Room 32 News: Moon Craters

Grade 6 is working on their first MYP science investigation. Our statement of inquiry for the Solar System is: Scientists observe patterns and use them to construct models that explain natural phenomena. Our assessments are somehow linked to this. The first investigation is to measure how a certain factor affects the size of moon craters. Of course we can't travel to the moon and wait around for a meteorite to come crashing down, so we build a model and observe the patterns we see. For this investigation our moon regolith was made from flour and a thin layer of cocoa powder. Students dropped different balls into the "regolith" and made different measurements. Some chose to change the size of the ball, some chose to change the height of the drop. For a dependent variable, some chose the length of the rays thrown from the crater, others chose to measure crater depth or diameter. Students recorded and analyzed their results using google sheets. It is a messy but fun and productive lab.