Session: Eugenia Etkina - Pedagogical Content Knowledge
Balloon in box
Make as many predictions, and reasons, that you can, even if you don’t believe them all.
Remember that coming up with the right explanation isn’t the important thing – it’s coming up with ideas that are testable.
Now watch the video and see what happens.
If you have trouble understanding why it does what it does, make a note in the comments and I’ll answer you. (I don’t want to short-circuit your thinking by telling you the answer here).
I just love this stuff — what good ways to get students thinking and reasoning.
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
So I don’t exactly know why this happens, but I think it has something to do with the air pressure in the box relative to the helium pressure in the balloon…. Am I on the right track??
Yes, you’re totally on the right track!
Think about it this way… if the box had several ping-pong balls on the floor of it, what would happen to them as the box moved forward? Well, the same thing happens to the air. Does that help?
Yeah, I was thinking that… So does the air move to the back of the box, creating a higher air pressure in the back, which would promote the balloons movement forward??!!
Yup, that’s how I understand it!
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