Brielle’s WorldWorkshops · Maker shed
Two Gears
“Two gears. Which way will the little one turn?”
A small gear meshes with a big one. Your child guesses which way the little one will turn, then turns the crank and watches.
What your child does
- Guess first: Your child says which way the second gear will spin.
- Test it: They put the two gears together and turn the crank two times. Gears that touch spin opposite ways.
- Try again: The fan spins the wrong way. Your child adds a gear in the middle and sees what happens.
The problem-solving skill: cause and effect in a machine
Following how one moving part drives the next, and using that to make a machine do what you want.
Try it at home
Look at an egg beater, a bike chain or a toy with gears and turn it slowly together. Ask your child to guess first, then try it together.
Two Gears is one of the workshops in the Brielle’s World app for iPhone and iPad, which is coming soon to the App Store. You can visit it now on the clay island.
More workshops
- Ramp & Roll: running a fair test
- Steady Tank: estimating, then checking
- Robot delivery: planning steps and fixing a plan
- Balance Scale: comparing and adjusting
- Fair Share Plates: sharing equally and rethinking a plan
- Kite in the wind: noticing and describing