April 28, 2017
by John Frassinelli
Having first seen a “drinking bird” in elementary school myself, I had never forgotten it. Our teacher, I think, had placed one on the windowsill. We had no air conditioning in those days, and the windows actually opened! Air circulated through the room, and that probably influenced the bird. I think it’s too bad that many classrooms are hermetically sealed these days, but we do what we can.
Recently I decided to introduce my first graders to my old friend, the Drinking Bird. I bought a few birds and fooled around with them, making sure each one would “drink” as it was supposed to. I learned that some birds need a bit of adjustment—their centers of mass might be too high or too low. But this is easily remedied by gently twisting the bird’s body and raising (or lowering) it on its metal clasp.
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Elementary level, energy, experiments, Physics | Tagged: DIY, Educational Innovations, elementary science, energy, experiments, fun experiments, hands-on activity, homeschool, PBL, PhBL, PhenoBL, phenomenon based learning, Physics, science, STEM, variables | 
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Posted by Donna Giachetti
April 4, 2017
Through the years, we’ve seen teaching trends come and go… but one thing hasn’t changed: students LOVE anything related to balloons and rockets. (So do we.) And when you’re talking about rockets, you’re talking about forces and motion!
Take a look at this free lesson on forces and motion. We’re using balloons as our rocket “engines” to power these simple cars. The activity is basic enough to work with younger students, and can easily be augmented for a more advanced group. This lesson invites all kinds of variations. You might say the sky’s the limit!
Click on the image below for a full-size, full-color PDF of this easy-to-implement forces and motion lesson. Enjoy!
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1 Comment | College level, Elementary level, energy, High School level, Middle School level, Physics | Tagged: Educational Innovations, energy, force, force and motion, homeschool, kinetic energy, newton, Newton's First Law, Newton's Second Law, Newton's Third Law, parent friendly, PBL, PhBL, PhenoBL, phenomenon based learning, Physics, science, STEM | Permalink
Posted by Donna Giachetti
April 4, 2017
Forces and motion are all around us. You might even say they make the world go ’round. In 1687 Isaac Newton attempted to explain the movements of everything in the universe—from a pea rolling on a plate to the position of the planets. It’s staggering to think about how much of our daily life involves some aspect of Newton’s Laws of Motion.
This is one science topic that can be easily approached by using examples from our collective life experiences. Starting a discussion about forces and motion with your students is easy. All you have to do is drop a feather… nudge a toy car forward… pull open a door.
We’ve put together a collection of interesting topics and interactive games that you can use to get a conversation going with your students. Let us know what you think in the comments below!
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Leave a Comment » | College level, Elementary level, energy, High School level, Middle School level, Physics | Tagged: Educational Innovations, energy, force, force and motion, homeschool, kinetic energy, newton, Newton's First Law, Newton's Second Law, Newton's Third Law, parent friendly, PBL, PhBL, PhenoBL, phenomenon based learning, Physics, science, STEM | Permalink
Posted by Donna Giachetti
April 4, 2017
No matter what grade you teach, at some point you will surely need to introduce your students to the three Laws of Motion developed by Sir Isaac Newton in 1687. His Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica took Newton two years to write and was the culmination of more than 20 years of thinking.
That was more than 300 years ago. Today, we live in the YouTube era. Videos allow us to quickly summarize important scientific concepts like forces and motion in dramatic ways that your students will understand and remember. We’ve gathered some excellent examples here. Enjoy!
If you find a video on forces and motion that you’d like to share with us, please leave a comment!
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Leave a Comment » | College level, Elementary level, energy, High School level, Middle School level, Physics | Tagged: Educational Innovations, energy, force, force and motion, homeschool, kinetic energy, newton, Newton's First Law, Newton's Second Law, Newton's Third Law, parent friendly, PBL, PhBL, PhenoBL, phenomenon based learning, Physics, science, STEM | Permalink
Posted by Donna Giachetti
April 4, 2017
You can’t talk about forces and motion without talking about Isaac Newton. His three Laws of Motion were published more than 300 years ago, and yet their basic concepts—inertia, acceleration, momentum, and mass—are still the standard for how we discuss forces and motion today. The laws may have been refined over the years (most famously by Einstein) but they still reign as incontrovertible scientific laws. We couldn’t send the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit without Newton.
While there may not be much NEW about Newton’s Laws, there is still plenty to say about how they affect the world around us. Read on for some interesting news reports related to forces and motion. Let us know if you find an article you’d like us to post!
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Leave a Comment » | College level, Elementary level, energy, High School level, Middle School level, Physics | Tagged: Educational Innovations, energy, force, force and motion, homeschool, kinetic energy, newton, Newton's First Law, Newton's Second Law, Newton's Third Law, parent friendly, PBL, PhBL, PhenoBL, phenomenon based learning, Physics, science, STEM | Permalink
Posted by Donna Giachetti
