The children have been using the wind
tunnel that we created with the fan and clear plastic lamination. Previously, the children were using pieces of
Styrofoam to see how they would respond if the sizes of the pieces were
different. The children noticed that the
smaller pieces flew higher than the larger pieces did.
We wanted to offer the children a
new material to try in the wind tunnel.
I chose Tin Foil because I wanted a material that could be manipulated
easier and something that the children could have more control over as they
used it with the fan.
We started off by using large flat
pieces of foil and we talked about it as a group. We looked at what happened when large pieces
were put into the fan and the children tried to base their predictions off of
their previous experience with Styrofoam and feathers. They were really surprised when they saw the
long flat piece of foil fly up.
After that we explored the foil in
small groups. The children at first used
the large flat pieces and were commenting on how the foil flew up. Once they began using it more, the foil
became crinkled and smaller. A few of
the children noticed a change in the height of the foil as it flew. I’m not sure if they made the connection
between the change in the shape of the foil and the flying, but they noticed
that some pieces did not fly as high as other pieces.
We are going to look at foil in
different shapes next week to see if the children make those connections with
how the foil flies. I want to see if the
children really do make those connections between the shape of the foil and the
flight patterns of the foil in a specific shape.
