D.I Outdoor challenges (WS06), Anna Ekblad

Abstract: The aim of the workshop is to give inspiration and ideas about how to use the surrounding neighbourhood when teaching young students science and technology and at the same time connect to the curriculum. We would like to give the participants in the workshop tasks that will trigger them to use the knowledge and experience they already have, in new ways, combining it with that of others by interacting within small groups. We start by making creating smaller groups from the big group, 4-6 persons in each group.

The task this time is to get a marble up from the ground to a height of about 30 cm, on top of a pile of dirt or sand (nearly anything goes) and from there let it roll down, taking 7 seconds. That is not as easy as it sounds!

That means that every group has to start finding out how to bring the marble up. To help, we offer different kind of materials like apples, cardboard, string, sticks, tape, knives and so on. They can also use materials they may find in the surroundings. We also offer water because we hope they will find out it could be done building an elevating wheel or water wheel.

When the marble is up it’s time to let it roll down, but not just by letting it go. It has to take some time to do it: 7 seconds. To make this work it is necessary to find out a way to slow down the speed of the marble or let it roll a longer distance. To do this the participants can use all the materials above.

When all groups have solved the tasks it is time to check the different solutions and discuss how they solved them. It is also important to discuss how this can be connected to the curriculum.

After the workshop the participants can see how to use the surrounding environment, how the students exchange knowledge and experience and use it as a complement to ordinary indoor education and hopefully want to do more work outdoors.

We now want to do this workshop work as education advisers at Naturskolan (Nature school) in Lund, Sweden. We work with outdoor education and one of our most important roles is to educate teachers. We have just finished a book on teaching science and technology for very young children outdoors (up to 7) but we also work with teachers from primary, secondary and high school. Our philosophy is that if we can show teachers the benefits and joy of teaching science in reality, the students will see how it works in real life; this makes it easier to get the students more interested. They get the subject in the form of a concept which enables them to understand the meaning of it. Another very important thing with teaching outdoors is that it is easy to do, you don’t need a lot of material (you get it where you are), and it’s fun!

D.II The mass of an astronaut in zero gravity (WS09), Dominique Lambert

Abstract: Measuring the mass of an astronaut in zero gravity is vital for the control of muscle and bone mass as well as maintaining a constant mass for spacewalks (the suit has stringent dimensions). How to measure the mass in weightlessness without a weighing machine?

The activity is to get the mass of an object hanging from a spring. Measurement of the period of the oscillating movement of the suspended mass and knowledge of the spring constant are used to obtain the weight. To measure the period two techniques are used: measurement with the iPad clock, and possibly the use of a force sensor connected to the iPad. The analysis of a graphic on the iPad showing force versus time provides the period. Depending on the time available, the time is also measured at the start of a film of the periodic motion and its analysis with Tracker (free software) and a spreadsheet (OpenOffice).

Frank de Winne conducted the same experiment on the ISS. A video of this experiment will be proposed to complete the activity or presentation. This lab is achievable by the teacher or as a demonstration by students in one class period