We are successful in drawing children in to engage with science through tales and experiments. Every Young Engineers lesson begins with a theoretical explanation and an experiment involving a scientific term (10-15 minutes).
An example of an experiment which demonstrates centrifugal force and centripetal force is the Frisbee with a cup of water experiment in which children seem to do the impossible.
Watch the Frisbee experiment:
The child understands that the water did not spill because the centrifugal force pressed the water toward the bottom of the cup. The water didn’t breach the sealed wall because of the centripetal force.
After the experiment the children move on to the practical stage and start building a model which demonstrates the theoretical subject that has just been taught. Each lesson has a scientific topic and a model to demonstrate it.
Here is an example of the Carousel LEGO® model, which the children build in the class after the Frisbee experiment, and which further demonstrates these scientific principles.
Watch the carousel model in action:
After the children complete their building task, they get to the Sophistication & Inventions stage. During this stage the child has to invent a sophisticated solution to a YE question. Usually the solutions illustrate once more the scientific principle.
The lesson ends with the children disassembling the model and arranging the parts back in the Young Engineers kit.