Karin

>
> But - don't you realize that while you were doing that experiment
something
> else was missed? There is ALWAYS something else they'd be doing if you
hadn't
> made them do what you wanted them to do. Inertia would have come up some
> other time, some other place. My kids probably know more interesting
things
> to say about it than I do <G>. I never planned an "inertia" experiment for
> them, to make sure they knew about it. I took them to science museums
though.
> But even THERE I didn't make sure they learned about inertia. They could
have
> gone to the same science museum 20 times and ignored that topic altogether
> because they were busy with other stuff. EVEN THEN it would have come up
> someplace else. For sure. Some time. MAYBE NOT UNTIL THEY ARE 20 years
old,
> though. No guarantees that there won't be "gaps." I'm just not all that
> worried about gaps. EVERYBODY has them - it doesn't matter.
>
> --pamS



Ummm.....speaking of gaps.
I'm 37 and I don't know that I have *learned* about inertia yet.
Maybe it was covered in a chapter in school and I gave a right answer on a
test or something.
But I've never specifically done an inertia experiment, just for the sake of
doing it, or for the sake of exposing my kids to it.
I suppose it will come up sooner or later, and maybe now that *inertia* has
come up in subject, I'll do a search on it to find out what it really is.
You see, I never thought about it before now!

Everybody has gaps with one thing or another. Even the most knowledgeable
person in the world doesn't know EVERYTHING. So I'm not concerned that I
can't or won't expose my kids to every little fact out there. I'm just happy
to help them learn about things that interest them and help them make
connections about things they do know.

Karin

Karen

My kids are 11 and 5. I was lousy in physics in school. This is how I've
explained inertia so far (it's probably all they'll need to know unless they
specialize.)

Newton's Laws of Physics

First Law: An object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion
tends to stay in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless
acted upon by an unbalanced force.

"Your sister will keep playing quietly unless you go in there and throw her
Barbies around. Stop messing with her equilibrium."

Second Law: Acceleration depends on the net force acting on the object as
well as the mass of the object.

"I know she jumps higher if you pinch harder. Stop doing it anyway."

Third Law: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

"Well of course she hit you back. What did you expect?"

Oh, I suppose I could use golf balls and ping pong balls and inclined planes
for all this, but IMO, physics applies to human relationships just as well!
And while this is slightly tongue in cheek, it really is how I've explained
the three laws to my son. This way, he grokked it. Later, if he's
interested, we can do the experiments.

Right now, he's fascinated by friction. He thinks it would be neat if he had
frictionless skates. That led to a discussion of gravity, and space, and the
three laws, and acceleration, and on and on.

Since my daughter is the youngest and doesn't have anyone to pick on, I
guess she'll be at a learning disadvantage here... ;)

Karen


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[email protected]

In a message dated 5/9/02 9:20:36 AM, curtkar@... writes:

-=-Everybody has gaps with one thing or another. Even the most knowledgeable
person in the world doesn't know EVERYTHING. -=-

True!!

<< But I've never specifically done an inertia experiment, just for the sake
of
doing it, or for the sake of exposing my kids to it. >>

I slammed the brakes on once to show Marty what could happen if he didn't use
a seatbelt. I did it on our street, and with him behind a padded seat.


We've closed our sliding van door by warning kids to hold on and then putting
the brakes on.

I don't know if it was a lesson, or it was just for fun and convenience (so
that I didn't have to park, get out, walk around, close the van door). Now
that the kids are older, they want to wear seatbelts and they're all able to
close the door easily. When they were littler sometimes they could get in
their carseats or seatbelts, but couldn't close the side door on the big Ford
van we had.

The spirally vortex-plastic coin collecting things at the zoo and the museum
here (my vocabulary is great, huh??) where the coins go around and finally
down the hole is a cool physics toy.

Playing red-light, green-light or freeze tag or swing a statue gives kids the
knowledge that they couldn't "stop on a dime" without moving. So does roller
blading, and it's more than just reaction time.

Sandra

Karin

>
> << But I've never specifically done an inertia experiment, just for the
sake
> of
> doing it, or for the sake of exposing my kids to it. >>
>
> I slammed the brakes on once to show Marty what could happen if he didn't
use
> a seatbelt. I did it on our street, and with him behind a padded seat.
>

I've done this!


>
> We've closed our sliding van door by warning kids to hold on and then
putting
> the brakes on.


This too!

>
> The spirally vortex-plastic coin collecting things at the zoo and the
museum
> here (my vocabulary is great, huh??) where the coins go around and finally
> down the hole is a cool physics toy.

We LOVE watching things go down the spirally vortext-plastic thing!
At the science center, zenmomma's Casey spent about 10 minutes feeding
marbles into one, over and over. :-D


>
> Playing red-light, green-light or freeze tag or swing a statue gives kids
the
> knowledge that they couldn't "stop on a dime" without moving. So does
roller
> blading, and it's more than just reaction time.
>
> Sandra
>

So THIS is inertia?? THIS is physics?? Wow. I never knew.
Guess I *have* done interia experiments with my kids, then. <g>

Karin

[email protected]

In a message dated 5/9/02 7:46:06 PM, curtkar@... writes:

<< So THIS is inertia?? THIS is physics?? Wow. I never knew.
Guess I *have* done interia experiments with my kids, then. <g> >>

I always say most of what's learned in school is just vocabulary. As long as
kids have played with stuff and are aware of their muscles and getting the
idea about bones, and have paid attention to what's happening when they're
sick, and examined their sores and owies, have counted and measured and
gambled and joked and done parodies, then later when you want to talk about
force, vector, anatomy, white blood cells, infection, bookkeeping, odds and
statistics, tests and measures, rhyme, pun, satire... all you're doing is
giving them names for things they already know.

FIRST play, goof, sing, guess, and THEN later (years later maybe) when the
term comes up and you really KNOW this kid you can say "Like shutting the van
door by slamming on the brakes."

Sandra