Marble and Ramp, Cup Lab

Goals and Background

1. Students should understand the difference between science and engineering:
   1. Science poses questions about the natural world and answers in the form of evidence-based explanations.
      1. Our question or inquiry: How does the marble GPE affect the cup KE in the marble / ramp / cup system?
   2. Engineering identifies problems and proposes solutions.
      1. Our science question leads to practical engineering problems:
         1. Measuring and changing GPE
         2. Measuring KE
         3. How to convert as much as possible of a marble's GPE into the KE of a paper cup.
2. This activity addresses these 'I can" standards:
   1. Energy Transferred (PS3A-a)
   2. Energy Transformed (PS3A-b)
   3. GPE and KE Transformations (PS3C)

Communication

Our Inquiry and results will be communicated using the standard OHSD lab report format with an Engineering section added.

Lab Report Rubric

Section	------ Reminders ------ manipulated variable = mv     responding variable = rv	Student Check	Teacher Check
Title	Did you write a descriptive title?
Question	How does the marble GPE affect the cup KE in the marble / ramp / cup system?
Background	What do you already know about this experiment?
Hypothesis	What do you expect the answer is for the question? "If (mv), then (rv) because (reason)."
Materials	· V-shaped plastic channel         · marbles         ·books         · paper cups       · masking tape       · ______
Procedure	Do you have a step that tells a person what to change? (mv)
	Do you have a step that tells a person what to measure (rv) after they make the change you described above?
	Do you have a step that tells a person what to always keep the same?   (controlled variables)
	Do you have a step that tells a person to write down the data?
	Do you have a step that tells a person how many times to do these steps over? (repeated trials)
	Check your procedure...does it make sense? Could anybody use this procedure to do the experiment?
Data	Does your data table include what you changed (mv) and what then happened (rv) ?
Conclusion	Did you restate your hypothesis?
	So tell me, was the hypothesis or prediction correct?
	When you changed your variable (mv) the least, what happened (rv)?
	When you changed your variable (mv) the most, what happened (rv)?
	Put it together for me, what does the data say about your hypothesis?

Engineering

For these Goals and Background design problems:

1. Measuring and changing GPE
   1. Our solution
   2. A strength of our solution
   3. A weakness of our solution
2. Measuring KE
   1. Our solution
   2. A strength of our solution
   3. A weakness of our solution
3. Capturing the marble's GPE
   1. Our solution
   2. A strength of our solution
   3. A weakness of our solution