Resumen de Leveraging pendulums
Raymond LaRochelle, Lauren Stewart, Kari Koch, Sara Feiteira, Melissa M. Soto (coord.), Mollie H. Appelgate (coord.)
LaRochelle et al cite that variables are important concepts and tools for both mathematicians and scientists but often misunderstood in both disciplines. To support students' understandings of variables from both scientific and mathematical perspectives, they adapted an investigation about pendulums. In this activity, students investigated the relationship between one of three variables (length of string, weight of the pendulum, or angle of swing) and the period of the pendulum. One way to continue the lesson would be to allow students to refine their pendulum so that it swings at exactly one second. During this activity, students had to analyze and make sense of real-world relationships. This can furnish a foundation for students' future understandings of variables and covarying relationships, especially before working with formal algebraic symbols.
