I resumed my weekly Kindergarten classes this morning and we made tops. I started the lesson with teaching the difference between clockwise and counter-clockwise, a bit of information essential to understanding the use of a hand crank drill for decorating the tops with colored pencil and markers. Turn the crank clockwise while holding the chuck and the chuck tightens to hold the stem of the top. Turn the crank counter-clockwise while holding the chuck and the chuck loosens so the stem of the top can be removed.
Is that too advanced a concept for Kindergarten students to understand? Not when it's called to their attention and they can observe it for themselves. If the concept is over their heads at this point in time, they'll have a chance for it to register later in life.
It's too bad, however, that regular clocks are no longer in vogue. I offered my wrist watch for them to observe the difference between clockwise and counter-clockwise and the subject will come up again later in the year as my students make their own clocks.
The hand crank drills mounted in the vise provided an opportunity for kids to work together... one turning the crank while the other colored their top.
Each student made two tops.
Make, fix and create... assist others in learning likewise.
CW & CCW - as natural as the motion of the moon. How else would you describe rotation? And what if analog clocks were no longer a thing? Like saying 'half past' or a 'quarter to'?
ReplyDeleteWill youth just ignore pieces of pie? What are the little lines between the numbers on a ruler? Where do fractions go to die?
Kim
Every kid will rapidly understand how to open and shut the screw cap of a (plastic) bottle.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I use the terms "dextrogyre" and "levogyre" (in French) because it refers to the hand movement.
As for the concept of "half past", there is a difference of perception in various languages.
11h30 is "half past 11" in English but "half twaalf (12)" in Dutch (same principle in German). Both view are correct as when it is 11h30, we have already spent half of the twelfth hour.
One will note that the trigonometric sense of rotation is counter-clockwise.
In clockwise or counter clockwise, the vantage point of the observer makes a difference. from behind the clock face, the movement of the hands is counter-clockwise. I appreciate your introducing me to the French concepts. It is interesting that in spinning a top (at least for me, using my right hand), the most natural movement to induce rotation is dextrogyre, and using the left hand is levogyre. Please try this yourself and report back. In learning Norwegian, they do the same thing with half hours and quarter hours as in German and Dutch.
ReplyDeleteWhen one has to screw or unscrew with a wrench, a difficult to reach screw or bolt, more or less blindly, first repeating the movement with the right hand (as if using a screw driver) , helps applying the torque in the desired direction. Especially when one has to use the left hand.
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