Newton's Laws of Motion!

Hannah, Lynn, Katelin

We represented Newton's second law by using the mathematical equation, F = ma, to find the force of the object.

We had to, first, weigh the object and then convert it to kilograms in order to find the mass.

296g = .296 kg

After finding the mass we used the equation to find the force of the object.

F = ma
F = .296 (10)
F -= 2.95 N

We used a spring scale to check our work.

The spring scale hit at about three, meaning we were pretty close in our calculations.

Next we used a battery charged car and a spring scale to measure the force of the car when it has another force acting up on it.

The scale moved between 3 and 3.5. Since the car has acceleration and is using force to move forward, the spring in the scale also moves back and forth because it is also exerting force on the object. When the car uses force to pull the spring to 3.5 that is showing more force and more acceleration.

We then proved Newton's laws of motion using marbles.

Newton's First Law: An object at rest will stay at rest unless acted about by an outside force.

The marbles stay at rest, unless acted on by an outside force, in this case, another marble.

Newton's Second Law: With more mass an object will have less acceleration or force.

This is an example of two objects of different masses in free fall. Even though one marble has more mass than the other marble, they should hit the ground at the same time because the acceleration of an object in free fall is 10 m/s.

Newton's third law: When an object exerts a force on another object the force is equal.

Since the larger marble has a bigger mass it effects the velocity of the smaller object, making it shoot in the opposite direction.

Lastly we proved Newton's laws using Newton's Cradle.

Newton's first law:

An object at rest will stay at rest...

Unless acted upon by an outside force.

Newton's Second Law: With more force there is more acceleration.

With the force of the first hit, it makes the other side shoot out, showing the acceleration of the object by using force from the first hit.

Newton's Third Law: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction

This shows the action of the first ball hitting the others and making the other end shoot out. They hit back and forth showing the equal and opposite reaction on each side. We slowed the video down so we could see the equal force on each object. We know they have equal force because the first ball goes out the same distance as the opposite ball.

How do we maintain creativity?

This article was actually very interesting to me. I never thought of the concept of "teaching to imitate." I found that statement to be very correct though after reading about the research presented. For example, one experiment used a toy that played music and a set of kids were told how to work the toy. This showed that kids will only imitate what their teacher tells them to do, but they really aren't learning how to solve the problem. I also agree that this method of teaching refrains from creative thinking because we all are trained to do things the way society and school administration wants us to, like the blog was saying, they give us rules to follow and if we don't follow them we are disobedient and obnoxious. In order to get kids to truly learn, teachers have to open their views up and let the students explore and ask questions, and actually get things wrong. This way, students can learn from their errors and come up with better, and quicker solutions. Like in the same experiment mentioned earlier, another group that had the toy were not told how to make it play music, but they found a quicker solution than the ones who were told how to make it sound. Not only proving that kids can discover quicker methods to things, but also that once kids know the answer they won't attempt more options. This article made some very strong and good points.

As a learner, I can completely relate to what this blog talks about. I'm so used to being told what to do and how to do problems that if I am put in a position where I have to figure everything out myself it is extremely challenging. However, when I actually discover something out for myself, I feel much more accomplished and I learn. I remember the concepts of the problem or lesson because I had to really think and explore, rather than just listen and copy. I would have liked to gain better critical thinking and creativity skills as a child, but I grew out of that, and those skills are extremely difficult to just get back.

This impacts me as a teacher because I am now inspired to help my future students become creative and have a strong skill of problem solving without having to lean on adults. I think that, like the blog suggested, all teachers should allow these methods of questioning and exploration in their classroom with their students at a younger age. This way, when kids still have their grand imagination, they don't lose that creativity and yearning for more discovery. It's very important for kids to want to explore and find answers for themselves, and being a college student that got sucked out of that and now regrets it, I want the best for generations to come. So, when I get into teaching, I will take those tips from the blog, such as asking kids what they think the answer is and engaging with a kid on their level, and use them to expand the brains and creativity in my students.