During the course of this school year I was chatting with my grade 5/6 teachers about the Science curriculum. I always had a desire to come in with the bike and try to connect some of the science outcomes with what I do, as well as inspire them to be lifelong learners. After some initial talks, I went through the documents and saw a connection between the unit(s) on Simple Machines, as well as Forces. I put together a presentation, made final arrangements, booked a spare classroom, and brought the bike in to show the kids. I ended up doing 3 presentations to approximately 25 students each, so 75 or so kids hopefully saw a connection between a "pulley" and a throttle, and understood the forces at work keeping a motorcycle upright while in motion, but also cause it to tip over while stopped (among other things!)
Giving it the berries! While it looks I am about to give a "whoop whoop!", I was encouraging the student to give that pulley a twist!
Body position -- remember, on a bike, 1/3 to 1/2 of the weight of the machine (the rider) is dynamic... it can move around to help it stop, turn, and accelerate.
I also lectured them a bit about safety gear. Manitoba has made it mandatory for kids under 18 to wear bike helmets while riding bicycles. Good! I also talked about leathers, hence the photo of the cow in the sidecar on the powerpoint.
Due to time constraints I hadn't been able to properly clean the bike, so there were still dead Nebraskan bugs on the front of the machine. Perhaps added an air of realism!
A big thanks goes out to Transcanada Motorsports and Vortex Racing. Both donated items to me to give away at the presentation... kids who answered some questions at the end left with some swag!
All in all, a fun day and I think the kids got a kick out of it.
No comments:
Post a Comment