Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1998 16:13:50 -0800 (PST)
Message-Id: <v01550100b275fa357fb5@[192.174.3.101]>
To: Intro1@exploratorium.edu, profdev@exploratorium.edu,
From: fred@exploratorium.edu (Fred Stein)
Subject: Tops instead of Foam
Hi all,
At IFI workshops, we have done an activity called "3 kinds of hands-on
science. Many of you have experienced this activity using Foam as the
phenomenon.
Many people have done this activity with different materials because foam
can be a mess, and requires lots of materials. As a result, we've started
doing this activity using spinning tops as the phenomenon in recent
workshops.
It's different -- in ways we haven't yet completely begun to understand. So
far, we've recognized that Tops seems to be less whimsical than Foam (so it
may make less of a good ice-breaker), yet the phemonena is still
compelling. People seem to see that tops illustrate what we call "science
concepts", more easily than foam.
For people interested an alternative version of 3 kinds of hands-on science
that is less cumbersome than Foam the full write-up of Spinning Tops is now
posted on the IFI web site in the grads only section under the heading,
IFI-developed materials for grads. The URL is:
http://www.exploratorium.edu/IFI/graduates/IFI_materials/index.html
Remember the password (inquiry for name, institute for password).
If you try this (or have tried it), please recount your experience briefly
on the listserv!
Thanks to all the people and projects who tried out alternatives to Foam
and helped us try it too.
Best,
Fred