Supervise your 4th graders as they carry out this simple and interesting experiment into the dynamics of bouncing balls at different air pressures. Your youngsters will need a clear area near a wall with a flat surface, such as a corner in the school gymnasium. Instruct young scientists to affix 2-meter sticks end-on-end on the wall before placing a video camera on a tripod directly opposite the meter sticks. Then set up a stepladder next to the meter stick so they can drop a basketball and a soccer ball from the same height, such as 2 meters. Have students record the entirety of the experiment as they adjust the air pressure of the two balls using an air pressure gauge and a sports ball pump. Students should review the footage to work out how high the two balls bounced, and continue the experiment until neither ball bounces.
Fourth grade students can conduct this simple experiment that tests the effect of a person's angle and position to a basketball hoop to the success rate of shooting hoops. Set up a basketball rack next to the free throw line and instruct each participant tol throw the ball from knee-level, the chest and above the head. Get 10 shots from each of these positions. Your student should record how successful the participants are by marking tallies before comparing results from the different throwing positions.
Have your students select a sample of 20 from the 4th grade class to test in this experiment. Get the participants to drink one cup of water and sit sedentary for five minutes before you measure their resting heart rate. Have the participants then drink one cup of water and jump rope for five minutes before testing their heart rate. Finally, students should ask participants to drink one cup of a sports drink and jump rope for five more minutes before testing the participants' heart rates once more. Instruct your experimenting students to compare the results for all of the participants when drinking water and sports drink before exercise to see if there is any link between sports drinks and heart rate.
Fourth grade science experiments involve some health and safety concerns. As students will commonly be performing the experiments on other members of the 4th grade class, you should send out a permission slip to get approval from the youngsters' parents. Furthermore, you must supervise students closely and, where necessary, help students during experiments, such as dropping the ball from a stepladder. Sit your students down and talk them through the health and safety implications of the sports science experiments before young scientists start any investigations.