Londa Neely

Missy Doylida


Balls and Ramps
Overview:
! The students will roll a ball down four different kind of ramps to determine which ramp
surface and the slope of the ramp makes the ball go down the fastest. The students will
learn how the different surfaces of the ramps and slopes of the ramp affect the speed of
the ball.

Objective:
! For students to understand that different surfaces on the ramps affect the speed of the
ball.
! For students to understand that the slope of the ramp affects the speed of the ball.
! For students to be able to record data.
! For students to understand what it means to test their prediction by experimentation.

Standards:
Goal 11
11.A.1a Describe an observed event
11.A.1c Collect data for investigations using measuring instruments and technologies.
11.A.1f Compare observations of individual and group results.

Materials:
! 4 types of ramps (wood, bumpy, felt, styrofoam)
! 2 Tennis Balls
! Stopwatch
! Pencil
! Paper
! Table to record times





Prediction 1 or 2 Slope 1 Slope 2
Type of Ramp
Wood Ramp
Bumpy Ramp
Felt Ramp
Styrofoam Ramp
Procedure:
Londa will greet the students as they arrive to the center and introduce Missy and her-
self. After the teachers are introduced, Londa will ask the students to introduce them-
selves.
Missy will then show the students all of the materials that are at the center. She will
name all the materials as she shows them to the students.
Londa will then explain to the students to that they can touch the materials and as they
are getting a feel of all the materials to think of words that could describe them.
Both - Will call on students to describe what they felt.
Londa will then pose a question to the students. She will say, I wonder, I wonder how
fast I can make the ball go down theses different ramps? Missy will then explain to
the students that she wonders something too. She will say to the students, She won-
ders which ramp the ball would go down the fastest?
Missy will then ask the students how we should try and figure out what we wonder.
Both - We will have a discussion with the students about how we should go about fi-
guring out our what we wonder. We will guide the students to thinking about the sur-
faces of the different ramps and how we should position the ramps. We will then crea-
te a hypothesis.
Londa will then explain to the students that they are going to conduct an experiment to
test the hypothesis we came up with.
Both will then set up the ramp with the help of students. Londa will help students drop
and catch the ball as Missy times with other students.
Both - will have students write down the prediction, and then use the stopwatch to
time how fast the tennis ball goes down the ramp. Start the timer when your partner
lets the ball go at the top of the ramp. Stop the timer when the ball hits the floor. Wri-
te down the time and then do the second trial for the wood ramp at a different slope.
We will repeat these steps again but using the bumpy ramp, felt ramp, and styrofoam
ramp.
At the end, look over the data we collected in the chart. Which ramp did the ball go
down the fastest? Why was it the fastest? What high was the slope of the ramp?
Which ramp did the ball go down the slowest? Why was it the slowest? How low was
the ramp? Were you right with your predictions?