Testing Variables With Fingerboards: What Is the Fastest ...info.ritenour.k12.mo.us/RSD/science_exemplars/6_8/pdfs/task736.pdffingerboard the best start to continue running once it

Testing Variables WithFingerboards: What Is the FastestSpeed a Fingerboard Can AttainWhen Launched From a Ramp?

We have been studying aspects of force and motion –specifically, speed and what conditions can affect it. We havealso spent time learning how to control and test variables usingfair tests. Your team will be conducting several different tests inorder to answer this question: What is the fastest speed afingerboard can attain when launched from a ramp?

With this question as your guide, you must come up with aprocedural design and a method that will generate reliabledata. You will need to conduct separate tests related to (1) theangle of the ramp and (2) the mass of the board, in order todetermine how they affect the speed of the fingerboard. Then,you must analyze and synthesize data from all tests to stateyour conclusions.

1 of 33Testing Variables With Fingerboards: What Is the Fastest Speed a Fingerboard Can...

Copyright 2007, Exemplars, Inc. All rights reserved.

Testing Variables With Fingerboards: What Is the FastestSpeed a Fingerboard Can Attain When Launched From aRamp?

Suggested Grade Span

6–8

Task

We have been studying aspects of force and motion – specifically, speed and what conditionscan affect it. We have also spent time learning how to control and test variables using fair tests.Your team will be conducting several different tests in order to answer this question: What is thefastest speed a fingerboard can attain when launched from a ramp?

With this question as your guide, you must come up with a procedural design and a method thatwill generate reliable data. You will need to conduct separate tests related to (1) the angle ofthe ramp and (2) the mass of the board, in order to determine how they affect the speed of thefingerboard. Then, you must analyze and synthesize data from all tests to state yourconclusions.

Big Ideas and Unifying Concepts

Cause and effectChange and constancyDesignForm and function

Physical Science Concept

Motion and forces

Design Technology Concepts

Design constraints and advantagesInvention



Mathematics Concepts

AlgebraData collection, organization and analysisGraphs, tables and representationsMeasurement

Time Required for the Task

About one week of class sessions of 40-minute periods (to test all variables, analyze data anddraw conclusions).

Context

My students had been studying force and motion, specifically speed. Finger skateboards hadbeen especially popular all year (and in fact had been banned from the class for creating adisturbance!). Since several teacher resources suggested similar investigations using“matchbox” cars, we thought this would be an opportunity to trade on student interest to createbuy-in for the investigation. In fact, there were enough students who owned these “Teck-Dec”fingerboards that it wasn’t necessary for me to buy any. Several students had already createdsmall ramps for playing at home and brought those in to begin the investigations.

What the Task Accomplishes

I wanted this to be an assessment investigation where I only gave the students a generalquestion and left the procedural design completely up to the groups. It required lots of falsestarts and group discussions before students found a method that worked to generate somereliable data. Students were challenged to conduct tests on different variables in order to makesome generalized statements about how the variables collectively affected the optimum speedof the fingerboards. Students also used a variety of methods and math skills in finding themeasure of or calculating the ramp angles, distances and changes in mass.

How the Student Will Investigate

Students were left pretty much on their own to come up with investigative methods, rampdesigns and materials choices. It took a couple of class periods of trying out a variety ofmethods before data collection actually began. The teacher’s role was to stand back andobserve rather than get involved with suggestions to move the process along. This is anexcellent opportunity for teachers to collect anecdotal assessment information about howstudents apply scientific processes and reasoning as they work.



Interdisciplinary Links and Extensions

ScienceTest results with fingerboards by using matchbox cars and compare performance and designs.Students could change the ramp surfaces and run trials again, comparing results in order toincrease speed.

Language Arts/MusicStudents could write advertisements, raps and/or jingles for their high-performance ramps.

TechnologyStudents could create animations to show fingerboards in action.

Mathematics/DesignDraw scale diagrams of the various ramps in lab reports, so that someone else could recreateyour setup and thereby recreate your data sets.

Teaching Tips and Guiding Questions

I advise issuing the challenge to design the ramp and then giving plenty of time for explorationbefore intervening with questions or suggestions. Remind students that their design needs to bereproducible by others with only the lab reports for resources. Therefore, students need to bemeticulous in describing the materials and their setups. They need to control all variables otherthan the one being tested.

