The craziness keeps coming! With Willy Wonka arriving tomorrow, I have seen the walls around me come pinching in pretty tight. The 7th grade students have been tremendous in helping me battle my anxiety that grows heavier with each passing day.
To keep it simple, today in class...we will be reading two articles from our textbook. One is about flight and what materials would be chosen to create a human powered flying machine. The students will start to investigate why materials are chosen...based on weight, flexibility, strength, etc. We will then read an article about a bicycle and it's many parts...again focusing on why a bike is made of various materials.
Both of these articles lend themselves nicely to the project that I discussed on the previous post.
With the time remaining in class, we will watch a new Discovery Channel show called Unchained Reaction, a show in which two teams who have similar materials to choose from, must make a series of mechanisms that will play out like dominos to create a vivid display of engineering and art. It's a fantastic show that I just learned of, and it is hosted by Jamie and Adam from Mythbusters.
The show does a great job of reinforcing the ideas from simple machines and forces units from the first two marking periods, but it is also showing the students that the competing teams are looking at materials that are best suited to meet their goal. Again, why are materials chosen? Strength, weight, flexibility, tension, etc.?
Speaking of Willy Wonka...Thursday, Friday, and Saturday...all shows at 7:00. Tickets are $10, and children 6 and under are free! Hope to see you there...will be a great show!
Take care.
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