Keystone Weekly
volume 3, issue 27        April 15, 2002

This week's Key Points: *Kit Use: Levers and Pulleys (FOSS),* *Web Pick of the Week,* and *Awesome Science!*
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Kit Use Through a KSN Teacher's Eyes: Levers and Pulleys (FOSS)

Laura Schmalhofer kindly agreed to share her experiences with teaching FOSS's Levers and Pulleys kit, which is designed for fifth and sixth graders. Laura teaches sixth grade at Edward Hand Middle School in the School District of Lancaster.

In this kit, students explore mechanics and simple machines using levers and pulleys. They observe, measure, and diagram lever and pulley systems. They then relate the force needed to lift a load to the advantage resulting from the use of various lever and pulley systems.

Laura explains that this kit came to her as part of her mandated sixth grade science curriculum, having already been tried out with fifth graders at the elementary school and found to be a little too difficult for them. She says that her own sixth graders are about two grades below sixth grade skill-wise, so this kit proved to be challenging for her class as well.

Laura found the kit useful for conveying a lot of the significant science concepts, explaining "I think this helped definitely show levers, the classes [of levers], what they are used for, and pulleys and how they can all make work easier for us." Her students were excited by the kit activities, and she comments "Sometimes it is hard to keep them calm."

The kit wasn't difficult to set up, but did require some time. Laura details what she had to do: "First, for the levers, half meter sticks were included, but needed to be labeled for student use, rubber bands needed to be tied on spring scales, and weights (loads). Second, for the pulleys, the ropes needed to be cut and looped and taped to use. This was just a little time consuming."

She has very positive things to say about the Teacher's Guide, explaining, "It really spells out the concepts (in case we don't know), how to go about preparing, setting up, what information the students might need before starting. The teacher's guide is great. For the students, I like the worksheets and ideas they give. However, I had the students creating their own graphs and data charts rather than using the `canned' ones." Laura enjoys modifying the kit to make it a unique experience. "I like to do creative, `artsy' things with the students, so I always try to add my own flair to the lessons."

Laura discusses a time in which the students struggled with a concept that the kit was attempting to illustrate. "[When] we set up the lever more as a balance, the students had difficulty understanding it. They understood a lever better as something to lift a heavy object with. It was difficult for the students to understand the closer the load was to the fulcrum, it was easier to lift, when using the balance lever. It was much easier for them to understand this concept when a lever was used to move a load of books."

Some of Laura's colleagues complain about the materials that need to be replenished in the kits, but Laura was glad to find out that the consumable parts of Levers and Pulleys are not tricky to replace. She lists her consumables, and explains how she replaces them. "In this kit, the only things were duct tape (you can use masking tape from the school, just as easy), pencil cap erasers (another item the school supply closet can have), which you can do without because they disappear in student pockets, black binder clips (another thing schools can supply easily) and disappear in student pockets sometimes, and rubber bands (another school supply item) which BIG TIME can disappear if you are not careful!"

Laura thinks that all science teachers should try a kit or two with their classes, and is able to recommend Levers and Pulleys, commenting that "it is much easier to use than it appears. I also feel this is a weak area of science for me, so this has helped me teach better concepts to my students."

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Not only is Space Day a cool event, but the website's great too. There's an amazing amount of information that's appealing to adults and kids creatively offered through innovative web design. Click around, and encounter sections like Cosmic Recycler, which explores the many dead satellites and other humanmade junk that encircles our atmosphere and has the potential to create problems for future space endeavors. Or check out the rich activities centered around this year's Space Day theme, Adventure to Mars. If you're interested in getting involved in Space Day this year, visit the Teacher's Space section that offers links, connections to other activities in your area, access to space experts to help you along, interdisciplinary cooperative learning lessons, and a wealth of other resources.

One of the largest Pennsylvania Space Day events is Space Day 2002 at Penn State, University Park. Their event is free, interactive, and suitable for all ages, taking place this Saturday, April 20 from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. For more information about this event (which features workshops, curriculum ideas, and giveaways for educators, along with their many other offerings), visit http://www.psu.edu/spacegrant/spaceday/.

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Awesome Science!
Radar Pushes Limits of Asteroid Impact Prediction
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/releases/2002/release_2002_79.html

Thanks to refinements in technologies and calculations, NASA astronomers have identified a potential close encounter with Earth more than eight centuries in the future by an asteroid two-thirds of a mile wide. The asteroid will most likely miss colliding with Earth, but astronomers place the current risk of impact at about a one in 300 chance (at most), making this asteroid a greater hazard than any other known asteroid.

Learn more details through the link above.

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This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 9819641.
Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

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