Mr. Maykut: Does the height of a ramp matter?

Sean came up with this investigation and the class agreed that it was a good one.  Each student made a hypothesis.  Some said the high ramp wouldn't work well because the rollers would hit the ground, crash and stop.  Others said that the roller would go further down the high ramp because it would pick up more speed because the force of gravity would be greater.

Students were also required to write a procedure before they began the experiment.  Afterwards they recorded their results and wrote a conclusion which included possible reasons for their results, what went wrong and a list of further investigations that they might do. 

Getting the roller to roll straight was key.

Success!

Making a roller.

Straight as an arrow!

Small ramp.

Small ramp.

Tall ramp.

Making sure the ground was flat was important.

Tall vs. short ramp.