Balancing Mobiles
Students join the League of Young Inventors to investigate why a mobile at an art museum won't hang straight. Through hands-on experiments like building mini seesaws and constructing model mobiles, they discover how gravity, weight, and position work together to create balance. The unit builds toward the final design challenge, where students design and build their own themed mobile sculptures, testing, evaluating, and redesigning until everything hangs just right.
What Students Learn
How gravity pulls on objects and causes unbalanced systems to tip
How both the weight of objects and where they are placed affect balance
What a pivot point is and how it works in seesaws and mobiles
What counterbalance means and how to use it to fix an unbalanced design
Authentic experience with Science and Engineering Practices
What's Included
8 slide-based lessons with embedded graphics and media
Step-by-step teacher guide with facilitation notes
Student worksheet packet with pre/post assessment
All hands-on building materials
Maker skill video tutorials
NGSS Alignment
K-PS2-1
K-PS2-2
K-2-ETS1-1
K-2-ETS1-2
K-2-ETS1-3