Lesson Plan #:AELP-PHS0019

I'm Inclined to See (Exploration)

An Educator's Reference Desk Lesson Plan

Submitted by: Mark Madsen, Tempe High School, Tempe, AZ
Endorsed by: These lesson plans are the result of the work of the teachers who have attended the Columbia Education Center's Summer Workshop. CEC is a consortium of teacher from 14 western states dedicated to improving the quality of education in the rural, western, United States, and particularly the quality of math and science Education. CEC uses Big Sky Telegraph as the hub of their telecommunications network that allows the participating teachers to stay in contact with their trainers and peers that they have met at the Workshops.

Date: May 1994

Grade Level(s): 9, 10, 11, 12

Subject(s):

PURPOSE:
The purpose of this activity is to look at the motion of a sphere on an inclined plane and to discover basic relationships involving distance, time, speed (velocity), and acceleration.

RESOURCES/MATERIALS:
Flat board, several spheres, meter stick, stop watch

ACTIVITIES AND PROCEDURES:
Roll a sphere, starting from rest, down an inclined plane. Observe the motion from the top, middle, or another starting point. Look for any patterns. Decide on the variables that are important to describe the motion of the sphere. Organize a data table using the variables you have chosen. Make a graph of distance versus time, using distance as the independent variable. Make a graph of average velocity versus time, using time as the independent variable. Finally, make a graph of average velocity versus distance, using distance as the independent variable.

Summing Up:

  1. Qualitatively describe the motion of the rolling sphere.
  2. Is your graph of distance versus time a straight line? Why, or why not?
  3. Suggest a way to modify the variables of the graphs which are not straight lines, such as squaring one of the variables, then make new graphs for the ones that are straight lines.
  4. Compare the slopes of all of the straight line graphs.