Telus Spark Field Trip

Yesterday, we went to the Science Centre on a class field trip. 

In the morning, we got to learn about Leonardo Da Vinci in the new exhibition. In the exhibit, there were examples of things that he invented with a picture of the drawing from Leornardo's notebook. Some things you could touch and test them out.

There were SO many things that Leonardo invented that we use today. We saw a canon, a bicycle, a scuba tank, a armoured tank, a box of mirrors, a plane, a helicopter, a horse-drawn wagon with a scythe, a catapult, and a crane. 

This exhibit was PERFECT for our learning because right now we are studying simple machines! We took some time and sketched three different simple machines that we saw in Leonardo's models.

Pulley Power!

Da Vinci's Chariot Scythe: Wheel & Axel, Gears

Then, we got to explore the other exhibits. Some of us tried out Virtual Reality!

Virtual Reality!

Virtual Reality!

Virtual Reality!

In the afternoon, our class participated in a program called "Chain Reaction Machines." We learned what a Rube Goldberg Machine is. A Rube Goldberg Machine takes a simple task but makes it super complicated by connecting various simple machines in a way that one action (one touch) causes another action, and another, and another. We used materials like dominoes, balls, tubes, cardboard, etc to make our machines.

Here are some pictures of our machines: 

Here are some learning quotes:

"I learned that it takes a lot more than two people to make a huge chain reaction machine, and so much tries." ~ HR

"I learned that for some machines, friction is useful and for other machines, friction is not useful." ~ Asma

"Sometimes friction is helpful when you need to slow down a ball and control it better or slow down a zipline." ~ Sammi and ZA

"I found it challenging that you can't just get the materials to work in one try. You have to keep working at it." ~ Zoya

"I learned that not everything that you think is going to be easy is going to be easy. It takes multiple tries to get the perfect thing." ~ Greta

"I learned how important it is to work together because one person can't make everything by themself." ~ Thanve

"Creating something is actually difficult. How you make the things go (like golf balls and dominoes) was challenging. Sometimes things go wrong that you're not expecting." ~ Pranay

"I was amazed that if one problem happens, the entire system can fall apart." ~ Henry

"I found it really challenging to make a line of dominoes." ~ EA

"I found it challenging with all the tubes to get the balls not to fall out." ~ Mary Jane

"I found it challenging that we had to use the materials we already had." ~ Eshan

"I liked how we could practice getting frustrated and persisting." ~ Yulia

"I found it really challenging to just get an idea." ~ Oscar

The Material Bin