Snail Race

Summary

In this activity, students see which snail goes the farthest in the shortest amount of time. Students reflect on what may make a snail move more quickly or more slowly.

Materials

You need: - healthy snails - enough for each group of three to have their own snail - a place for the snails to live when not being raced - snail food/water - ruler (or measuring tape) - long sheets of paper (for example, butcher paper) - stop watch - pencils - paper to record the results - digital scale (to weigh the snails)

Background for Teachers

This is for a science fair project. Remember, when working with living things, we must be careful to protect the snails and provide them with what they need to live: food, water, shelter.

Student Prior Knowledge

It's helpful if kids know how to use a ruler.

Intended Learning Outcomes

Students should be able to reason that certain individual snails move more quickly than others. This could be due to the snail's motivation, age, or weight.

Instructional Procedures

1. Students are instructed on how to treat snails kindly. 2. If needed, students are instructed on how to use a metric ruler. (I recommend using cm for this activity.) 3. Teacher models the entire experiment. (See steps 6 through 9) 4. Students are placed in groups of 3. 5. Students are given snails, butcher paper, pencils, and rulers. 6. Put an x on the butcher paper where your snail will start. 7. Time one minute. 8. Mark where your snail ends. 9. Measure the distance between where the snail started and ended. 10. Discuss: What went well? What did you learn about the snails? What could we do to make this a better lab? Did all the snails go at the same rate? Why? (At this point, you can weigh the snails to see if weight affects speed.)

Strategies for Diverse Learners

Pair stronger students with students who are weaker. For stronger students, have them measure the snails' trails by using string.

Extensions

Snail by Giovanni Caviezel (Illustrator) Slow Snail by Mary Murphy

Assessment Plan

Students will be assessed by the following: 1 point - staying on task 1 point - treating the snails nicely 1 point - mark where the snail starts 1 point - mark where the snail ends 1 point - attempt to measure the distance between the marks Total: 5 points

Bibliography

education.com