Teach Briefs
Students learn about physics
from energetic demonstrations
Middle school student Nina-Simone Brown had the chance to experience Newton’s third law of motion in an exciting yet unusual way
Monday morning.
For those who dozed off in their
middle school science class: For every action there is an opposite and
equal reaction.
And there was plenty of action
when FMA Live! Forces in Motion
swept into Hardy Middle School’s
gym Monday, bringing Newton’s
three laws of motion and the law
of universal gravity to life in a performance with hip-hop music and
moves, bright lights and live science
demonstrations. Short videos featured Sir Isaac Newton (1643-1727)
channeling his explanation of the
laws through an actor.
Nina-Simone, 13, and her partner
faced off against two other Hardy
eighth graders in a dunk-tank contest – Hardy Assistant Principal Loren
Brody sat underneath a tank of applesauce.
The students used giant slingshots
to aim blue and red balls – called
apples – at a target to release the
tank of applesauce onto Brody.
“It was all about the reaction
when you hit the target,” Nina-Simone said. “I think my favorite part
was my part because I got to see
my assistant principal get drenched
in applesauce. And I was the one to
hit the target to make it fall, so it was
pretty cool.”
The FMA in the program’s title
stands for force = mass X acceleration. The program is a partnership
between Honeywell Hometown Solutions, the charitable arm to Honeywell, the technology invention
Authored by Jessica Wray,
this article appeared first
at www.SHFWire.com.
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With the help of a student participant, “FMA Live!” crew members explain Newton’s first law
of motion at Hardy Middle School in Washington on Sept. 16th, 2013. “FMA Live!” travels
Image: NASA/J ^H