Spinners

Spinners: An Investigation in Physics
By observing and exploring the world using all their senses, and by interacting with their classmates, children begin to connect their prior knowledge and experience with their experiences in new contexts. In our program, the focus for any investigation is drawn from what is familiar to children in their daily lives. Thus became our mini investigation on spinners.

“Spinners” became an interest in late December as Ayden was observed over a few days spinning our math beads. Small groups of students began “spinning” as well-we had to capitalize on this obvious interest.

I asked Ayden about this activity and he said he was playing Beyblades. “Oh, of course! What a great idea.” I replied. Then I asked how Beyblades work. “When you put power in it, it goes fast…188 blade power!” Ayden then went on to spin his Beyblade with his fingers and seemed impressed with it’s speed, but then he started to blow on it. “What are you doing now?” I asked. He replied, “When you blow on it, it goes faster.” It’s obvious that Ayden has had much experience with moving things or “spinners” and somewhere along the way he has also learned that wind is a form of power . This was an impressive application of his knowledge.

What Makes Objects Spin?
Finding 1: Objects Spin Better on Smooth Surfaces
I was interested in hearing some of the student’s theories on spinning to see what they knew and where their theories might take them.  It was agreed upon that round or “circle” items roll and move well on smooth surfaces (we did a few tests on carpet, tile, and tables). The carpet was deemed to have a “bumpy texture” and the items would “bump off”.

Finding 2: Other Objects Make Moving Objects Slow Down or Stop
When Ayden and his friends started spinning their spinners together they noticed that when the beads collided they would slow down. Ayden referred to this as his “guy dying”.

Finding 2: Circle and Pointy Objects Spin Best
I asked Ayden and the group, “What types of objects spin?” When explaining the bead, Ayden and the group agreed that circle beads spun best. We tried some cubed beads and they spun too! “How we do explain that?!” I asked. “You have to flip it on it’s side and it spins super fast!” Ayden positioned the bead on it’s pointy end and watched it spin. A few other boys mentioned that it’s important to use “the tip”, “the edge” or the “pointy part” because that is how they have seen Beyblades work in the past.

Finding 3: Heavy Objects Spin “Better” and Longer
A few days following the initial spinner discovery, Ayden and Joshua were observed using some unusual objects as spinners. The boys were using a kettle and a pan from our dramatic play centre for spinning. They discussed how they made great spinners because they were round in shape and that they had a pointy edge. What the boys also added was that the pan was full of rubber bugs which made it “heavier”. They tried spinning it with and without the bugs and came to the conclusion that the heavier version worked best.

Extending Our Spinners Investigation: Creating a Beyblade Game
A few weeks passed and spinners came back into the picture. The addition of our handmade light table ignited the idea of creating an “arena” for a Beyblade game.  At first the game seemed pretty unorganized and very open ended. With some guidance from Ms. Silveira Ethan and Logan collaborated together to create a game with rules that they and others could enjoy. The boys also included score keeping in their play-a wonderful addition of mathematical thinking.

It’s so incredible how a scientific investigation can extend and become something else that is so valuable, diverse and rich in learning.