Explore: Y7, S4, W5&6
Over the past weeks in Newton’s Toy Workshop, learners explored force, gravity, tension, buoyancy, and motion through challenges and competitions. By the end of the session, those concepts were no longer experiments. They were tools.
Toy Workshop asked each learner to turn physics into a working prototype.
The results were varied and creative. One learner built a slingshot. Another began with that same idea but discovered the tension worked better as a hand-strengthening tool. A gravity-powered car was refined through testing. A rocket launcher took shape after multiple revisions. One learner, noticing stress building during the process, stabbed a Kleenex box with a wooden stick and realized the release felt effective. After testing it with others, she developed the “Anger Box,” designed to release frustration in a contained way.
There was also a magical waterslide, a dollhouse, and several toys that changed significantly from their original plans as learners adjusted to what materials would actually allow.
Exhibition gave parents a chance to test these prototypes and step back into the physics challenges themselves. Families built gravity-powered cars, tested buoyancy with pennies, constructed Da Vinci bridges without glue, and added to a collaborative marble run that grew more complex with each group.
The session ended with something concrete: learners applying physics under time pressure, revising quickly, and presenting work that functioned.
Immediately following Exhibition, learners led their Showcase. This was their opportunity to reflect on the session as a whole: progress toward SMART goals, growth in Writer’s Workshop, challenges and breakthroughs in Quest, and lessons learned along the way. It provided space not only to present work, but to articulate how they grew.
We closed the session with intentional reflection. Learners practiced metacognition, participated in a ho'oponopono to acknowledge mistakes, express gratitude, and reaffirm care for one another, and shared a potluck they organized themselves. Each family contributed one or two dishes, and the community gathered to celebrate the work completed.
Session 4 ended with creation, reflection, forgiveness, gratitude, and shared food!
Next, we look ahead to Community Garden Quest.