Last month, we began our unit on Force and Motion. This is always an fun unit and I love watching the children learn how things move.
First, we began the unit by dancing! We did some dancing and then asked ourselves, "how did we make our body move?" Then, we brainstormed as many different movements as we could think of.
First, we began the unit by dancing! We did some dancing and then asked ourselves, "how did we make our body move?" Then, we brainstormed as many different movements as we could think of.
Our next research question was: Can objects move on their own? There was lots of discussion about this and our class was pretty split between yes and no. So we had to do some field research! The children collected data in our classroom and found lots of different objects in the room and they had to move them or watch them move in some way. Then we discovered... NO objects cannot move on their own!
I love showing the video for OK GO's This Too Shall Pass. A big team of engineers built a HUGE Rube Goldberg machine set to the music. If you haven't seen it - it's a must. Check it out here. We must have watched this at least 30 times by now!! The children were fascinated by how each movement caused a reaction to another movement. This led to our exploration of ramps!
During our ramp exploration, the children learned about gravity and how gravity is a force that pulls everything down towards the Earth. The children had to figure out how the angle of a ramp affects the movement of the ball. If the angle was too high, the ball would just go straight down. If it was too low, the ball wouldn't move at all. Then, for an even greater challenge, I taped a piece of string onto the ramp and they had to figure out how to make the ball stop at the end of the string. It was hilarious and fun to watch!! They were so determined and persevered through many attempts! They finally got it!! SUCCESS!
Next up was an Engineering Design Challenge using K'NEX. The challenge was: Can you design and create a vehicle using K'NEX that will move on the street and on the grass?
The children worked with a partner to plan their design. They had to collaborate, communicate, and persevere during this stage. It is hard to come up with just one plan when each partner had their own idea for the perfect vehicle! But they all did it! Next, they created their vehicles and then got to test and improve them. We made predictions about if the vehicle would move faster on the street or faster on the grass. Then they recorded their results. We had a discussion about why most of the vehicles moved better on the street. It was really fun to watch how excited they were to try out their vehicles.
The children worked with a partner to plan their design. They had to collaborate, communicate, and persevere during this stage. It is hard to come up with just one plan when each partner had their own idea for the perfect vehicle! But they all did it! Next, they created their vehicles and then got to test and improve them. We made predictions about if the vehicle would move faster on the street or faster on the grass. Then they recorded their results. We had a discussion about why most of the vehicles moved better on the street. It was really fun to watch how excited they were to try out their vehicles.
For the grand finale of this unit, we did the AMAZING LAUNDRY BASKET RACE!! I wish you all could have been there for this. The laughter, the excitement, and the joy was electric!! And, they were learning too!
Children were partnered up and they had to come up with a team name. Then, they had to come up with their roles - who was going to push and pull the basket, and who was going to ride in it? Again, they had to use those collaboration and communication skills and they were successful once again.
We went down to the gym with all the supplies in hand. Flags for the starting and finish line, the iPads to take pictures and to time the races, and of course the laundry basket! Finally it was time to begin. Each team pulled and pushed their way across the finish line while another student timed them and other students took pictures. We recorded our times for each race. At the end of the race, we discovered that, according to the data we collected, pulling was the stronger force. What an amazing way to finish off this unit!! I hope they will always remember the AMAZING LAUNDRY BASKET RACE of 2017!