Be free, have fun, ask why">

Just a quick follow-up to Gleamer’s post. When I came in the bathroom to check on Riesling getting ready for bed she had the toilet cover lifted on the back of the toilet and asked me how it works. We took off the cover and looked inside. Riesling stated that she knew how the handle worked and proceeded to explain to me how when the handle is pushed down the toilet flushes.

This was a good start but we went ahead and explored further. We explored the way the handle felt (first tight, then loose, then tight again), what was attached (the chain), and what was attached to the chain (the flapper).  When I told here to go ahead and reach down and push the flapper down after we flushed it, she was a little afraid and tentatively asked, “That’s water? Real water?” To which I chuckled and replied, “Yes, real water.”  She reached down and pushed the flapper and was immediately surprised that the toilet stopped flushing.    She quickly grasped what the flapper was doing and that she could control it, even without the use of the handle on the outside.

We then moved on to exploring why the toilet kept spraying water out of the fill valve even though she stopped the flush by pushing down on the flapper, also I sparked her curiousity by wondering what made the water start and stop spraying and what was the deal with the big black ball in there.    This was a little harder for her to figure out and so I gave her some hints as to the best way to figure it out.   We watched very carefully how everything moved when the water emptied and filled.   After that Riesling did a couple of tests by pushing down or pulling up on the ball there-by releasing or preventing water from flowing out the fill valve regardless of whether or not the flush-handle had been pushed.

In the end, I think it was a really great spontaneous lesson, and I really enjoyed our 10 minutes of exploration together.

tags: fluids, levers, plumbing, reasoning, Riesling, valves

As we continue the work to cut down the pine trees which previously stood between our house and the road I took the opportunity to involve the kids and teach them about some more tools.

Earlier in the week, Riesling and I disassembled the chain saw and I showed her how the engine works.   She could see how the air is brought in through the filter and the gas is fed into the combustion chamber to move the piston which moves the gear which moves the chain.   I showed her the sharp edges on the chain and explained to her that they were like lots of tiny teeth each taking a small bite out of the tree but since there are so many bites so fast it just looks like it’s slicing through the tree without me sawing.   I was going to explain how this was similar to the miter saw that we we used last week, but she was ready to move on to something else so it will have to wait for another day.

It’s sometimes hard to balance my desire to instruct/inform with their desire to learn/explore, but in the end this form of instructional titration is the best way to encourage future learning rather than boredom.

As for what we did today, and the subject of the email, the kids learned how to use the long-handled lopping shears.   We practiced how to handle the tool safely (glasses, shoes, always keep it closed when not cutting and pointed towards the ground) and they unconsciously explored the concept of a lever when I could see them slowly move their hands up the handle with each successive cut, especially on larger branches.   Also, on one particularly large branch the kids teamed up for greater force, putting their collaboration and physics knowledge to good work!

I can’t wait to bring the first whole tree trunk down, I think the kids will have great fun watching it…from a safe distance of course.

tags: Cashel, engines, levers, Riesling, safety, tools