Improvement of a “Straw Balance” to Learn the Rules of Lever Balance and its Effectiveness: Through the Lesson Practice of 6th Grade “Lever Regularity”

Abstract

In this study, we improved the “straw balance,” a teaching material that became easier to use and increased the degree of freedom in using weights for 6th grade elementary school students to learn about “regularity of levers”, and practiced it in class. The “straw balance” can be easily made, using materials that are readily available, and allows students to discover the “regularity of levers” through individual experiments. By experimenting and thinking with the “straw balance”, the students realized that the rules can be understood with the idea of ratios (proportionality and inverse proportion) when levers are balanced, and derive the equation for the balance of levers. By analyzing the discussions in class and the answers to the questionnaire survey conducted after class, we found that the “straw balance” was effective in helping children “derive equations for lever balance” and that students were able to solve problems. It was found that it contributed to an improvement in the willingness to try, and the effectiveness of the improved teaching materials was inferred.