Juggling Gravity
Lesson Plan (adaptable)
Teacher: Mz.K
Date: 07/Nov/2015
Overview & Purpose
Juggling has always fascinated me.
After the challenge of learning to keep three balls in the air I wanted to do whatever I could to be a better juggler. In doing so I discovered how mathematics and physics applied to the juggling techniques I was learning. The goal of this lesson is to use juggling to illustrate some basic principles of Gravity to students, then provide a context for discussion afterwards.
BC Education Standards (Grade 6)
Core Competencies:
Materials Needed
“What goes up must come down…”
Gravity is the force that pulls everything back down to earth. Gravity also keeps the moon going around the earth and the earth going around the sun. Luckily for jugglers (and rocket scientists), the force is always the same and predictable.
In simple terms, this means that if you drop an object, it will continue to speed up as it falls. Not only that, it will speed up at the same rate, no matter how big or heavy the object is.
Also, if you throw an object up, it will slow down at the same rate. That means it takes just as much time going up, as does to come back down to where it started.
Of course you hardly ever throw something exactly straight up. Most objects travel through the air going across as well as up and down. The curved path is a shape called a parabola. A common place to see a parabola is the path water takes flowing from a water fountain. The shape of a juggling throw is a parabola.
Draw parabola on the board.
Key terms:
Activity (15 mins)Break out the juggling balls or scarves. Progress and scaffold with the children at their level towards a 3 ball cascade. Remind them to think about the Gravity and other forces that are being exerted on the balls.
Questions to be answered:
What is the difference between a heavier ball and a lighter ball? Do you think they fall at the same or a different rate?
With your partner, define Gravity, and draw a parabola. Design an experiment to test your hypothesis to the above questions. Record your results and share your finding with the class.
Summation (5 mins): Review concepts presented. Facilitate a discussion about their findings.
Verification
Steps to check for student understanding
http://www.scienceofjuggling.com/studyguide.html
Teacher: Mz.K
Date: 07/Nov/2015
Overview & Purpose
Juggling has always fascinated me.
After the challenge of learning to keep three balls in the air I wanted to do whatever I could to be a better juggler. In doing so I discovered how mathematics and physics applied to the juggling techniques I was learning. The goal of this lesson is to use juggling to illustrate some basic principles of Gravity to students, then provide a context for discussion afterwards.
BC Education Standards (Grade 6)
Core Competencies:
- Communication
- Thinking
- Personal/Social
- Newton’s three laws of motion describe the relationship between force and motion.
- Balanced and Unbalanced Forces
- Force of Gravity
- Questioning and Predicting
- Planning and Conducting
- Processing and Analyzing data and information
- Evaluating
- Applying and Innovating
- Communicating
- I have a basic understanding of the force of Gravity
- I know what a parabola is and can draw one.
- I can practice my juggling skills.
Materials Needed
- Juggling balls
- Handouts
“What goes up must come down…”
Gravity is the force that pulls everything back down to earth. Gravity also keeps the moon going around the earth and the earth going around the sun. Luckily for jugglers (and rocket scientists), the force is always the same and predictable.
In simple terms, this means that if you drop an object, it will continue to speed up as it falls. Not only that, it will speed up at the same rate, no matter how big or heavy the object is.
Also, if you throw an object up, it will slow down at the same rate. That means it takes just as much time going up, as does to come back down to where it started.
Of course you hardly ever throw something exactly straight up. Most objects travel through the air going across as well as up and down. The curved path is a shape called a parabola. A common place to see a parabola is the path water takes flowing from a water fountain. The shape of a juggling throw is a parabola.
Draw parabola on the board.
Key terms:
- Gravity: the force that attracts a body toward the center of the earth, or toward any other physical body having mass.
- Parabola: a symmetrical open plane curve formed by the intersection of a cone with a plane parallel to its side. The path of a projectile under the influence of gravity ideally follows a curve of this shape.
Activity (15 mins)Break out the juggling balls or scarves. Progress and scaffold with the children at their level towards a 3 ball cascade. Remind them to think about the Gravity and other forces that are being exerted on the balls.
Questions to be answered:
What is the difference between a heavier ball and a lighter ball? Do you think they fall at the same or a different rate?
With your partner, define Gravity, and draw a parabola. Design an experiment to test your hypothesis to the above questions. Record your results and share your finding with the class.
Summation (5 mins): Review concepts presented. Facilitate a discussion about their findings.
Verification
Steps to check for student understanding
- I understand Gravity and can write the definition down.
- I can draw a parabola on my paper.
- I can practice my juggling skills.
http://www.scienceofjuggling.com/studyguide.html
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