Iain and I are very impressed with Ishie (9 years old) and Alastair (8 years old) in terms of their vocabulary! They both love school and talk easily about projects they do which involve varioius skills.
One topic they both like, and talk about, is mathematics. I don't mean arithmetic ... but geometry, for example.
A few weeks ago, over our 5 o'clock "tea" as they say here, i.e. dinner of sausages and chips, before Mairi arrives at 5:30 pm to take them home.... we were dreaming up some examples of how we use the triangle shape to measure things. Using the example of a mast on a boat is useful.
As luck would have it, I was visiting Anne who lives locally and has had part of a big tree blow down in a recent gale. She is currently faced with the problem of the remaining tree and wondering about the risk of the rest of it, or part of it, coming down.
Lightbulb moment! Could we get Grandpa to show us how to determine, roughly, the height of the tree? If it fell could it hit the house?
Applied Engineering Example Number 1:
Grandma brings picnic rug and after-school picnic (French stick, cheese, juice) and sits in the February sun. Grandpa brings 2 x 4 post and 2 measuring tapes and gathers the wok force. Kids hold tapes and think about angles.
Post Applied Engineering 1 Observation:
Alastair was curious about various problems that might ensue if tree was blown down or cut down .... Ishie and wee Cat were curious about who could chase around the garden the fastest!
No comments:
Post a Comment