Reinventing the Wheel

Physical Science and Technology

Introduction:

The purpose of this activity is for you to demonstrate your experience in designing and building a device and writing the results in a formal lab paper. Each section of this activity has multiple criteria; please finish as many criteria as you can in the time allowed. You will work in partners to complete this activity.

Friday, September 7

à Build the wheel

Work with a partner - you and your partner will be assigned two numbers. The first number will represent a distance and the second will represent a number of rotations. Your goal will be to build a wheel that will travel the specified distance in the specified number of rotations. A variety of materials will be provided to you. After you have built your wheel, turn it in along with the following information: Your name, the distance specified, the number of rotations specified, and the radius (or diameter) of the wheel you built. Once you have built your wheel and had it approved, collect 10 trials of data – for each trial, record the exact distance your wheel traveled in the specified number of rotations.

Monday, September 10

à Write a lab report documenting your progress – save this report on your H: drive as “Wheel Writeup”

Work individually. You will use Microsoft Word on the computers in the science department computer lab

Criteria 1: Your lab report should have your name, the period, and the date in the upper right-hand corner

Criteria 2: Include a title centered and in bold

Criteria 3: Include an Introduction section consisting of 2 – 3 sentences describing what we asked you to do for this project

Criteria 4: Include a Methods section that describes how you decided how big your wheel should be, and how you tested and adjusted your wheel

Criteria 5: Include a data table, made from within Word, that has spaces for you to take 10 measurements of the distance traveled and number of rotations made by your wheel in each trial. Make sure the table is appropriately labeled and attractively formatted

Criteria 6: Include a Discussion section that addresses the following questions:

1. What aspects of science interest you the most?

2. What aspects of technology interest you the most?

3. Do you have or have you ever used wood or metal working tools? If so, what types of things have you made or repaired?

4. Do you have any comments, suggestions, or questions for the instructors?