Summer SAVY, Session 3 Day 1, “Space and Story: Structure of the Universe” (5th-6th)
We started our day with introductions, where each student shared their expectations from the class and what they wanted others to know about them. We then quickly jumped into the curriculum. Students analyzed the “Child Moon” poem by Carl Sandburg. They shared multiple insightful comments on the relationship between the child, the moon, and the narrator, complex theme and structure analysis, and how the structure of the poem contributed to its meaning. Next, students got up from their seats and used giant sticky notes to start a concept map of space, focusing on their prior knowledge, questions they hoped to find answers to in class, and making space for future discoveries during the week. The concept maps students are building this week combine scientific knowledge, artistic, and literary expression. The concept map building promotes creative thinking and making connections across content areas. Students came up with amazing map ideas that turned scientific thought into art and vice versa!
Following recess, we dove into a discussion of art by M. C. Esher, walking a fun path from mathematically driven art to a crash course on gravity and analysis of the informational text on gravity, Kepler, Newton, and orbits. As students acquired new information, they processed it through classroom discussion and reflected it in their space concept maps. After lunch, our iPads arrived, and we spent a significant portion of the day in the PhET Colorado Simulation lab receiving practical knowledge on how mass and distance influence gravitational pull, orbit path, and velocity. Students modeled multiple situations of their choice, recording results of four different experiments, and sharing one of them in front of the class. All-in-all, it was a spectacular day of fun and learning, and I cannot wait to see everyone again tomorrow.
We have a classroom where students are encouraged to move around while working on various tasks, change positions, lie down on the floor, sit under the table, etc., to address psychomotor intensities of gifted individuals and their need to move in order to be able to think more productively.
Below are a couple of questions you can use as dinner table conversation starters:
- How did the velocity, distance, and mass changes affect the gravitational pull in your experiments today?
- How do parts of structures interact to achieve a purpose?