Sports and Bouncing Balls
Erin Madson
7/17/14
Grade Level and Subject Area
This lesson will be taught for 9th graders in a physical science class.
Time Frame
225 minutes total (2.5 block periods or 5 45-minute periods)
Objectives: Upon completion of this unit, students will be able to:
●
●
●
●
Understand that momentum depends on both mass and velocity.
Recognize that different surfaces and materials promote different types of collisions.
Collect data to solve equations.
Learn that understanding material properties is an important aspect of engineering
design.
Next Generation Science Standards
HS-PS2-2: Use mathematical representations to support the claim that the total momentum of
a system of objects is conserved when there is no net force on the system. [Clarification
Statement: Emphasis is on the quantitative conservation of momentum in interactions and the
qualitative meaning of this principle.]
Standards for Technological Literacy
Grades 9-12:
K. The Iron Age was defined by the use of iron and steel as the primary materials for tools.
Common Core State Standards in Mathematics
MP.2: Reason Abstractly and quantitatively.
MP.4: Model with mathematics
HSN.Q.A.2: Define appropriate quantities for the purpose of descriptive modeling.
Common Core State Standards in English and Language Arts
None
Prior Learning
Content to teach or review: Students should be presented with the following information
prior to the lesson: mass, velocity, momentum, elastic collision, inelastic collision, law of
conservation of momentum, Newton’s 3rd law, distance, acceleration, kinematics
equations.
Real life connections: Ask students where they see conservation of momentum in real
life. If they are having troubles coming up with examples, probe them with sports or show
them a video clip of an athlete hitting a golf ball, swinging a bat, etc..
Misconceptions: An activity to do as a mini-assessment would be to ask students to
rank sports in which have greatest momentum to lowest momentum. All answers will be
different, but it is important for students to remember that momentum has to do with mass
and velocity.
Materials
Each group will need:
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Part 1: Content and Background Info
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Note sheet for students, review worksheets for practicing momentum problems.
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Interactive science notebook
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Part 2: Materials needed for each group (3 or 4)
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3 different balls (suggestions: ping-pong ball, tennis ball, racquetball, golf ball,
baseball, super ball, clay, billiards ball, many more)
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3 different bouncing surfaces (suggestions: tile floor, linoleum floor, carpeted floor,
cinder block, wooden block, many more)
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Electronic balance or scale (grams and kilograms)
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Meter stick
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3 copies of the worksheet to go with the activity (formative assessment)
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Part 3: Materials needed for each group (3 or 4)
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Meterstick
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PVC pipe (1 m long)
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Wrapping paper tubes
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Wooden blocks (small)
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Short pieces of PVC pipe
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Metal blocks or plates
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Tape
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String
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Styrofoam
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Other materials you see fit for building a golf club
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Golf ball
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Spring
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Newton Scale
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3 design templates, cost worksheet, rubric, equation sheet (optional), reflection
questions.
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Part 4: Summative Assessment (paper and pencil)
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Summative assessment
LESSON IMPLEMENTATION
Objective: Upon completion of this lesson, students will be able to:
●
●
●
●
Understand that momentum depends on both mass and velocity.
Recognize that different surfaces and materials promote different types of collisions.
Collect data to solve equations.
Learn that understanding material properties is an important aspect of engineering
design.
Pre-Assessment
In small groups, have students engage in an open discussion. Remind students that no idea
or suggestion is dumb. All ideas should be respected. Ask students the following:
What are sports examples of transfer and conservation of momentum?
Rank the sports listed above from most momentum to least. Address misconception from
above.
Procedures
Time
45 min
for part 1
Purpose
Part 1: Content and Background Information
1. Do pre-assessment activity with students.
2. Review (or teach) the background information.
This part is to help
identify
misconceptions
and give
background
3. Give a review worksheet on momentum problems that
addresses background information and any information
information.
they would need to understand Part 2. This can be given
45 min
as homework if needed.
for part 2 Part 2: Testing it out/Collecting and Analyzing Data**
The purpose of
1. Determine the mass in kg of each ball and record it on
this activity is to
data sheet.
give the students
2. Drop each ball from a distance of 1 meter onto the
surface and record how high it bounces in meters.
3. Note whether the ball and surface showed more of
background
knowledge about
elastic collisions
and how
elastic or inelastic collision (this can be a judgement or
momentum plays
you could set up a value prior to this)
a role in this (also,
mass/velocity).
