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.