Use conservation of moment of inertia to calculate the mix height after the collision.

Set up the equipment as shown.

Measure the mass of the meter stick is 86.4 gram and the the mass of the clay is 36.7 gram.

Release the meter from horizontal and video capture the clay's motion after the collision.  

The calculation of the the maximun hieight of the clay.

The date analyzed from the video shows the actual height is 0.47 m-0.20 m =0.27 m. Those data is close to our calculation. 0.47 m is the highest point and 0.20 m is the distance from floor to the bottom of the meter stick.