Chapter: SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS & AMUSEMENTS FOR CHILDREN BY CHARLES VIVIAN. Simple Technical Steped Practical Projects for school and college students.
The Obedient Can
The Obedient Can
You will need: A round can with lid, nail, hammer,
rubber bands, thread, nut and bolt.
Your
knowledge of the force of gravity will enable you to construct a simple
mechanical toy which will obediently return when you roll it away.
Begin
by hammering two holes in the lid and two holes in the bottom of the can with a
nail.
Cut
a long rubber band (or several knotted together) and pass it through the four
holes in figure-of-eight fashion. See diagram. Tie ends of the rubber band
together again.
Now tie a small weight, such as a piece of lead
or nut and bolt, to the center of the rubber band, where it crosses inside the
can.
Replace
the lid and roll the can away from you. The weight supplies a lowered center of
gravity which winds up the rubber band. When the force you have used has been expended,
the band will unwind and the can will slowly roll back to you.
Children learn best through doing
Before children can
understand a thing, they need experience: seeing, touching, hearing, tasting,
smelling; choosing, arranging, putting things together, taking things apart.
Experimenting with real things.
Old-time school teaching
used only words and the teachers thought children knew something if they could
repeat it. Now we know better. To reach practical understanding we do not need
to use many words with young children.
Children are
clever. They learn a lot, without being taught. The greatest skill - to be able
to talk, to communicate is learnt outside school. In the classroom it's the
children who need to talk the most. Unfortunately it is the teacher who does
most of the talking!
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