Playing And Transforming
By Ben Finio, Science Buddies on May 19, 2016
Play is closely associated with building multiple cognitive functions such as working memory, control of emotions and actions, building the ability to organize, focus, plan, strategize, prioritize, and initiate behavior. Play is not limited to childhood. It must be a lifelong experience.
This sample introductory activity requires students to build and effectively utilize a trebuchet to attain a group goal. The game requires students to consider force, and energy transfer as well as the shape of projectile motion. The activity requires students to organize words to make a poetic phrase. Multiple organizations of the words are possible.
My classroom is a transforming and flexible space, filled with closets of “toys” and supplies that define the Physics “playroom” for both my students and me. The space is appointed with numerous anachronistic remnants of distant and productive Physics labs of the past. Today, the blackboards and chalk are gone, replaced with whiteboards and dry erase markers that support the creative thinking and modeling of the current students. Unlike the set of rigid lab stations that dominated the space in the past, mobile desks constantly re-define the classroom shape, supporting the varied groups and wide-ranging discovery For this activity, I transform the classroom by arranging the students lab desks around the outside of the classroom, affording maximum flexibility in the central area for open-ended creative play and experimentation. In this context, hands-on learning becomes a social event, growing organically as students create and share models and diverse representations of their discoveries.
Students will need to play in teams, using a basic understanding of projectile motion to attain the words that will be placed in order to create one phrase from a well known poem where the the subject is a projectile.
Students will recognize this introductory activity as a playful opportunity to learn about projectile motion. While constructing the miniature trebuchet, students will need to think about the varied potentials for release of stored or potential energy. As they begin the competition, they will quickly learn how much force is needed to launch a table tennis ball to reach a specific destination. Students will need to fine-tune this skill in order to hit targets at different ranges
The piece of the game that may prove to be the most intriguing is the ordering of the words that are revealed through the process of the successful trebuchet launches. Some words will be recognizable as verbs, nouns, pronouns, adjectives or adverbs. Discussion of how to place the words in order will require teamwork and patience, both skills that can be developed in the process of play. The appreciation for the beauty of the the poem which does feature a projectile, may be enhanced by the requirement to consider each word. It is likely that Longfellow participated in this very process while considering the construction of the poem.The ultimate cooperation will be exercised when the lines of the poem are posted, and the groups will attempt to place the lines in order. This will require interaction from all the teams, and stretch the play to the concluding goal.
This introductory activity sets the stage for considering the interaction of poetry and motion. It is hoped that student will be motivated to find many examples of poems where motion is a key component of the poetic creation.
I like the kinesthetic aspect of this activity tied to the ability to organize a meaningful phase and then to order phrases in a poetic form. The activity requires students to create a model, a miniature trebuchet, that will lead students to consider stored potential energy, kinetic energy, velocity, acceleration and range. While the activity does not involve calculation, it does provide a qualitative opportunity to consider motion in two directions. Team building is also a benefit of this activity. Students will be required to utilize verbal skills to imagine an interaction of individual words that could be constructed to have a meaning, particularly in the context of projectile motion. The activity does not require any mandatory achievement, the activity is simply for fun. The making of the trebuchet is fun, and so is the employment of the toy in the game. There are no high stakes tests, no great and overwhelming responsibilities, only interaction with peers in the class in friendly competition. There is no success or failure for each participant, only the fun of playing and trying to make the table tennis ball land in the cup and to consider the possible ordering of a poetic phase, and finally a set of phrases. There is no thought of overarching pressure or deadlines while the students are gaining experience with both projectile motion and the structure of a poem. The tabulation of numbers for total launches just adds to the fun. As skills improve, time and experience will teach productive technique. The ultimate goal is simply to introduce a new poem, and to stimulate interest in trajectory and motion in two dimensions.
Introductory “Poetry In Motion” Game
For an introductory activity for my subject area, “The Poetry Of Motion,” I have created an engaging game for the students that requires a union of Motion In Two Directions and the poem “The Arrow and the Song” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
The game begins with the construction of trebuchets. The class will be divided into six teams (six lab groups). Each team must create their own trebuchet, employing the model posted below as a template. The center space of the classroom will be opened for competition as the lab desks are rolled to the outside perimeter of the space. A starting line is established. The trebuchet may not be activated beyond this line. In the field ahead of the line, each team will be assigned a set of colored cups. The initial task for each team will be to launch a table tennis ball to land in each of the cups. The cups are arranged in diverse distances from the starting line. There are six sets of cups, student teams will pick numbers from a cup to determine which set will be assigned to each team. (Some of the sets include fewer cups.)
When a launched table tennis ball successfully lands in a cup, the team then harvests one word from the poem. The words are written on sticky notes at the bottom of the cup, facing the floor and unrevealed until the successful shot is attained. Team members must follow an established launching rotation order and keep a count of the total number of launches, and also of the identity of the successful launchers. As the words for a phrase of the poem are revealed, the team attempts to be the first to order the words correctly to complete the phrase.
The ordered phrase will then be posted on Lino for all members of the class to view on the classroom Smartboard. The first group to successfully identify the correct order for their assigned group of words, creating one phrase from the poem, receives a ten point reduction in the total number of launching attempts. The next group receives a reduction of 8 points, with this pattern continuing downward until the reduction of 2 has been awarded.
Students may not employ any Internet reference while attempting to order the words. When all of the phrases have been posted to Lino, the first team to get the phrases in order and complete the poem receives an additional 10 point reduction to the team score. The order of finish will be established by total points.
Individual students and/or teams will receive candy or healthy snack awards for the following:
1) MVP for each team, awarded for the most successful launches to land in a cup
2) Team award for first to correctly place a phrase of the poem in proper order
3) Team award for first to identity the correct order of the lines of the poem
4) Team award for lowest score.
The instructor must be the referee for the game. The instructor must pre-set the cups. One member of each team must be assigned to keep track of the number of launches as well as the identity of each successful launcher. Two members of each team should be selected to retrieve the launched table tennis ball to return them to the trebuchet to be re-launched.
Key
“Arrow and the Song”
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
1) I shot an arrow into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where; (15)
2) For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its flight. (14)
3) I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where; (15)
4) For who has sight so keen and strong,
That it can follow the flight of song? (16)
5) Long, long afterward, in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroke; (12)
6) And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend. (16)
Students will use the following site as a model for trebuchet construction.
All supplies for this activity will be provided (including the table tennis balls).
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/build-a-mini-trebuchet/