I am thinking that I would probably like to embed the ideas for this unit in other units, as well. These are fundamental principles, these Newtonian ideas… they cover many branches of science, and are actually somewhat difficult I find to really isolate.
I am looking over the ideas and resources that I have been collecting over these many weeks and wondering “now what?” I think that force requires the ideas of inertia and mass as well as motion. I haven’t even mentioned inertia before! I also think that measurement per se is probably going to be a real issue.
And another resource that just called me on the phone, my friend Chris R. (an artist and engineer), who offered some suggestions:
- real life example, a swing (pendulum) variable mass, solid lever on the pendulum (Not a string) [me: croquet mallet and ball?]
- soccer/kickball
- kinetic energy is greater for a greater mass at same velocity; convert kinetic energy to force is higher mathematics
- my question:
- ?do children understand momentum more than acceleration?
- distance + mass are two of the variables for force, missing only time
For the rest of this evening, I am getting the seminar prep out of the way. And ignoring the need to get the reference section of the paper pulled together properly.