Lesson 2 • Rolling, rolling, rolling!

Revise: Making predictions is about thinking about what will happen in the future. In the last lesson we made predictions about how far our toy cars might roll.

Discuss some of the students’ observations from rolling cars the previous day, and specifically what made it hard to make accurate predictions about how far the car would roll. For example, students might comment on how forcefully the car was rolled, the direction that the car was rolled, or the surface on which the car was rolled.

Ask: How far did our toy cars roll? Were our predictions close?

Allow the students to share how far their cars rolled and who made accurate predictions.

Ask: How might we improve our predictions?

Allow students to share their initial thoughts, but leave the question open. Explain that today the students will investigate how they can improve their predictions.

Explain to students that to improve our predictions we need to first roll our cars more consistently. As a class, establish a ‘Car rolling protocol’. An example protocol might be: The toy car will always be rolled on the wooden floor and in the same direction. The “Goldilocks Principle” applies to the way that we roll our cars—the roll should not be too soft or too hard, the roll should be just right!

Pose the question: How can we improve our predictions? What might we do to show that our predictions are improving?

Convene the class in an open space. Divide students into groups of 3 or 4 students. Again, one person will be the ‘roller’ and one person the ‘predicter’. The other group member/s will look at how close each prediction is.

Make available materials for recording the length of car rolls, such as blocks, counters, rulers, different coloured sticky dots, chalk, and sticky notes. Explain that you have gathered some materials that might be helpful, but do not tell the students what they should do with these materials. The importance of recording data will emerge through the activity.

Allow students time to start predicting and rolling. At this point, students may not see it as necessary to record how far their car rolled.

Observe:

• Are any students using the last roll as their prediction, for example "Last time, the car stopped here, so I'll predict here. Now the car has stopped here, so I'll predict here."
  • This is progress towards the learning goal of the lesson. They recognise the need to notice where the car stops to inform predictions.
• Are students recording data on their rolls to inform their predictions?
  • This is the desired learning goal of the lesson; students are using multiple previous rolls to predict the next roll.

If students are not recording where the car previously stopped, ‘seed’ the idea of recording data with a group by marking the floor to show where the car stops each roll.

Select a group who are recording roll data (this may be your ‘seeded’ group). Conduct a Fishbowl activity so students can see how this group is working. Prompt students to watch for things that are working well and things that are not working so well.

After the Fishbowl, convene a class discussion.

Discuss:

• What things did you notice that were working well?
  • Students may have been marking their predictions and also marking how far the car rolled.
• What things did you notice that were not working so well?
  • You might first ask the group being observed this question so they can reflect on their own experience.
  • Some issues may include using objects such as counters or blocks to record data which caused the car to stop if it hit them, or not distinguishing between the two data types.

Ask students to meet in their small groups and think about how they would like to record their roll data. They also need to keep track of their predictions in some way. Remind them of the materials you have made available to mark how far the car rolls on the floor, including blocks, counters, rulers, different coloured sticky dots, chalk, and sticky notes.

When students have a plan, allow them time to repeat the activity.

When students are repeating their predictions and rolls this is an opportunity for you to notice whether students mark their prediction as well as mark how far their car rolled. Prompt students to think about why this might be useful data to have:

• How can you tell how close your car rolled to your prediction?
• How can you tell whether or not your predictions are getting closer?

Discuss how the markings that students are making are the data display of the group's car rolls. When students make a record of their data, they are able to share this data with other students who were not in their group. However, without this record, they only have the observations of the students who did the activity with them which cannot be shared with anyone else.

When they have predicted and rolled their car a few times, ask students to draw a picture of their data representation and/or take a photo of their displays for use in the following lesson.