Children make a binder clip slide slowly and quickly by adjusting the steepness of a cardboard tube.
Raise one end of the tube until the clip starts to slide.
How can you make the binder clip stop sliding?
Materials
- Chart paper
- Marker
- Paper towel tubes cut in half lengthwise to form two troughs (or half-pipes), one trough for each child
- Scissors
- Small binder clip (or large paper clip) for each child
Preparation
- Cut each paper towel tube in half lengthwise to form two troughs.
Directions: Lesson 5
Guided Small Group
- Give each child a small binder clip and half of a cardboard paper towel tube that has been cut lengthwise.
- With their tube lying flat on the table or floor (like a trough), have children place the binder clip at one end of the tube and slowly tilt up that end of the tube until the incline is just steep enough to make the clip slide slowly to the bottom. If the clip stops midway, ask, How can you make the clip start sliding again? (Give the clip a push or increase the steepness of the incline.)
- Use a half tube and a binder clip to demonstrate as you help children describe and make predictions. Possible discussion ideas:
- Hold the tube at a gentle incline. When the tube was a gentle ramp like this, how did the binder clip slide? Did it go fast or slow?
- What should I do if I want the clip to slide down the tube fast? Have children give you directions. Should I make the ramp steeper, like this? Let’s try it out and see what happens when the clip goes down a steep ramp. Send the clip down the tube. Did it go fast or slow?
- Let children practice making the clip slide fast and slow. Discuss what happens. Possible discussion ideas:
- How slow can you make the clip slide? Show me. Is your tube a steep ramp or a gentle ramp?
- How fast can you make the clip slide? Show me. Is your tube a steep ramp or a gentle ramp?
- Will the clip slide when the tube is lying flat? Why not? How could you make it slide?
- Have a volunteer give an instruction. Should we make our binder clips slide fast or slow?
Learning Center
- Invite children to revisit the Small Group activity. Encourage them to explore how to make the binder clip move on a flat surface (push it), and what happens to a clip on a gentle ramp (it moves slow) and on a steep ramp (it moves fast).
- As you stop by the center, engage children in conversation about how they can make the binder clip go fast and slow down the ramp. Use the discussion ideas above.
