Bean-Bag Toss

Lab Activity

Adapted from activity conducted by Emile Bruneau, Postdoctoral Fellow, Saxe Lab, MIT.

Objective

To investigate and quantify different types of learning (implicit and explicit) in the context of a bean-bag toss game.

Materials (per team of 3 to 4 students)

A bucket or small trash can (empty & clean)

Several small beanbags (at least five)

Fresnel lens goggles

Masking tape (or dry erase marker, depending on floor surface)

Tape measure or Meter stick

Scissors

Pencils

Transparent tape

Procedure: Part One

Form groups of three to four people and assign the following roles: Tosser, Coach, Counter / Retriever (if there are four people, split the last job among two people). All group members except the Tosser should meet with the teacher to get instructions on how to carry out the activity. The Tosser will only get specific and limited verbal instructions from the rest of the their team. This is important.

Set up the bucket ten feet away from the Tosser, preferably in a spot away from other groups and against a wall. Place a small piece of masking tape on the ground where the Tosser will stand during this exercise. This mark should be at least 2 meters, and no more than 4 meters from the bucket.

Have the Tosser practice tossing beanbags into the bucket until they successfully get five bags in the bucket. (These do not have to be in a row, just five total.) The Coach should hold the beanbags and hand them to the Tosser as needed. The Counter should silently and unobtrusively count and record how many tosses are made and on which tosses the bag goes in the bucket (as indicated on data collection sheet). The Retriever’s glorious job is to collect the tossed beanbags when the Tosser runs out so the tossing can continue with minimal interruption.

Procedure: Part Two

Now, have the Tosser put the goggles on and try tossing a beanbag into the bucket again. Did they make it in? ______If not, have the Tosser keep trying to get the bean bags in the bucket until they get five bean bags in the bucket successfully. The Retriever should take careful note of where the first beanbag lands and when they go to collect all the beanbags for the first time, unobtrusively put a small piece of masking tape on the spot where that first beanbag landed. The Coach should be sure to calmly and repeatedly instruct the Tosser to “aim for where you see the bucket” each time and should ensure that the Tosser throws rapidly without over-thinking the tosses. The counter should count and record the tosses as before, taking note of which tosses go in the bucket, and stopping the Tosser when they get five bags in the bucket.

Once the Tosser gets at least five bean bags in the bucket with the goggles on, have them remove the goggles and try again to get the bean bags in the bucket. The Coach should continue to remind them to aim for where they see the bucket and the Counter should count and record the tosses and the Retriever should once again take note of and unobtrusively mark where the first bean bag lands. Did the Tosser get the first one in? If not, have them keep trying until they do, aiming for the bucket each time. When the Tosser gets five bags in the bucket, the Retriever should then measure the distance of each of the two tape marks from the middle of the bucket and record them on the data sheet. Also note what side of the bucket the “with goggles” and “without goggles” tape marks are located.

Q1.When you put the goggles on and threw your first beanbag toward the bucket, where did the beanbag go?

______

Q2.What happened as you threw more and more beanbags with the goggles on? Was there any pattern to your successive throws?

______

Q3.When you removed the goggles and then threw the beanbag, where did it go?

______

Q4.Was there any pattern to your successive throws after removing the goggles?

______

Procedure: Part Three

Now the team will do the same activity, but with a twist on the Coach’s instructions. The Coach especially should read the directions below carefully.

Repeat steps 4 and 5 as before with this change: The Coach should instruct the Tosser to take their time and do their best to get the bag in the bucket on their very first try. The Coach should instruct the Tosser to think about how they can increase the accuracy of their throw when they are tossing the bean bag. The Counter should record the number of tries it takes the Tosser to get a total of one and also a total of five bean bags in the bucket, both with and then without the goggles.

Data Sheet

Toss Tally – Put a slash for every missed toss, but fill in the box if the toss goes in

Part One

With goggles

Without goggles

Part Two

With goggles

Without goggles

Part Three

With goggles

Without goggles

Class Data: Number of tosses needed to get beanbags in the bucket

Group / Part One / Part Two, number of tries needed / Part Three, number of tries needed
Without Goggles, Five in / With Goggles, One in / With Goggles, Five in / Without Goggles, One in / Without Goggles, Five in / With Goggles, One in / With Goggles, Five in / Without Goggles, One in / Without Goggles, Five in
AVG.

Distance of First Bean Bag from Bucket

Part TwoWith Goggles: ______Part ThreeWith Goggles: ______Without Goggles: ______Without Goggles: ______

Data Analysis

Carefully cut out the strip of each toss tally, being very careful not to remove the part that says what the tally is (for example, “Part I with goggles).

Line up your strip with the strips from the same trial for each of the other groups:

Part One

Grp. 1With goggles

Grp. 2With goggles

Grp. 3With goggles

Grp. 4With goggles

Etc.

Look at the filled inn boxes that indicate that the shot went into the bucket.

Can you see a pattern in the results from Part One with goggles? ______