Newton Inquiry

The question I chose to investigate for this week's application was "How does the steepness of a slope and mass affect a collision outcome?"  To investigate this question, I set up a plank with two books underneath one end to create an incline.  I placed a car at the end of the ramp to serve as the target and also had a car that I released from the top of the ramp.  As a variable, I then raised the incline on the ramp by placing two more books under the raised end.  I continued on to six total books.  After collecting the data from this experiment, I returned to the original position of two books and started to add pennies, two at a time for each level of incline.  The results I found were that the higher the incline, plus the added mass created the biggest change in position of the target car.  The raise in the ramp created a situation in which gravity exerted force on the car and the added mass made that force even greater.  The aspects of this inquiry that gave me some trouble were keeping the car straight and keeping the pennies on the car.  In the future, it would be helpful to have a ramp with sides.  I do think this activity would be fun and engaging for my sixth graders.  Hands-on activites always help to teach/reinforce new concepts.  Gathering enough materials for an entire class would be my first challenge.  I might have to raid my son's toy box.  Secondly, grouping would be very important to consider with this activity.  Creating groups that would work well together and stay on task would be a top priority.