Activity
Ping Pong Pop Fly
This hands-on activity teaches students who are blind and visually impaired about problem solving and the engineering design process.
This hands-on activity teaches students who are blind and visually impaired about problem solving and the engineering design process.
Materials
- Ping pong balls
- 3 oz. paper or plastic cup
- Wooden stick
- Wooden spool
- Masking tape
Preparation
Explain:
- Scientists study things in nature.
- Forces are a part of nature.
- Engineers use science to make technology.
- Technology is anything humans make to solve a problem.
- Today we will use what we learned about forces to solve a problem.
- We will be Engineers.
- The way Engineers solve a problem is through the design process.
Procedure
- Today we will Ask “How can we make a ping pong ball fly in the air without throwing it?”
- Show and explain each of the materials: ping pong ball, plastic cup, wooden stick, wooden spool, masking tape
- Tell the students they will be able to put these materials together any way they would like in order to make the ping pong ball pop up in the air.
- Students collect their materials and carry them to the worktable.
- Wear safety goggles. Work together at the table.
NGSS Standards:
K-2-ETS1-1. Engineering Design
- Ask questions, make observations, and gather information about a situation people want to change to define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of a new or improved object or tool.
By Selma Walsh
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