I don’t like showman physics. I’ve been honest about this before. The idea of being the “sage on the stage” running a bunch of super cool demos as a vehicle for teaching isn’t my style. What would have been considered demos are now observational experiments, because everything about my class needs to be framed around what science is and who does science. If I am the keeper of the knowledge and the toucher of the things I am sending very strong messages.
Don’t get me wrong, the demo show folks have their place in the world. But I’m not a part of that space, and neither is my classroom. Not in that way, at least.
This year I had a unique opportunity during the annual 8th grade tour to host the 8th graders. Normally they tour in groups of 5, lead by high school students, and normally they quietly huddle in the back while teachers keep on teaching.
I suppose I could have said, “sorry, I don’t have anything going on, don’t come see me” but instead I decided it was an opportunity to truly engage with them.
The only problem? I could only use about 10 minutes.
Here was my challenge: how do I simultaneously get kids excited about physics but ground the experience in something that is true to the class, rather than a demo-show?
I crowd sourced and then it hit me: I’d do the activity I’ve wanted to do for ages, but never had the time. The tug of war.
When students arrived I asked them “how do you win a tug of war”
Students responded “by being strong”
So I asked for volunteers, “who thinks they are strong?”
The self-proclaimed strong kids were a team and the rest of the group was a team.
They tugged. The strong kids won.
Then I told them to take off their shoes.
In the first group the strong kids lost by a literal landslide. It was hilarious! In the second group, curiously, the sock kids still won!
I brought the students back to my room and talked about how in physics, our class is all about describing how the world around us works. And we can start with ideas we have, but then we work to rule them out, and sometimes an idea we have is just the surface of what is actually happening.
One student shared that they really enjoyed their time, and I could tell that many more felt the same way. What a great way to spice up an otherwise massive “sit and get” day.
But honestly, the best was an email I received from one of my seniors that same afternoon,
"The tug of war activity with the 8th graders was honestly so much fun, and I could tell that some of those 8th graders were truly intrigued by the theory behind the activity and generally the thinking that is done in AP Physics!"
I think this one is a keeper 🙂
Physics.Teacher.Momma. 