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Since mid-January, the students in Young Kindergarten have been engaged in an exploration of ramps, wheels and axles, and gears. They have used LEGO Duplo pieces to construct vehicles, spinning tops, and mechanisms for launching both. Along the way the children have learned to follow printed building instructions, tested their creations, recorded performance, and applied to their own inventions a developing understanding of how components of a machine can work together. Below are a few videos and photos to give you a peek into what this looks like in our classroom.
IMG_0162.TRIM.MOVtoplaunchers.mov
The Young Kindergarten class recently read the book, Weslandia, by Paul Fleishman. It is the story of a boy who, through his own ingenuity, develops an alternative civilization out of a gardening project. The book and its themes of invention, creativity, and inclusion have become a regular part of the children's imaginative play and have inspired an exploration of design and construction during their time in the IDEA Lab.
dreaming UP, by Christy Hale, is another book that highlights the interrelationship of creative problem solving and play- in this case through the juxtaposition of images of famous architecture and the pillow forts, LEGO towers, sand castles, and other play structures familiar to children and families everywhere.
Below are some of the results of the students' initial experiments with a variety of construction materials and techniques. There are certainly more to come as they plan and create their own life-sized structures for use in the forest classroom.
Over the past few weeks, Young K students have been exploring the forces of push and pull. Above are some drawings of pushes and pulls labeled to show the direction of the force. From left to right: a robot hitting a wall (push) and then using a claw to pull it in the other direction, a rocket pushing up into space and against gravity's pull, and a child pushing a basketball up into the net while gravity pulls it back to earth.
Below: a few videos we made as a class to demonstrate pushing and pulling.
push1.movpush.movpull1.movpull2.mov
Students in Young K and Kindergarten started out the year in our IDEA Lab thinking about technology. When asked, "What is technology?" the children were quick to provide numerous examples of electronics- particularly computers, computer games, iPhones, iPads and other digital tools. The idea that a spoon could be an example of technology, however, came as a bit of a surprise.
In Gordon's Early Childhood and Lower School, students are introduced to the larger meaning of the word technology as defined by the Engineering is Elementary curriculum and website developed by the Museum of Science, Boston. Their child-friendly explanation of the term is as follows:
- Technology is something designed by human beings to help solve a problem or meet a need.
After reading the book, Spoon, students reflected on what problems a spoon would be good at solving- and other activities for which they are not well-designed. Some photos of their ideas are shown below.
If you are interested in exploring the question of what is and isn't technology with your child, there is a free, fun app for iOS devices created by the Museum of Science, Boston called "Technology Flashcards". Click HERE to find out more.
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