This science experiment by students at Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired examines how the time of day affects energy levels.
Question
How does time of day affect how long it will take (speed) walking on the track?
Hypothesis
The subjects would walk fastest at night.
Materials
Track
iPad or iPod as stopwatch
Preparation
Kristen and Valerie found volunteers and inquired about using the track at necessary times.
Procedure
Find volunteers.
Have them meet at the track in the morning.
Prepare stopwatches.
Tell them to go and start the stopwatches while are at the rail.
Have students walk around the track 4 times.
When they get to the finish line for the 4th time, measure time.
Complete steps 3-6 at 2:00pm and 7:00pm with the same volunteers
Look at the times and do some investigation about it. – Analyze the data.
Display the data on table, chart or graph.
Data
Each student had his fastest time for the 7:00 p.m. walk.
Conclusion
Our conclusion was that our hypothesis was correct. Energy levels were higher at night.
Variations
Ideally, more students would participate and more trials would be done.
NGSS Standards:
Plan and conduct an investigation individually and collaboratively to produce data to serve as the basis for evidence, and in the design: decide on types, how much, and accuracy of data needed to produce reliable measurements and consider limitations on the precision of the data (e.g., number of trials, cost, risk, time), and refine the design accordingly. (HS-ESS2-5)