Incredulous squealy giggles. "You're going to get wet!" "Are you really going to do it?" they asked, as many began to back away from my bucket o' water.
Oh yes, my little ones, I really am.
And you can too! The children decided it would be best if they tried it outside. I heartily agreed.
Each member of each Cooperative Investigation Team had a chance to try swinging the cup of water around and around.
Unlike one child's speculation that I had somehow "glued" the water into the bucket, the reason the water doesn't fall out has to do with inertia--the tendency of an object that is already moving to keep moving in a straight path. If you're old enough to have ridden the Looping Starship at Astroworld (or any other roller coaster that loops you around upside down), then you know that if it's going fast enough, you don't really need the lap bar to keep you in the car. While you're upside down, you actually get pressed up into the back of your seat. The children observed that as they swung them, the cups were pulling away, always trying to fly off in a straight path. The water in the cup is doing the same thing--trying to fly off in a straight path. As a result, the water gets pressed up into the bottom of the cup, rather than falling down as anyone who has experience with gravity might predict. What keeps the cup and the water traveling in a circular path is the constant pull on the string. Application: How does this model the planets' path around the sun?
Unlike one child's speculation that I had somehow "glued" the water into the bucket, the reason the water doesn't fall out has to do with inertia--the tendency of an object that is already moving to keep moving in a straight path. If you're old enough to have ridden the Looping Starship at Astroworld (or any other roller coaster that loops you around upside down), then you know that if it's going fast enough, you don't really need the lap bar to keep you in the car. While you're upside down, you actually get pressed up into the back of your seat. The children observed that as they swung them, the cups were pulling away, always trying to fly off in a straight path. The water in the cup is doing the same thing--trying to fly off in a straight path. As a result, the water gets pressed up into the bottom of the cup, rather than falling down as anyone who has experience with gravity might predict. What keeps the cup and the water traveling in a circular path is the constant pull on the string. Application: How does this model the planets' path around the sun? 
The last person in each group was invited to swing the cup and then try letting go to see what would happen without a constant pull on the string.
Notice where one of the cups ended up . . .
Before we left the classroom for all this science fun, we had a discussion about how we were going to put on our scientist hats. I explained that I didn't want to see them getting out their recess hats and acting wild and crazy, just because they were outside. (Sometimes children become confused and equate being outside with being at recess.) “Scientists don’t wear hats,” piped up one little person. “They have white coats, but they don’t wear hats.”
“Oh but I beg to differ! Dr. Bakker wears a crazy cowboy hat, and he’s got a jeans jacket but I've never seen a white coat.”
If you're in the neighborhood, stop by the Museum of Natural Science for Dino Days on Saturday, November 6 and see for yourself. I bet he'll be wearing his hat!
Sometimes, science is about dispelling misconceptions.
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