Science Demonstration Rationale

Context: I did this Science Demonstration for GS 4401 in the Spring Semester 2008 for Jeff Goodman. My partner, Meghan McLaughlin, and I worked together to develop a lesson on Bernoulli's Principle. We demonstrated this for a group of afterschool kids at Appalachian State University, using a ping pong ball, a hairdryer, a funnel, and did an parallel demonstration using a piece of paper. We used the hairdryer to make the ping pong ball float. We also showed that when you bent over, you could make a ball stay in the fast stream of air which was up at the top of the funnel. We then used one strip of paper, and by blowing across the top of the paper, the piece of paper lifted up to the fast moving air. Then we used two strips of paper and blew in between the strips, and the strips came together.

Impact: This is a great demonstration to use in a classroom because it actually shows students the effects of Bernoulli's Principle and having things move to where the fast moving air is. I would use this in my classroom one day to help teach science because even at my age, I didn't exactly understand Bernoulli's principle, and because of this demonstration, now I do.

Alignment:

Standard 3 Indicator 2:  I met this standard by having knowledge of physical science and its properties.

Standard 15 Indicator 1: I met this standard by encouraging everyone to participate throughout the whole lesson. I called on a quiet girl in the demonstration who didn’t seem to get to say much, but you could tell she understood to answer a question instead of letting one child answer the whole time.