February 17, 2022
This week, Island City Elementary kindergarten students learned about force and motion, measurement, and data collection while they explored ramp height and its effect on the distance a ball travels.
Mrs. Droke and Ms. Jenkins used rain gutters as ramps and provided the students
with blocks to adjust the height of the ramp, balls for rolling down the ramps, and wooden sticks for measuring the distance the ball traveled. The students were engaged from the moment the
lesson began as the teachers guided them to make predications, determine how to measure distance, and consider variables such as friction of the surface and different ways to stack the blocks.
It was a great STEM lesson with teachers giving students choices on their set-ups and students earnestly working together to explore the question and collect data to record their findings. It was a delight to watch the young students marvel at how far the ball traveled, count up to 65 wooden sticks, struggle with how to write numbers like 22 and 35, and finally explain what happened and why.
The teachers led discussions and asked students to share what they thought would happen and, later, what did happen. The lesson was such a hit, everyone lost track of the time and no one wanted to stop the exploration!
Check out the photos of LGSD’s youngest scientists.
