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ACCIDENT CHALLENGE

Learning Set 1

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How Far Does Vehicle B Travel After Being Hit?
In order to explore the causes of the rise in dangerous accidents at the intersection of Main St. and Park St. you will build a model of vehicle collisions in the laboratory (your classroom). Review the Maps 3 & 4. From looking at the maps of the intersection we know that there are many collisions and that in some of these collisions the target vehicle (Vehicle B) traveled different distances.

Map 3 Previous Years Accident Data

Map 4 - This Years Accident Data

These different distances are an important piece of data -- they might tell us about the factors contributing to the collisions and the severity of those collisions. We want to test this idea using our model. If we create a model of the intersection and have two vehicles collide, can we measure the distance that Vehicle B (the vehicle that was hit) travels? If we can get a good measure of this distance, then it might help us understand the causes of the rise in dangerous collisions in McFarland.

1.3: Part 1 of 5 Materials

Your goal is to design a procedure for using a model of the collision scene to measure how far Vehicle B travels after a collision. You will conduct this investigation using

Materials Available: 2 LEGO Vehicles Cardboard Piece Tape Measure

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two LEGO vehicles that are models of the typical cars and trucks that are involved in accidents at Main St. and Park St. In addition, you will have a short ramp that Vehicle A can roll down to collide with a stationary Vehicle B. You will also have a tape measure.

Vehicle A: Model of a Truck

Vehicle B: Model of a Car

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1.3: Part 2 of 5 Design Your Procedure
As a group, discuss the procedure that you will use to measure the distance that Vehicle B travels after Vehicle A collides with it. As you discuss, think about how you will make Vehicle A travel down the ramp and how you will measure the distance that Vehicle B travels. Remember to use all the items on your materials list. As you decide on a procedure, each person in your group needs to write down the procedure as a number list of instructions on the Procedure and Data Sheet.

GROUP

Discuss, create, and record your procedure to make Vehicle A collide with Vehicle B, and to measure the distance that Vehicle B travels.

1.3: Part 3 of 5 Complete Your Investigation

The mayor of the city wants to see all the data your lab collects. That way, she will be confident in the advice you give. Scientists and engineers usually complete multiple trials (multiple runs of the experiment) to be more confident that the data they collect is reliable. Run 10 trials of your procedure. After each trial record the distance that Vehicle B travels on your Procedure and Data Sheet.

GROUP

Conduct your procedure and record your groups data on your Procedure and Data Sheet.

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1.3: Part 4 of 5 Share

Now that your group has collected data, your teacher will ask each group to share their data with the class. Scientists and engineers often share data and the procedures they used to collect their data. Sharing knowledge allows others to use, refine, and improve their procedures and knowledge.

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Graphing: Histograms
A histogram (sometimes called a line plot) is a type of graph that shows the frequency (number of times) that a specific outcome occurred.
Frequency (number of students)

15 14 13 12

For instance, suppose you wanted to see the number of text messages that the students in your class sent last week. You could count the number of students that the sent 0-10 messages, the number of students that sent 1120 messages, etc. If four students sent 0-10 messages, then the frequency of 0-10 messages is four. A hypothetical graph of these data is on the right. Text messages sent is on the X-axis and Frequency (number of students) is on the Yaxis. How many students sent between 31-40 text messages?

11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

X X X X X
1--10

X X X X X X X X X X X
0 11--2

X X X X X X X X X X X X X
0 21--3

X X X X X X X
0 31--4

X X X X
0 41--5

X X
0 51--6

Total text messages sent

The graph your teacher will use to represent the data is called a histogram. Data from each group will be entered on the same histogram to see how well the class can consistently measure collision data.

As each group reports their data, plot the data points on your Histogram Sheet. To record data on the histogram: Find the value on the X-axis that equals the distance that Vehicle B traveled. Mark an X at that distance. If there is already one (or more) Xs then mark a new X above the Xs that are already at that distance.

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The number of Xs at each distance represents the number of times that Vehicle B traveled that distance. Histograms allow you to see how data is spread out over different ranges. When you look at the completed histogram, you can see if most of the trials are grouped in one small area along the X-axis, or are spread out all along the X-axis.
CLASS

Record the class data on the Histogram Sheet.

In order to understand the data, your teacher might ask some groups to demonstrate their procedure. This allows everyone to see the procedure that was used to gather their reported data. For scientists to evaluate data, they need to know what procedures produced that data. Scientists share their procedures through demonstrations, lectures, and writing.

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1.3: Part 5 of 5 Add to Your Understanding
You should have observed that different groups got different data about how far Vehicle B traveled after the collision. In your own group, Vehicle B might have traveled different distances on each trial. One cause of this range in data is because the procedure used on each trial was not consistent for all groups.

Scientists try to use a consistent procedure in order to get reliable and accurate data. Consistency refers to using the same procedure repeatedly to collect data. In order to make sure they collect good data, scientists develop and use a consistent procedure for all trials of their experiment.

Scientists and engineers do not decide on their procedure once and then stop. Instead they refine their procedure to make it more consistent and more precise. After collecting data they might consider ways to improve their procedure for their next experiment. They then collect data again, this time using the revised procedure.

Scientists also share their procedure with other scientists. Sharing procedures allows all scientists to learn from the work of others, and suggest improvements. This means that scientists work can be useful to other scientists in different cities, states, and countries.

Consistency Repeated adherence to the same principles, course of action, format, etc.: There is consistency in his pattern of behavior.

1.8 Reflect & Connect: Evaluate Solution to the Challenge