During my inquiry investigation on pendulums, I made some observations about gravity, motion and time. My investigation question was, which pendulum will come at rest more quickly- a lighter pendulum or heavy pendulum? During the preparation of this lesson, I discovered that the fixed point of the pendulum must be secured tightly or your results could be skewed. The height from which you will drop the pendulum should also be identified. I discovered that the weight of a pendulum does affect how long a pendulum will swing. The heaviest pendulum swings for an average of 2 minutes. The medium size, average is 56 seconds and the lightest pendulum swings for an average of 25 seconds. I noticed that the two heaviest pendulums began to swirl around as they slowed
down. The scientific concept, of how mass affects momentum, was clearly defined and observed. The more mass the more momentum, therefore the longer the pendulum stayed in motion. The engagement in this activity allowed me to clear up a misconception that I had. I actually thought that the more mass the less, momentum. I discovered that, once gravity has an effect on the mass the momentum increases.
My kitten was the only challenge that I had during this experiment. She thought that the pendulum was a toy for her to enjoy. I had to retest a couple of times, because, she would paw at the pendulum.
My students would enjoy this investigation. In the past, my fifth graders did an experiment on; how does the length of a pendulum affect how many times it will swing? My students really enjoy conducting investigations of this magnitude. My students learn how to make observations, record data, and practice organizational skills. During inquiry lessons, many challenges may occur. Before conducting an inquiry lesson certain procedures should be established and practiced. One challenge that I may see is in the amount of time allotted for my science specials. I would probably have to break this lesson up into two sessions. In my experience, I have found that students can handle inquiry lessons, if and when presented on a regular basis.
Terilyn,
ReplyDeleteThat is cute that your only challenge was your kitten. It is funny how our daily lives can interact and affect the results of our experiments when conducting them at home. I am curious as to what height you let the pendulums go from that they swung for such a short time. Since I did not have a way to measure mine I dropped them from a 90 degree angle each time. I also had the challenge of fixing what the pendulum was attached to so it would not skew the results. I hope you are able to do the various tests with your students.
-Julie