Kindergarten Science Inquiry Activity: Building a Paper Bridge

"Paper Bridge" is not a very new scientific exploration project, but its more blank space can give kindergarten children more room to explore. For children around the second semester of middle school (5 years old), this kind of activity that requires hands-on brains and open-ended solutions to practical problems is very attractive.

The question is led by a riddle: "Look at a bow in the distance, standing in the middle of the river." Go by car above and take a boat trip below. Soon some children guessed it was a steamship.

Two blocks, one sheet of A4 printing paper. I quickly built a bridge. Let's see if the car can walk on this bridge? Oops, fell down. So, how do you get a car over this bridge?

The answer I thought was this:

Fold

such:

Folded into accordion shape

Or something like this:

Roll into a cylinder

But in fact, the answer given by the children was unexpected: change the car!

Thumbs up for the kids' reverse thinking

Immediately a child brought in a smaller car.

But it is still heavy, and the car will still fall.

"I know what's okay." With a crisp child's sound, Sophia took a very light plastic ball and placed it on the paper bridge. Sure enough, it stood up and did not collapse again.

But here it seems to be going off track. I quickly pulled everyone's train of thought back. "Still using this car, how do we change the bridge so that it becomes stronger and the car can pass smoothly?"

It's also hard for kids. Let's continue to think of ways.

Someone said, "Hold the paper in your hand." ”

Someone said, "Hold the car with your hand." ”

Comments: Simple and practical. Blame me for not stating the conditions.

I repeat: you can't use your hands, you can't rely on external forces.

The children began to think further. Attention, high energy ahead. The little engineer is online.

Alex made piers out of blocks.

Lucky pressed the blocks against both ends of the paper.

Comments: The ability to use tools and create conditions is a perfect score!

Well, I further elaborate: you cannot resort to any object.

But the children always couldn't help it, and the way they thought of it was always associated with the building blocks. Considering the limited time, I had to go into the battle myself and perform an operation that surprised the children.

Fold the paper in half and thicken it

Or fold into a concave shape.

When folded in half and folded into a concave shape, it is even more powerful, and it can bear up to 6 blocks!

The children were amazed: "It can still be like this!" ”

The time is over for the children to operate freely. The question I throw at the kids is: What can you do to transform your wits so that it can bear more weight, that is, put more bricks on it without collapsing?

We take the form of group cooperation, a group of 3 children, to cultivate children's ability to inquire, think, create and hands-on ability at the same time to cultivate their ability to cooperate. In the future work and life, these abilities are interdependent and very important, and are indispensable abilities to complete a project and solve a problem.

As a result, three groups of children appeared in three painting styles:

Some groups have a strong sense of purpose, and after the initial stage of running-in, the children each found their own roles and tasks in the team, cooperated sincerely, handled it together, and completed the project together.

Some groups work together for a while and then disagree, so they are automatically divided into two groups, each of which completes the project according to their own ideas.

Some groups have a quiet time, enjoying the fun of building and the beauty of the works. The group members had a lot of fun with each other.

Maybe I didn't emphasize "no other objects" before I started free exploration, or maybe the role of building blocks to strengthen the paper bridge was too deeply rooted, and the children still used the blocks to strengthen the paper bridge.

Watching the children's fiery discussions, the passion slowly building, and the cheers after achieving a stage victory, I did not have the heart to interrupt them, so let them create to the fullest.

In the end, the results of each group were good, and from the excitement and enthusiastic cheers of the children, I could feel their full joy and sense of accomplishment.

In the summary stage, in addition to greatly affirming the children's work, I also released a big trick by the way.

As shown in the figure, the paper is repeatedly folded into the shape of an accordion (some children say it is a spring), and without any external force, it can withstand the weight of 16 blocks.

Reflection: You can emphasize "without the help of any external force" before the children start to operate, and explain what is "without the help of external forces" in an intuitive way, like children. The more constraints there are, the more difficult it is to think about, and the more challenging it is.