Children of all ages enjoy the challenge of building and constructing. They
love the opportunity to play and discover, while at the same time
learning. Often they are so engrossed in the task at hand they are not
aware that they are, in fact, learning some very early sound basic
mathematical, scientific and technological concepts.
The lessons in this book are integrated across the key learning areas of
mathematics, science and technology. They are sequential and designed to
give the children a lot of fun while discovering for themselves some
interesting concepts. The children are actively engaged as learners
experiencing many ideas relating to gears. They look in detail at the
direction in which gears spin, the various sizes of gears, combinations in
which bases can be arranged and the effects that various combinations
have on spinning directions. They look at the varying attributes while
sorting and classifying as well as beginning early work on building an
understanding of ratio. They have the opportunity to record results on a
table/spreadsheet, as picture graphs, wall stories etc.
All of this investigative discovery leads them to having the opportunity
to design, produce and evaluate a working model of their own and then as
a whole class designing a working mural.
The final phase in this series of lesson gives the students the opportunity
to investigate gears in the environment. The students investigate their
home environment looking for gears, thus placing this work in a real life
context.