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Sledding Hill

In this provocation, students will design a sled and a hill for the sled to move down. They will explore making the sled go faster and slower. 

Objective:

  • Can you design a sled and sledding hill using these materials?

  • How will your sled move? Can you make it move faster or slower?

Problem-solving and strategic thinking:

  • Students will use materials provided to build a sled

  • Students will label and/or create signs to identify roads and buildings

Standards/Objectives addressed:

  • K-PS2-1. Plan and conduct and investigation to compare the effects of different strengths or directions of pushes and pulls on the motion of an object.

  • K-PS2-2. Analyze data to determine if a design solution works as intended to change the speed or direction of an object with a push or pull. (see K-2-ETS1-3)

  • K-2-ETS1-2 Develop a simple sketch, drawing or model to illustrate how the shape of an object helps it function as needed to solve a given problem
     

Background knowledge needed:

  • How to make a plan - sketch a design

  • Understanding of sleds and slopes/hills

Materials:

  • Bottle caps, aluminum foil, wax paper, cardboard, tape/duct tape, glue, string/yarn, blocks, bear counters or other small characters to ride the sled.

Prompts – questions or statements to elicit engagement:

  • What are some slippery materials?

  • What makes a good sledding hill? What would it look like?

  • How will you make your sled move (up or down the hill)?

  • How many will fit on your sled?

Vocabulary:

  • sled, slope, hill, velocity, speed, angle, push, pull, motion

Reflection prompts:

  • What worked well? What part of your design do you like best or would you change? Why?

  • How did you play today - 3,2,1,0 scale -

3: We worked together the whole time. We completed our plan.
2: We worked together most of the time and almost completed our plan.
1: We worked together a little bit. We needed some reminders or help from a teacher.
0: We did not work together. We did not complete our plan.

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