Can a ramp guide a ball to its target?

Which guide helps a rolling ball reach a marked target?

Submit: A design drawing, trial record, comparison and revised test.

Related lesson: Push and Pull Forces

This is a teacher-led extension beyond the short lesson. The task supplies a performance opportunity; completion alone does not certify mastery, full NGSS coverage or state alignment.

Build the idea

A push or pull can start motion or change its speed or direction. A guide touching a rolling ball can change where it goes. Engineers decide what a design should do, try it, and use observations to decide whether it works. One lucky trial does not show that a guide works every time. Our goal is to reach the target in three repeated trials from the same start.

Evidence and model inputs

Example trial record, invented for practice: no guide — miss, miss, miss; short angled guide — hit, miss, hit; longer angled guide — hit, hit, hit. These results describe this example only. Your class must record its own tests, including misses.

Keep actual observations, published findings and invented model cases labeled separately. If a source or required equipment is unavailable, pause that part with a teacher; do not invent results.

Materials and preparation

Large non-swallowable ball, cardboard ramp and guides, tape, floor target, drawing sheet. Adult setup; no high ramps or throwing.

Grade-level scope

Assess observed changes in motion and whether a design works. Do not require friction as the mechanism.

Do the work

1. An adult clears a floor space and supplies a large ball, low cardboard ramp and two card guides. Mark one start and one target.
2. Draw a predicted path. Release the ball without an extra push; observe a baseline with no guide.
3. Test each guide three times using the same ball, ramp and release point. Draw or mark each hit and miss.
4. Compare the records with the goal. Explain how contact with a guide changed direction.
5. Change one part of the less successful guide and retest. Keep the first and revised records.

Learner worksheet

Write on paper or type here and print. Entries stay in this page’s memory and are lost when you leave or reload; they are not saved or submitted.

Check your reasoning

1. Which example guide met the three-hit goal?
2. Why use the same start?
3. Does one successful roll prove a design always works?
4. What should you record if your prediction fails?

Teacher review guide

Review the actual deliverable and discuss the reasoning. For each criterion, use 0 when evidence is absent or fundamentally incorrect, 1 when partly supported with a material error or omission, and 2 when accurate, supported and complete for the stated task. Maximum 8 points is a task score, not a proficiency certification. Give feedback and allow revision.

1. States the target and draws a design intended to change direction.
2. Records actual repeated trials, with misses retained.
3. Uses the record to decide whether the goal was met.
4. Explains a contact push and makes an evidence-based revision.

Sources and standard reference

• Official NGSS K-PS2-2 performance expectation — inspect the practice, core idea, crosscutting concept and assessment boundary.

Instructional text and hypothetical cases are original. Linked source readings supply published evidence where specified. Teachers should judge fit with their course and state requirements.