Standard #4 Content Knowledge
The teacher understands the central concepts,
tools of inquiry, and structures of the
discipline(s) he or she teaches and creates
learning experiences that make these aspects of
the discipline accessible and meaningful for
learners.
Artifact
The document linked above is an activity focused on the Conservation of Energy Law. In this activity multiple toys such as: springs, slinkies, bouncy balls, tops, sticky ninjas and other dollar store toys are used to demonstrate the transformation from one energy type to another. This uses visual actions to demonstrate energy being converted from one form to another. Kids who understood and learned the energy types were able to apply that knowledge here.
The pull of the planets uses spheres, such as tennis balls and play-dough, which are suspended in an embroidery ring to demonstrate how the gravity of celestial bodies interact with other celestial bodies. Heavier bodies have more gravity due to their mass, basically weighing down on the ‘fabric’ of space itself, which draws in other celestial bodies. Using an embroidery ring as the ‘fabric of space’, different massed spheres are placed on the fabric causing the it to stretch and pull other objects placed on the fabric (marbles) into the heavier body. This demonstrates that heavier objects have more gravity, thus pulling in smaller objects that are located around it. The activity provides a visual representation of how gravity, an invisible phenomenon, occurs with all celestial bodies in the universe.
