AboutDan Fink Expertise Though my experience is mostly in the fields of electricity, magnetism, and physics, I have a broad science background. My career is in the field of alternative power sources -- solar, wind, water and battery power. But any questions about electricity, magnetism, energy conservation, power generation, electric motors, and even general physics are very welcome--especially from kids. They ask the best questions of all! I pride myself in answering science questions accurately, with ideas for SAFE, easy experiments that kids can perform by themselves--and that let them prove the answers to their own satisfaction. I think science should be fun, and available to everyone, regardless of age.
Experience I have volunteered in our local public schools for 5 years. I currently make presentations at our schools about electricity and magnetism, with a focus on solar, wind, water and other alternative power sources. I try to demonstrate at our schools how easy it is to make electricity, with simple devices using spinning magnets and coils of wire--powered by wind, water, bicycles, gerbils...etc. And of course solar panels! I am the webmaster of Otherpower.com, an alternative energy website. I have lived 10 miles from the nearest power pole for 11 years--I make all my own electricity from scratch with sun, wind and water.
Expert: Dan Fink Date: 3/17/2008 Subject: physics experiments at indoor play centers
Question QUESTION: Hi Dan -- your background and expertise are impressive, thanks for sharing with others. Like you, I am interested in teaching kids in a fun, interactive (hands on) setting. Am considering opening an indoor play center with inflatables that might be great vehicles for kids age 4-12 to conduct experiments. My questions:
1) which inflatables would lend themselves best to physics experiments for this age group? Popular ones include slides, bouncing arenas, climbing walls, and obstacle courses.
2) which concepts and experiments might be good ones? (any suggestions or links to sites would be helpful)
Thanks in advance for your reply.
Best regards,
Ameet Kotak
Chicago land area, IL
ANSWER: Hello Ameet.
This is actually a very difficult question! I'm only going to be able to offer some basic observations for you, and you'll have to get REALLY creative. To begin with though, it sounds like a very fun idea, and I've never heard of anything like it!
- inflatables should be fun for all kids in that age range. However, you'll need to separate the ages out drastically. A difference of 2 grade levels is huge as far as a physics curriculum goes. And, each 1-2 grade levels are supposed to build a knowledge base that is used for the next 1-2 grade levels.
- I'd say your first step is a good physics curriculum. Your best resources online are going to be websites for home schoolers. The difficulty will be determining what's appropriate for the different age ranges, and what's over their head. I don't have any recommendations for specific websites on this--there are so many out there, and most are both excellent and free.
- you might consider hiring a working science teacher as a consultant. Since you'll be spending thousands on the inflatables anyway, that could be huge for you, and you'll have a great resource for determining what experiment is right for what grade level.
Here's a short and sweet physics curriculum, with some basic ideas. Younger kids learn the basics of it, and older kids keep expanding on it all the way through high school, college, and beyond:
ALL goals would apply to kids of ALL ages, but at a different level of understanding (if you get what I mean). (the electricity parts wouldn't apply, but all the Newtonian stuff would).
Probably the most important science concept is #1, scientific inquiry. Don't just send the kids out to bounce around; instead develop a concept, ask a question, and have the kids try to figure out what the answer is, and why. THEN -- they get to bounce around to prove or disprove it!
For example -- with the double slide inflatable. Get 2 willing kids of different size, and weigh them. Question: going down the slide, which kid gets to the bottom first? Why? Weight, size, friction of clothing?
Then see if the theory the kids come up with is true or not. Which, of course, will take multiple runs down the slide (darn!). What happens if you do it with balls instead of kids?
How about the same one jumping off the climbing wall? Same problem, but now friction isn't included. Again, is there a difference with balls and kids (yes -- AIR friction affects the balls, but doesn't affect the kids as much. Terminal velocity, etc.)
Then there's wave motion....will a kid jumping off the wall to the floor bounce another kid on the other side of the castle in the air? Why?
When you take one bounce and stop jumping, how many times do you bounce up and down and how high? What happens to that energy (why don't you keep bouncing up to the same height?). (short answer -- the energy is lost as heat).
Circular motion? A rope with knots and 2 kids going in circles....what happens if one kid lets go? (safe, thanks to the inflatable!)
The possibilities are limitless, and I've just scratched the surface. You are in for lots of research, and I do highly recommend hiring a teacher who can separate the different concepts into grade levels for you.....that will be the most important and most difficult part of the whole project.
Feel free to ask more questions; again, I just scratched the surface here.
DAN
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---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Dan -- I really appreciate your reply. I got so engrossed in the details, I forgot to say thank you! I also appreciate the opportunity to ask follow up questions...since I tend to ask lots of questions, I may take you up on that.
In the meantime, take care. And again, thanks!
By the way, are you interested in providing consulting type services to help me determine the right kinds of experiments/activities?
Regards,
Ameet
Answer Not a problem Ameet -- happy to help. I'm generally too swamped at work to be available as a consultant unless the project is related to wind turbines (my job). But you can always contact me thru Allexperts, and my main email address is: danbob (at) otherpower (dot) com
and I'll try to help.
DAN
