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Subject
Area: Science
Grade
Level: 6th and 7th
Overview:
Every year at our school
a favorite activity in our science classes is the Invention
Unit. Students are introduced to the history behind
Rube Goldberg, a New York newspaper cartoonist. His
comic strip was known for taking an easy task and making
it complicated and in the process making it funny. This
is a benchmark activity after students have studied
all of the physics of motion . The teacher usually shows
off some projects from the past (if they still work)
and some sort of virtual motion gadget that they have
found at a science convention. This sparks interest
in the group to work at home collaboratively to start
creating their invention. Finally the "Invention
Convention" day comes and everyone gets to present
their great creations.
Standards:
Teacher wants to reinforce
all of the principles of motion taught earlier in the
year to include:Newton's three Laws of Motion (a--balanced
motion, b--constant forces, c-- opposite momentum),
Universal law of gravitation, circular motion and outward/inward
force, statics and balanced forces, trajectory and direction
of a vector, potential and kinetic energy, and conservation
of energy and momentum. All of these topics are intertwined
in the 7th Grade California Content Standards for Science.
8th Grade Standards:
Motion 1.e
Forces 2.a--->g
9th Grade Standards:
Motion and Forces 1.a--->m
Conservation of Energy and Momentum 2.a--->h
Heat and Thermodynamics 3.a and 3.b
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