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Wingin ’ It. Renee Breeze and Tina valentine. Engage. Teacher: Ask “What factors contribute to eagles being successful hunters?” After viewing YouTube video, ask the same question again for any changes in thought.
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Wingin’ It Renee Breeze and Tina valentine
Engage • Teacher: • Ask “What factors contribute to eagles being successful hunters?” • After viewing YouTube video, ask the same question again for any changes in thought. • Ask, “Do you thing the eagle would have been able to carry the goat effectively if it had differences in body size, eyesight, talon size, or wing size? • Lead students to the idea that wing size is the most testable variable. Student: • View YouTube clip titled Golden Eagle vs. Goat” • After viewing clip, write down changes they might want to make to their original thoughts. • Using the contributing factors, students should find a testable variable.
Explore • Teacher: • Group students into groups of 2 to 4 • Ask, “What can we change to make our helicopter fly longer?” • Assign a student in each group jobs. (length, recorder, flyer, timer) Student: • Investigate how wing size will affect flight time by making a paper helicopter (See Handout). • One student will record wing length, another will record information into a data table, another will drop helicopter from fixed length, and another will time the length of the fall. • In next trials, students should vary the wing length by 2cm until they record the longest flight time. • Plot data
Explain • Teacher: • Discuss the overall graph with the class using the following concepts • Scatter plots • Lines of best fit • Liner equations • Domain/range • Introduce the concept of the Wing/Body Mass ratio (bird’s wing length : bird’s body weight) Student: • Answer the following questions: • Which length produced the longest flight time? • What is the best wing length for a bird of this size traveling a long distance? • Why?
Extend • Teacher: • Assign students a different number of paper clips to modify the mass of their helicopters. Students: • Students should use the wing/body ratio to predict the new optimal wing length of their new helicopter. • Follow the same instructions from the EXPLORE section except they should run three trials per wing length and find the mean of the scores. • Record new data on a similar coordinate plane.
Evaluate • Teacher: • Facilitate discussion using the following questions • “Which length produced the longest flight time/less speed with the new weight?” • “Which length produced the shortest flight time/faster speed?” • “Where your predictions accurate?” • “What is the best wing length for a bird traveling a far distance?” Student: • Use the ration discussed in the EXPLORE portion to predict the weights of the birds listed at the end of the data collection sheet. • Students can then research, using the library or internet, to determine if their prediction was correct. • State clearly from research why you think your prediction was or was not correct. Cite two pieces of evidence.