Week 5

     This week in lab we started by discussing graphing. Often I think of graphing to be a topic covered during math, however, its applications to science are just as impactful for young learners. The first step in helping young learners graph is teaching to properly label and understand the different aspects of the graph such as x axis, y axis and data points. To practice graphing we plotted the experiment from last weeks pendulum lab. I plotted the number of swings in 15 seconds for a longer string and shorter string. This illustration would be very helpful for young learners as it clearly showed that the number of swings stayed consistent for the given string distance, however it also illustrated that the number of swings increased as the string got shorter.

    Next we approached the big question for the week. Again thinking back to the question of how can we support kids play that is safe and exciting, this week we focused on playground surface. What is the best surface for kids to fall on and not get hurt? To find this out we took part in an egg drop activity. We had to create a landing surface in our bowls that would prevent an egg from breaking from 1 meter and 2 meters. For our first 1 meter drop, we used a base layer of sand topped with straw. Our egg cracked slightly on the 1 meter fall. To make our landing surface safer for the egg, we added another layer of sand on top of the straw. From a 2 meter fall, our egg did not break. The extra layer of sand reduced the force of the egg and prevented it from breaking. The egg slowed down more gradually as it hit the bowl, causing less bounce and more absorption from the surface we created. This is a great activity to help kids understand force and acceleration. Thinking back to the big question, it would help kids understand that the best surface for kids to fall on would be one that absorbed as much force as possible and didn't allow them to quickly bounce off the surface.