Changing Weight of the Pulley

Week of October 13

 

We brought back the pulley set up, this time with buckets tied to each end. The length was set so that when one side was pulled all the way down the other would be up over the height of the children and out of their reach. The children initially began by pulling the buckets to move each side. They were then given the challenge of moving the buckets without using their hands. Ms. Kilpatrick brought both buckets to the same level, then placed a bean bag in one bucket. She then let the bucket go and the children watched it fall to the ground as the other side went up. Their instinct was to grab the floor, but Ms. Kilpatrick asked how they could use the bean bags to bring the bucket down.  The children wanted to access the empty bucket. They would ask to be lifted so they could lace bean bags inside.

The children were then offered the challenge of balancing the pulleys without being lifted. Ms. Kilpatrick modeled taking bean bags out of the lower bucket. The children would then try the same. After trying this enough times a child would fill one bucket with bean bags and another child would attempt to grab the higher bucket.  Some children like Nicholas and Brady would immediately come to the full bucket and pull out all of the bean bags to get the higher bucket back down, while other children still wanted to pull on the strings to get the bucket down.  

I noticed how the children would hold onto both buckets once they were both within reach. They wanted to use both buckets, but recognized this was not possible once weight was added to either bucket. I wonder what the children would do if the ends of the pulley were separated more and the children could not reach both at one time. I a interested to see if this will help us to further our exploration of weight ‘s effect on the pulley since the children will only be able to manipulate one side of the pulley at a time

Exploring Weight with Balances

Week of October 6

After recognizing the effects of weight on the pulley set up I wanted to offer the children the opportunity to explore the concept of weight. I would eventually like the children to be able to change the weight of the pulley. At this point I took away the factor of the pulley so we can focus first on the up and down effects of weight in a moving system. I figured the balances will allow us to see this movement without the distraction of the pulley.

The children used bean bags to add weight to the buckets. Sara loaded one side of the bucket with bean bags. Reem watched and responded with “Oh no!” as she watched that bucket go down. Ms. Kilpatrick then pointed out how the other side of the balance was empty and added a bean bag. The children then helped to add more bean bags until this side was full and the balance was once again balanced.

Ms. Kilpatrick added a bean bag to one side of the balance. Zachary covered his mouth with his hands and exclaimed “Uh oh!” as he watched that side of the balance go down. He then placed a bean bag in the other side and balanced the balance once again. They repeated this process several times.

During this exploration the children were looking to once again create a sense of balance as they had with the pulley last week. During group time we worked together as a class to use our bean bags to balance the balance. Each child was given a bean bag and came up one at a time to choose a bucket to place their bean bag inside of. The children pointed out the up and down motion of the buckets and suggested which bucket the next bean bag should go into in order to balance out the buckets.

The children show an understanding of the up and down effects weight has on motion. Next week I want to bring back the pulley and allow the children the opportunity to explore this up and down motion and concept of balance on the large pulley.

Unbalanced Pulley

Week of September 29

I set up the same pulley in the same area of the classroom as last week. The only difference was that now one side of the pulley was heavier than the other. The children were curious upon seeing this pulley as to why the one side was not touching the floor. They explored ways of bringing the side down.

Reem pulled on the lighter side and walked backward until she found a spot where she could sit and hold the pulley. She recognized there was something different about this pulley which would not allow one side to touch the ground on its own, so she realized the only way to get it to stay down would be to anchor it.

   

When exploring the unbalanced pulley the children seemed to be focused on finding ways to fix the lighter side of the pulley. They wanted to figure out why it would not touch the ground and find ways to keep it down. The children are recognizing the impact of weight on the pulley. I would like to provide the opportunity for them to explore weight’s effect on the pulley by adding and taking away weight from the pulley.

Initial Pulley Investigation

Week of September 22

When beginning the semester we recognized an interest in movement among the children. Specifically the children seemed to find an interest in manipulating objects with capabilities to move. We brought out simple machines for the children to explore and one of the machines which created the most fascination was the pulley. The children were interested in watching the up and down motion of the pulley and  recognizing how their hands moved along with the pulley.

I wanted to recreate this pulley on a larger scale so the children could better see the movements. This larger pulley created more of a gross motor effort. The children would pull the one end of the pulley with their hands and once their hands were as low as they could go, the children would resort to squatting in order to bring the string lower to the ground. They quickly noticed this cause and effect of pulling one side and the other side going up.

The children tested different theories about the pulley. Some would pull the one side down and watch as the other side lifted above another child’s head. They would then release the pulley until the other side was just above that child’s head. Instead of letting the other child reach the pulley, they would then turn back and bring the pulley back up to the ceiling. They recognized how pulling and releasing the string had differing effects.

I plan to extend this learning by changing the weight of one side of the pulley. I am interested to see how the pulley being unbalanced  affects the way in which the children manipulate it.