Some guiding questions to ask students after they have had time to become fully involved intheir investigations might include:

• What have you learned so far that will help you make predictions or conduct your next test?• Which variables will you control?• What variable will you test? How will you make it a fair test?• What materials and tools do you need?• How will you record your data? How will you display your data?• How will you know if you need to make any changes in your methods?• Are your procedures clearly written so that someone else can repeat the investigation to

get similar results?• Can you apply any mathematics concepts to your data analysis?• What do your results tell you? What did you learn from your results?• What conclusions can you make based on your results?• Do you think what you learned is always true of speed?• What new questions do you have? What further tests could be run?• Have you learned anything that surprised you?



Concepts to be Assessed

(Unifying concepts/big ideas and science concepts to be assessed using the ScienceExemplars Rubric under the criterion: Science Concepts and Related Content)

Physical Science – Motion and Forces: Students observe and investigate the relationships ofspeed, slope and mass of the object in motion. They observe that an unbalanced force actingon an object changes its speed or path of motion or both. Students understand that speed is ameasure of distance over time and that a ramp built on a very steep angle may generate highspeed, but that speed cannot be maintained beyond the end of the ramp as the board will crashinto the floor rather than be propelled along the flat surface.

Design Technology – Invention: Students create the ramp that will provide the fastest speed ofthe fingerboard launched from it. Several steps are involved in making things. Students testresults to provide information for design modifications.

Design Technology – Constraints and Advantages: Students recognize constraints in theclassroom and in the materials available. Materials and designs need to be accuratelydescribed in order to be recreated by someone using the written description. Studentsunderstand that some materials are better than others depending on the task and thecharacteristics of the materials.

Scientific Method: Students determine the patterns and/or which kinds of change arehappening by making a graph or table of measurements (change-constancy). Students observeand explain reactions when variables are controlled (form and function). Students understandthe interdependence of variables in the investigation and how mass and the angle of the rampare related to the speed of the fingerboard (mechanical systems).

Mathematics: Students identify trends and patterns and represent and analyze dataappropriately. Students use tables and graphs to show how values of one variable are related(increase, decrease, etc.) to values of another. Numerical data and precise measurements areused in describing events, answering questions, providing evidence for scientific explanationsand challenging misconceptions. Students apply the concept of algebra.

Skills to be Developed

(Science process skills to be assessed using the Science Exemplars Rubric under the criteria:Scientific Procedures and Reasoning Strategies, and Scientific Communication Using Data)

Scientific Method: Observing, predicting/hypothesizing, collecting/recording data, manipulatingtools, drawing conclusions, communicating findings, challenging misconceptions and raisingnew questions.



Other Science Standards and Concepts Addressed

Scientific Method: Students describe, predict, investigate and explain phenomena. Studentscontrol variables.

Scientific Theory: Students look for evidence that explains why things happen and modifyexplanations when new observations are made.

Physical Science – Motion and Forces: Students observe and record the effects of ramp slopeand mass on speed.

The Designed World: Student observe that tools extend the ability of people (to make things,to move things, to shape materials) and that manufacturing requires a series of steps and,depending on the task, a careful choice of materials (based on their characteristics).

Scientific Tools: Students use computers to organize, analyze and interpret data.

Suggested Materials

Fingerboards can be purchased at toy stores and hobby shops. A variety of boards may beprovided, or students can bring in their own. Groups will need stopwatches, meter sticks,measuring tapes, boxes or books (for raising the heights of ramps) and masking tape. Mystudents used nickels to add mass (other coins or washers would also work) and borrowed acarpenter’s level from the Tech Ed teacher to assist in measuring the angle of the ramps.

Possible Solutions

Students need to use their data to answer the question: What is the fastest speed a fingerboardcan attain being launched from a ramp? In order to do this, the task needs to be broken downinto parts for testing variables:

Part 1: How does the angle of the ramp affect the speed of a fingerboard?Part 2: How does the mass of the board affect the speed?

