PETA Foundation - August 30 2024
 

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Elementary Science

Gravity

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Kaylee Nungaray Kaylee Nungaray 3404 Points

Hi, I am a student teacher and am looking for fun ways to teach my future students about gravity and fun activities to go along with it. Any ideas and resources are greatly appreciated! 

Eileen LaTorre Eileen LaTorre 855 Points

Page Keeley has a couple of good assessments to see what students are thinking about gravity: Experiencing Gravity Talking about Gravity Tower Drop Check them out!

James Dotson James Dotson 110 Points

[font=Verdana]Just recently is this forum, I recommended the Phenomenon-Based Learning [i]Gizmos & Gadgets[/i] books from NSTA Press and the accompanying materials from Arbor Scientific. They are also great for teaching about gravity. Here’s the elementary version of the book: [/font] [color=black][font=Verdana] [/font][/color] [color=black][font=Verdana][u][color=blue]http://www.nsta.org/store/product_detail.aspx?id=10.2505/9781936959389[/color][/u] [/font][/color] [color=black][font=Verdana] [/font][/color] [color=black][font=Verdana]Chapter 3 contains fun activities all about gravity. The activities are both engaging and pedagogically effective, as described in the book’s Introduction. Even before you get the books, you can download and read the Introduction (and see a sample chapter) for free: [/font][/color] [color=black][font=Verdana] [/font][/color] [color=black][font=Verdana]Go to the link above and scroll down. Under “Details,” you can see a link to read a sample chapter (on electricity). And if you click on that link, you get not only the sample chapter, but also the table of contents and the Introduction. The Introduction is very informative in describing how to present activities in ways that will be both fun and educational for all types of students, along with suggestions for methods of assessment. [/font][/color] [color=black][font=Verdana] [/font][/color] [color=black][font=Verdana]The kits of materials designed to go with the book can be seen here: [/font][/color] [color=black][font=Verdana] [/font][/color] [color=black][font=Verdana][u][color=blue]http://www.arborsci.com/nsta-es-kits[/color][/u] [/font][/color] [color=black][font=Verdana] [/font][/color] [color=black][font=Verdana]The kits are expensive, but they give you enough materials for dozens of activities and would be a great investment for any school, even without the books. So if your school has funds for materials, definitely consider them.[/font][/color] [color=black][font=Verdana] [/font][/color] [color=black][font=Verdana]James[/font][/color] P.S.: The lead author of the Gizmos and Gadgets books, Dr. Matt Bobrowsky, also participates in this forum, so you can contact him if you have any questions about content or pedagogy.

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