My favorite lab in our force and motion unit is called graphing average speed with superworms. I’ve done this lab for the last several years in my class, and it’s always a hit with the students. The kids like it because they are working with a live organism, and it really helps solidify the concept of graphing motion.
During the lab students record data from the path of superworm (species of darkling beetle). Every 10 seconds for a minute they are responsible for recording the position of the worm. The superworms are great because they don’t travel in a straight line for very long. This allows the students to see a lot of movement on their position/time graphs.
After they data collection process is over the students are asked to find different measurements and fill out their data tables. They are then required to find the average speed for each of the intervals of the race.
Once the data table has been filled out students will create a position/time graph, and a distance/time graph. This lets students practice working with x and y axes, labeling graphs, and visualizing motion on a graph.
I like doing this lab on a larger piece of paper so the data from the experiment and the graphs are all visible on the same piece of paper. After the graphs are completed the students are asked some conclusion questions that force them to analyze their own data. There are even a couple of easy questions about velocity and acceleration which allows the class to summarize our force and motion unit in one lab.
The full lab write up, conclusion questions, teacher instructions, and student rubric are all available in my TpT store. If you teach graphing and average speed I know your students will really enjoy this one.
I like doing this lab on a larger piece of paper so the data from the experiment and the graphs are all visible on the same piece of paper. After the graphs are completed the students are asked some conclusion questions that force them to analyze their own data. There are even a couple of easy questions about velocity and acceleration which allows the class to summarize our force and motion unit in one lab.
The full lab write up, conclusion questions, teacher instructions, and student rubric are all available in my TpT store. If you teach graphing and average speed I know your students will really enjoy this one.