SCHOOL: Franklin Academy

GRADE LEVEL: 1st

PROGRAM: Funky Forces

INSTRUCTOR: Aaron Henderson

Scientist Aaron’s Experience:

Last Thursday, I had the pleasure of going to Franklin Academy in Wake Forest to talk to some first graders about forces and motion. As I arrived to the classroom I could already see that these first grade classes were very eager and excited about what I had for them to see and experiment with.

We started off looking at some different categories of movement including air and wind, balance and gravity, and push and pull. We thought about some different things that moved due to these categories and they were all coming up with great answers. These junior physicists really started off on the right foot and I knew it was going to keep going well.
As I began to explain the two labs we were going to split up in, the kids eyes lit up. Especially in Ms. Bardes class. They were so excited to experiment with magnets and also experiment with balancing. Learning about the attractive and repelling forces that magnets can have really excited these kids, and the fact that they were able to experiment with so many different types of magnets really got them going.

Throughout the entire day, I saw child after child really thinking hard about what we were discussing as well as asking great questions that were very thought provoking. To see these kids this excited about learning only makes me more excited to bring them these experiments.