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Spinning Things: An Investigation with Tops

Introduction
This is a quick outline of the inquiry investigation we will do today. We could easily use this 45-60 minute investigation with students to launch into a month-long unit of play and experimentation with tops, gyroscopes, and other spinning things. If you need scientific jargon to back up your reason for doing such foolishness in the classroom, your students will gain a greater conceptual understanding of such abstract concepts like momentum, inertia, mass, gyroscopic precession and much more through their play with tops. I chose this investigation as an example of what we mean by inquiry science, and how good inquiry lessons lead to students becoming scientists themselves: asking questions from the material; designing experiments to answer these questions; manipulating and changing the material in various ways to perform their experiments; and finally possibly finding an answer to their question, but more importantly finding new questions to ask. Thus the thinking, experimenting, and questioning (all part of doing science) can go on and on, in exciting and sometimes unanticipated ways. This evolves into a wonderful and positive feedback loop for the learning process.

MATERIALS

• Cardboard (paperboard, and corrugated), foam core, paper plates, etc.
• Dowels - some cut to 6 inches with one end sanded round. Pencils also work well as spindles too. Try different diameter dowels. Get to know the wood shop teacher for cutting and sanding the dowels.
• Nail to punch holes.
• Modeling clay (plasticene).
• Markers if color mixing is involved in lesson/experiments.
• Washers and nuts to be used as weights.
• Scissors, rulers, utility knife (to be used by teacher).

  LESSON
  

  1. PRE-UNIT DRAWING: Have each student draw a picture of a top and to label any parts that they think are important to make it "work". This will be used as an assessment tool at end of unit.
     
  2. PRE-UNIT DISCUSSION: Have a group discussion with class about what a top is, what are the important parts, etc., to get a handle on their current knowledge of tops and other spinning things. This will clue you in to their misconceptions, etc. Save this discussion on newsprint/flip chart to review at end of unit.
     
  3. FIRST CHALLENGE: Working in groups of 3, using materials available, design and build a top that spins.
     
  4. EXAMINE other groups tops, discuss questions that students may want to ask: How can we make a top that spins for a long time? What if the spindle is really long? How far above the table should the disc be? What happens if we add more wt? These questions can be student-generated and then it could be their group's decision on which question to ask , then design and carry out an experiment. The teacher could also be more direct in approaching these problems by giving the students a second challenge: MAKE A TOP THAT SPINS AS LONG AS POSSIBLE.
     
  5. EXPERIMENTING: At this stage the students should be designing and experimenting in their groups. As a facilitator the teacher must be aware of the group interaction within the groups (are the quiet girls getting to play with the tops or are the activities being led by the loud boys?) and the interaction between groups (are the different groups noticing what the other groups are doing and using/sharing/learning from the other groups ideas?). The teacher also needs to gently give hints, ideas, and help where needed. But remember, it is the students' experiments, not the teachers.
     
  6. THIRD CHALLENGE: Does a top always need to be circular? What would happen if the top where an oval, triangle, or some very wild, asymmetrical shape? This will lead to a whole new series of investigations.
     
  7. POST UNIT DISCUSSION/DRAWINGS: When your unit on tops is complete, and you are ready to move on in your science curriculum assess how you and your class did by brainstorming new ideas about what makes tops spin. How many of the questions generated earlier were answered? And what do the answers say? Also have students do a second drawing and then compare the drawings. Did your students gain a greater understanding of the concepts involved in tops and spinning things? Do they have better understanding of a concept like momentum and inertia?

Conclusion
This is an example of the kind of teaching outline I might follow if I were covering this subject with my students. I might add to it in places, delete in others. Be aware of your students ideas, be willing to deviate from your agenda to let them answer their questions, and have fun experimenting (playing) with science.