Science in Motion Observations

February 23, 2010

Today I observed a lesson plan taught by Andrea Elledge.
She discussed what a blueprint was and what it was used for.
She asked students to use words to describe what their perfect design for a car was based on their blueprint.
Students built standard vehicles with specific parts.
It was amazing to see how some of the students finished quickly, and how long it took others. Ms. Elledge explained to me that most of the students who were "book smart" and made above average grades seemed to be the ones who could not figure out the designs very quickly. She also pointed out that this made her relate with struggling readers. These designs were hard for some of the students to wrap their heads around and piece together.
This was a connection to if you would buy one of the cars designed? Not if the wheel was falling off like some of the cars!
This lesson caused students to ask questions about parts, or "would this work, too?"


February 25
I observed students using blocks/loads to see how fast their car would go. They added washers for each trial, and allowed cars to move slowly, then more quickly, then fast respectively according to how many washers were attached. They were supposed to keep up with the rate each time, and record their observations, however, several groups were so excited to see what would happen when they added the next washer that they forgot to record anything, and had to do the experiment all over again.