This past week, my students worked in groups and to determine which ball would bounce the highest: golf ball, ping-pong ball, or a tennis ball. When I had my students first make their predictions, I had no student believe that the golf ball would bounce the highest. I asked my students why they thought this, one student responded, "I know that a golf ball is the same type of ball I used when I played putt-putt. A golf ball is hard and doesn't allow me to squish it." I was quite impressed with their prior knowledge about this specific ball.
I had fourteen students predict that the tennis ball would bounce the highest. The other nine students predicted the ping-pong ball. The students who predicted the tennis ball mentioned that they have played catch with their dog before and they now that their is sometimes a bounce that happens when the ball hit the ground. The other students that mentioned the ping-pong ball, felt that since it was smaller in since than the tennis ball it must be lighter and bounce back higher.
I choose this student's work because of her last question, "could we bounce another ball'. I like how she was thinking what would happen if we had yet another type of ball, would the tennis ball still be the one that bounced the highest.
It is always heartening to encounter a student who proposes to further their own learning by asking those leading questions. Isn't this where we want all of our students to be? This is the sort of questioning that gets a child interested in the world outside of video games and facebook and makes them want to pursue those STEM careers. However, if most schools are not careful they could lose students like Kennedy to budget cuts and placing emphasis on only certain subject areas.
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