West Irondequoit Central School District

Technology Rich Lesson Plan

Name:

Michelle Dormitzer

Grade(s)

7

Information about the Lesson 

Title:

Design Your Own Pendulum

Brief Description:

In this lesson, students will apply the steps of the scientific method as they design a pendulum to test one variable that affects how many times a pendulum swings in 15 seconds.

Subject(s) 
integration

All	Information literacy	Language arts
þ Science	Arts	Mathematics
Social studies	Educational technology	Health
Vocational education	Foreign languages	Physical education

(time required to complete lesson, e.g. "two 45-minute sessions")

Three 42 minute lessons

- one day to research pendulums and plan the experiment

- one day to conduct and conclude the experiment

- one day to test additional hypotheses

Goals:
(curriculum and unit related; National or State standards)

NYS Intermediate Level Science Standard 1 Key idea 1- Scientific Inquiry

Objectives:
(measurable specific activities conducted by students)

Students will conduct their own science experiment by:

- asking questions about pendulums

- researching how pendulums work

- formulating a hypothesis which identifies a variable they wish to test

- designing a procedure and setting up their experiment

- collecting data

- analyzing their collected data against their hypothesis to conclude their experiment or

- asking another question and repeating the process

Teacher Materials/Resources:
(specific materials the teacher must have to conduct the lesson, e.g. Romeo and Juliet (video), American flag, etc.)

Pendulum set-up to serve as the control for the experiment (see student materials)

Student Materials/Resources:
(specific materials the students must have to complete the lesson, e.g. calculators, construction paper, finger paints, etc.)

laptop computer for research

Ring stand

Clamp

String

Weights

Meter sticks

Procedures:

See the attached lab for procedure

Assessment:

Students can be assessed in a variety of ways:

1. They can be assessed on the various parts of the experimental design process
2. They can be assessed on the results section and the reflection questions
3. They can be assessed on a written conclusion. In the science department at Dake the students write conclusions using the “conclusion sentence starters” that we came up with as a department.

Useful Internet Resources:

http://www.school-for-champions.com/science/pendulum.htm

http://pbskids.org/zoom/games/pendulum/factoids.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pendulum

Special Comments:

As each of the groups (of 2-3 students) finished collecting their data they added their data to the class info sheet. After everyone was done we went over the results as a group. The results generated a very interesting class discussion!

I also had the kids who were finished work with a virtual pendulum found on the following website:

http://pbskids.org/zoom/games/pendulum/swing.html

Attach a File: (link to accompanying files)

Student Data Record Form

Pendulum Lab