1 - Getting Started ~5 mins
A playground slide that is too steep sends children flying. A slide that is too gentle leaves them stuck halfway. How do engineers decide what is safe?
Today each group will pick its own force question about rolling cars and plan a careful test to answer it, changing only one thing at a time. What would you like to find out?
2 - What Makes a Force Test Fair? ~5 mins
If two groups get different answers, what might have made their tests unfair?
Fair test: change only one thing. Measure one thing. Keep everything else the same.
Watch the ramp at the front and look out for the one thing that changes on purpose — here it is the ramp height. Then watch for what gets measured, and for how several results turn into one average.
3 - Choose Your Force Question ~5 mins
In your group, pick one force question you can really test with a car and a ramp. Turn it into a clear question, then say what you predict and why.
Ideas to choose from: Does a heavier car roll further? Does a steeper ramp make it go further? Does a smooth floor let it roll further than carpet?
4 - Plan Your Fair Test ~10 mins
On the board we will sort the cards for one force question together. Five cards appear: weight of the car, distance rolled, ramp height, starting point and floor surface.
Which card goes in Change? Which goes in Measure? Which three must stay the same? Then complete your own Investigation Journal page for the question your group chose.
Does a heavier car roll further?
5 - Run and Repeat Your Force Test ~20 mins
You are about to find out whether your force idea holds up: the averages will settle the argument.
Set up the test your group planned. Change only the one thing on your planner. Release the car the same way every time — no pushing.
Run at least three trials for each version you try (for example 0 coins and 3 coins, or low ramp and high ramp). Measure from the bottom edge of the ramp to the front of the car on the floor, in centimetres. Write every reading on your Investigation Journal page as you go.
To find each average, add the three trial distances and divide by three. Board example: 80 + 84 + 76 = 240, and 240 ÷ 3 = 80 cm.
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