Mystery Tube (Courtney Carpenter)

Author

Courtney Carpenter

Principles Illustrated

1. Cooperative Learning

2. Backward Thinking

3. Engineering

NGSS Standards

• ETS1.A: Defining and Delimiting Engineering Problems

• ETS1B: Developing Possible Solutions

• ETS1C: Optimizing the Design Solution

Questioning Script

Prior knowledge & experience:

Students have experience with general problem solving in everyday life, not necessarily in the classroom. Furthermore, they may not know the benefits of working with others to solve a problem.

Root question:

How to replicate mystery tube? Without looking inside the tube, how can we create a system that replicates the same mechanism?

Target response:

See Youtube video below (although there are other variations that can be correct as well).

Common Misconceptions:

- students think working alone is better than working in a group

- students tape one or both of the strings to locked positions and they cannot move

- etc.

Movies

Reference

Unknown speaker at a Science Teacher Convention had manufactured mystery tubes and had us do this activity as a group. I did not come up with any of these ideas on my own (except how to make the mystery tube out of household items).