Students were expected to follow the “Lab Report Format” required at our school. Severaldifferent variables should have been tested, and students should have data-recording tables,data analyses, graphical representations of data analysis, and a written discussion thatanalyzes data collected. Specific data figures will vary with different ramps and fingerboardsused; however, there should be several general trends revealed in the data.

Students should discover that a ramp angled slightly less than 45 degrees will give thefingerboard the best start to continue running once it levels off onto a smooth surface. For ourclass investigations, it seemed that due to experimental errors of fingerboard wheel design, itwas difficult to determine an ideal number of nickels to create the optimum momentum. Theboards seemed to achieve just as high speeds with no added mass.



Task-Specific Assessment Notes

General NotesWe have included student work at each performance level for all parts of this investigation,rather than in separate parts (i.e., Part 1 and Part 2) as we often do. This makes the worksamples here rather long, and a bit more complex to assess at first glance. Because studentsneeded to gather all of the data and synthesize their information into one conclusion, it seemedappropriate to keep the various parts together.

NoviceThis student’s solution is incomplete and lacking in details. The materials list is vague and nopurpose is stated at the beginning of the investigation. The drawings are unclear and somewhatconfusing. This student does not demonstrate the use of tools to gather data in a scientificmanner. There is no evidence of repeated trials for gathering accurate data. The strategy isvery sketchy, showing little evidence of scientific reasoning being used. There is little gathereddata, resulting in a very weak data analysis. It would be almost impossible for anyone torecreate this investigation based on this student’s procedures. Conclusions make only generalreferences to how mass and height of ramp could affect speed and do not refer to trends indata to achieve optimum speed. The student’s one attempt to make a reference to a “big idea”of science in the concluding paragraph shows a lack of understanding of the main scientificconcepts being investigated.

ApprenticeAlthough the task is completed, this student’s solution is lacking in detail. There is someevidence about how the student conducted the investigation and the reasoning behindconducting it. The explanation is incomplete, lacking some of the steps of the test(s) conducted.There is no diagram of the ramp setup, so it would be almost impossible to recreate thestudent’s investigation. It appears that only one trial was conducted under each condition,resulting in unreliable data. These data are displayed poorly in working charts, making it difficultto interpret the findings. Some chart headings and measurement units are omitted. The studentshows a lack of conceptual understanding in both the conclusion and significance sections ofthe lab report. Conclusions do not consider experimental errors, possible improvements oralternative hypotheses.

PractitionerThis student’s solution is complete. The original problem statement was well-written in that allnecessary parts of the lab report are present. It is easy to understand the basics of what wasdone to conduct the investigation, as both the written procedure and diagrams enhance thatunderstanding. The student organizes the resulting data very well. Unfortunately, there are datafrom only one trial under each condition of the investigation, making results questionable. Thestudent applies excellent scientific and mathematical skills to convert units of measure throughdimensional analysis and applies trigonometric functions to determine the ramp angle. Thestudent uses an assortment of graphical representations to display the data and has reasonableconclusions. The student is able to relate the investigation to the in-class learning bydemonstrating recognition of the major concepts and theories being studied.



ExpertThis student’s solution is complete and detailed. The original problem statement is well-writtenin that it considers the variables independently. There is evidence of use of prior knowledge andexperience about speed demonstrated in the hypothesis. The procedure is clear and there is awell-labeled diagram of the ramp apparatus. More than one representation is used to displaydata. There are well-organized data tables and graphical analyses of those data. The computer-generated graph is an accurate, appropriate representation of data. There is clear evidence ofscientific reasoning in the written data analysis, showing deep understanding of theshortcomings of the design technology and subsequent results. Conclusions are supported bydata. There is evidence of extended thinking again in the data analysis and conclusionparagraphs.



Novice



Novice



Novice



Novice



Novice



Apprentice



Apprentice



Apprentice



Apprentice



Apprentice



Apprentice



Apprentice



Practitioner



Practitioner



Practitioner



Practitioner



Practitioner



Practitioner



Expert



Expert



Expert



Expert



Expert



Expert



Expert



Documents

Testing Variables With Fingerboards: What Is the Fastest ...info.ritenour.k12.mo.us/RSD/science_exemplars/6_8/pdfs/task736.pdffingerboard the best start to continue running once it