Curiosity Spark

 In his TED Talk "3 Rules to Spark Learning," Ramsey Musallam outlines three essential principles to engage students and foster a love of learning: "Curiosity Comes First", which emphasizes the importance of igniting students' natural curiosity before diving into content; "Embrace the Mess", advocating for a trial-and-error approach to learning where mistakes are viewed as opportunities for deeper understanding; and "Practice Reflection", highlighting the need for both teachers and students to regularly reflect on what methods work and what can be improved, ensuring a continuous cycle of growth and discovery.



I teach middle school science.  The content area my TPACK model is based on is Newton's Thirda Law of Motion.  This content is summarized by the following concepts:

  • When two objects collide, a force is exerted on each object.  The two forces are exerted in opposite directions, but they are the same strength.
  • Even though the force exerted on each object in a collision is the same strength, if the objects have differenct masses, their changes in velocity will be different.
The Curiosity Spark Video shows a Newton's Cradle, a scientific model my students do not have access to outside the classroom.  Newtons' Cradle is a classic tool to demonstrate the third law of motion.  The entire video showcases using the model with increasing amounts of masses.  I edited the video by trimming it to only show the effect of releasing a single mass.  The video ends with the user holding two masses before letting go, but the user never sees the masses actually released.  They are left to wonder.  I want them thinking about what will happen next.  I am hoping students will ask questions and make predictions about what will happen when two, three, four masses are dropped or when masses are dropped and collide from opposite ends.  This curiosity will guide future direct instruction and hopefully help close the information gap.

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