This past week, my students worked in groups and to determine which ball would bounce the highest: golf ball, ping-pong ball, or a tennis ball. When I had my students first make their predictions, I had no student believe that the golf ball would bounce the highest. I asked my students why they thought this, one student responded, "I know that a golf ball is the same type of ball I used when I played putt-putt. A golf ball is hard and doesn't allow me to squish it." I was quite impressed with their prior knowledge about this specific ball.
I had fourteen students predict that the tennis ball would bounce the highest. The other nine students predicted the ping-pong ball. The students who predicted the tennis ball mentioned that they have played catch with their dog before and they now that their is sometimes a bounce that happens when the ball hit the ground. The other students that mentioned the ping-pong ball, felt that since it was smaller in since than the tennis ball it must be lighter and bounce back higher.
I choose this student's work because of her last question, "could we bounce another ball'. I like how she was thinking what would happen if we had yet another type of ball, would the tennis ball still be the one that bounced the highest.
