JoinBlow-by-Blow Inquiry: Students use their minds and lungs in this engaging inquiry activity
To promote the spirit of science as inquiry, this article presents an engaging activity that capitalized on students’ interest in the homerun-hitting race between professional baseball players Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. Third-grade students were encouraged to challenge the first-grade students to a contest, not of hitting homeruns but of blowing cotton balls. As a result of this activity, students learned how to use inquiry to gain an understanding of force and motion and practiced science process skills such as measuring, graphing, and analyzing data.