1st Grade Science in the Toy Box Unit

1^st Grade Science in the Toy Box Unit

Section 4, Lesson 3: Gravity Go-Cars

Teacher Resources:

Gravity Go-Car Data Sheet (Adobe^® Reader^® PDF)
Gravity Go-Car Data Sheet (Microsoft^® Word^®)

Essential & Unit Questions* ¹

Benchmarks ²

Formative and Summative Assessments ³

Using Assessments to Monitor Student Learning

What happens to an object if it is not fully supported or held up?

Application of 4G(K-2)#1: Things near the earth fall to the ground unless something holds them up.

Class discussion of what causes the car to move down the ramp

Do students understand that a human push is not necessary to make the car move? (Gravity and the ramp not fully supporting the car cause the car to move downward)

9B(K-2)#2: Sometimes changing one thing causes a change in something else.

11C(K-2)#3: Things can change in different ways such as size, weight, color and movement. Some small things can be detected by taking measurements.

12B(K-2)#1: Use whole numbers and simple, everyday fractions in ordering, counting, identifying, measuring, and describing things and experiences.

Gravity Go Cars Data Sheet (available on under "Teacher Resources" on electronic curriculum)

Discussion of experiment results, focusing on how changing the height of the ramp affects the distance the car moves

Do students understand that changing the height of the ramp (number of books) affects the distance the car travels?
Do students use the data to compare the different ramps?

Precursor to 12E(3-5)#2: Recognize when comparisons might not be fair because some conditions are not kept the same.

Class discussion about results and what makes a fair test (See Develop Science Processes on page C48 in Teacher's Guide)

Do students recognize parts of the experiment that stayed the same (examples: car, starting point)?
Do students understand why everything but the angle of the ramp must stay the same?

* Essential/Unit questions are major questions driving the unit. They are directly aligned with the benchmarks. No single lesson addresses each question in its entirety. By the end of the unit, students should be able to answer these core questions.

1. For conceptual benchmarks.
2. Bolded sections indicate portion of benchmark addressed
3. Unless noted as a Summative Assessment, the assessments are formative and should be used to guide teaching and learning.