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.