Students in Ms. Signorelli’s fourth-grade class at Albany Avenue Elementary School put physics concepts to the test during an interactive experiment titled "Rockin' Race Cars." By launching toy vehicles down ramps at varying heights, the young researchers explored potential and kinetic energy, collisions, and energy transfer to determine how ramp height affects the total distance traveled.

Working in collaborative teams, students recorded precise measurements as they adjusted the ramp height from 3 inches to 6 inches. Data collected on classroom display boards revealed that doubling the ramp height nearly doubled the car’s distance, increasing runs from an average of 73 inches to over 133 inches. This hands-on lesson reinforced the scientific method by encouraging students to form hypotheses, gather accurate measurements, and analyze results together.