4. Repeat steps 1-3 for each ball.
5. Calculate the velocity for each ball right before it
bounces (in question 2) and right after it bounces (in
question 3).
6. Calculate the momentum for each ball right before it
bounces (in question 4) and right after (in question 5).
7. Calculate the percentage of momentum lost for each
case (question 6).
8. Answer the questions on the worksheet based on your
data.
9. Once everyone in the class is finished with the
worksheet, discuss which balls had the best elastic
45 min
for part 3
(Plannin
g and
design)
collisions with each surface.
Part 3: Create your own Golf Club
1. Review information by giving a set of questions (for
left-hand side of interactive notebooks) about yesterday’s
background info and data collection.
2. Give students a scenario about a freshman boy or girl
To incorporate
parts of the
engineering and
design process.
who has made it to the state golf tournament, lost his golf
clubs, and only has certain supplies to make new ones.
He needs a driver built, and he really needs one to hit the
golf ball (this will be provided--standard golf ball) as far
as possible. However, he only has a certain amount of
money that his parents sent him to the state tournament
with. Because he will be golfing 18 holes, he needs to
make sure the golf club is reusable and durable. (You
can make up your own scenario based on your school
and what fits your students best--another idea is to do a
baseball bat or hockey stick).
3. Present students with rubric (weights/percentages are
up to classroom teacher):
a. Distance traveled (3 trials are averaged)
b. Cost
c. Durability and Reusability (3 trials will be done)
4. Explain the different parts of the rubric.
a. Distance-The golf clubs will be tested by using a
robotic arm (spring attached to newton scale), so each
trial will be consisted and the same force will be applied
to the golf ball. (Note: Make sure the spring hook is able
to attach to your materials before students start building
something that won’t fit)
b. Cost-This is up to the teacher to assign cost for
materials used to build the golf club.
c. Durability and Reusability-Just discuss that three trials
will be done.
5. Give students the opportunity to look over the
materials they can use.
(Optional: You might choose to go over properties of
matter here or review data from yesterday’s lab activity
on elastic collisions)
6. Individually, have students draw up 3 designs to their
plan.
7. Next, students must share their designs and come up
with one single design that they will use in their groups.
45 min
8. Give students time to build (and pay for their
for
materials)
building/
testing
9. When students start finishing, test out their golf clubs
and post their “grade” or score on the board for students
to see where they place OR make this private for a
To incorporate
summative grade for students.
parts of the
(Optional: You might post equations from the prior lab
engineering and
day on the board for students to see OR you might
design process.
require students to measure the same data that was
measured with their golf club and ball)
10. Give students reflection questions about how this
design/building process used the information from the lab
from the prior day. Discuss these in small groups or as a
class after.
45 min
for
11. Closure activity (see below)
summati
ve
assessm
ent
Part 4: Summative assessment (paper and pencil)
To assess
student’s
11. Have students share their 1-minute reflections they
understanding of
wrote in their notebook.
learning
objectives.
12. Give students a summative assessment addressing
the original learning objectives.
Formative Assessment
The review worksheet about momentum will be used as formative assessment.
The worksheet that goes along with the lab activity will be a formative assessment.
Discussion during the lab and post-lab will also be a great way to use formative assessment.
Any other questions given as reflection or pre-activity can be used as well.
Closure
Present the class with the following scenarios:
Scenario 1: A big-time slugger hits a baseball 60 meters/sec.
Scenario 2: Johnny knocks down four pins at the Bowl-a-Rena by rolling a 15-pound bowling
ball 1.34 meters/sec.
Ask students to record (in their interactive science notebooks) the answer to the following
question:
Which ball would bounce higher if it were thrown onto a trampoline with the given velocities.
What about concrete?
Lastly, have students reflect on what they learned from the activities (this should be done
before the paper/pencil summative assessment) by having them do a 1-minute timed
reflection where they are writing down everything they learned for the day or how it relates to
their everyday life. They can start the next class period off by sharing what they wrote with a
peer or the entire class.
Summative Assessment
The summative assessment would be the design of the golf club and assessed according to
the rubric.
Also, a standards based (on the learning objectives) summative assessment will be given.
Short answer questions, involving all content covered from the learning objectives. An essay
question (case study/scenario-type) will be posed on the test, to see if they understand the
engineering and science practices they went through in the design process of their golf club.
**Part of this lesson is adapted from www.teachengineering.org .