Guided Inquiry-Pendulums

The question I answered was: Which will come to rest first; a light pendulum or a heavier pendulum.  I set up the experiment using a regular golf ball and a practice golf ball.  I used a string to create a pendulum from my deck railing and released the ball from my hip each time.  I believed the heavier pendulum would come to rest after the lighter pendulum.  After conducting the experiment I found this to be true and made the conclusion that the heavier golf ball had more momentum, therefore making a larger arc and continuing to swing for a longer period of time.  The greater momentum is due to the formula Mo=Mass x Velocity.  The velocity would be equal, but the momentum on the upswing would be greater with the golf ball having the greater mass. 

An extension to this activity I would like to try would look at air resistance.  I would add more surface area to the heavier golf ball to see how it would impact the results.  If students had the prerequisite skills of accessing background knowledge, hypothesizing, designing an experiment, identifying variables, and drawing conclusions, I would use this as a guided inquiry lesson in the classroom.  If they did not have these skills, I would use it to model and do a think aloud to show students how I process an experiment.  Because the data is easy to collect and understand, this could be a great lesson to practice drawing conclusions from evidence.  To connect it to the students' lives, I would look for real life pendulums the students could relate to, such as a swing set.

In this lesson I would want the students to grasp the concept of momentum being Mass x Velocity.  I would also want them to become more familiar with the steps of inquiry.  Conducting this lesson as a guided inquiry would help meet both of these learning targets.