Split up class into four teams (about 5 people per team). Each team drops two objects of different shape and
mass and uses a stopwatch to record times of each fall. Objects to be compared are set up at different stations:
a) Compare falling of one pencil with tied up pencils
b) Compare falling of closed book with sheet of paper
c) Compare falling of closed book with crumpled sheet of paper
d) Compare Empty Cans and wooden blocks.
Each team will first record their predictions. They will then hold objects and release both objects at the same
instant from equal heights. Stopwatches are used to time the fall, so that distances may be calculated and measured.
Students can also approximate their distances first, then actually measure them as a reinforcement activity in
measurement and estimation.
Depending on time, each team switches up until all stations have been met, while writing down what forces
they think are interacting with the falls and writing down relationships between acceleration, gravity, and air resistance.
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