope.  The students in Ms. Blight’s class realized that momentum increases with mass.  However, from my observations, I found that slope has a greater effect than mass.  When the slope is increased in addition to the mass, the distance the tin box traveled was almost double.

     If I were to conduct this experiment in my class, I would have the students change the mass of the tin box I used in my experiment.  The mass of the tin box I used was slightly greater than my car even with the added quarters.  I would have the students choose an item with an equal mass and then a much greater mass.  The students could then further test Newton’s third law of motion, “whenever two object interact, the force exerted on one object is equal in strength and opposite in direction to the force exerted on the other object” (Tillery, Enger, & Ross, 2008).

     There are so many possibilities with this experiment.  The greatest lesson I learned from this inquiry is the importance of conducting inquiry lessons in the classroom.   Just reading Newton’s laws of motion and watching videos are not a substitute for hands on inquiry.  Inquiry lessons provide students the opportunity to move toward a deeper understanding of science (Branch & Bell, 2010).  Inquiry lessons answer questions and allow for discovery among students.  Long (2011) states that inquiry lessons allow students to take ownership for their problems they create, or the discoveries that they make. In other words, science without inquiry is not complete understanding.

References

Banchi, H., & Bell, R. (2008). The many levels of inquiry. Science & Children, 46(2), 26–29.

Laureate Education Inc. (Producer). (2012)  Newton’s Amusement Land: Race Track.  Retrieved from http://mym.cdn.laureate-media.com

Long, C.M. (2011). Designing inquiry oriented science lab activities.  Middle School Journal. Vol. 43, Issue 1, p. 6-15.