Sara Vogel and Jennifer Johnson
                                              K'Nex Science Lesson Plan

Area of Technology:  Science
Areas of the Curriculum:   Pendulum and  length
Challenge: You are to experiment with the K'Nex toys to make a pendulum.  You will be given a picture of the pendulum to construct.  After the construction of the pendulum, you will experiment with the lengths of the swinger to see what difference it makes.  You will count the number of cycles in a 15 second period.
Context:
    If you are swinging on a swing will you go faster (more cycles) on a longer or shorter chain?  Does the length of the chain matter?
Objectives:
 The students will learn how to make the pendulum, understand and graph the information found in the experiment, and learn how the length of a pendulum affects its cycles.
Resources:
    Watson, James.  Lab Manual, Physics Concepts for Teachers.  Ball State University, 1998.
Materials:
    The materials needed for this lesson are:  K'Nex toys, graph paper and a watch with a second hand.
Procedure:
    1.  Create a pendulum similar in design to the picture.
    2.  Release the swinger straight out, parallel to the ground.
    3.  Measure the number of swings (cycle) in 15 seconds.  Swing (cycle) = back and forth.  Remember to always make a       measurement at least 3 times.
    4.  Change the length of the swinger.  Repeat steps 2 and 3.
    5.  Change the length  one more time, repeat steps 2 and 3.
    6.  Change the length one final time to a different length then the previous three lengths.  Repeat steps 2 and 3 again.
    7.  Graph your data.
    8.  Answer the question, does the length of the swinger matter, if so how does it affect the cycles?
Assessment:
    The students will construct a pendulum out of the K'Nex toys,  properly graph their information and answer the question.
Feedback:
      If the students have done the assignment correctly, they will get an 'A'.  If the students miss the question or do not do the experiment correctly, they will redo the assignment to receive the credit.
Redesign:
    The students will be given an opportunity to add mass to the experiment to see if the mass would make a difference in the number of cycles per 15 seconds.