Without conferring with the Physics teacher I decided it was Teacher
Exchange Day today, and that I would deliver a physics lesson.
Two lemmings, each weighing 1kg, toddle along toward their eventual
doom in the form of a 50m drop from a cliff into the ocean. Traveling
at 2 kmh it stands to reason that their forward motion will launch
them in a trajectory that will end on a rock a certain distance from
the cliff face. Agreed?
So, with no wind to consider, how far away from the cliff itself will they land?
Three or four bright sparks lept to their feet, scrambled for chalk
and threw themselves at the problem with gusto. After 5 minutes of
isosceles triangles, modifying angles, head scratching, slightly
eccentric muttering and other such scientific activities, a new voice
was heard.
Hao is a rather vocal student. That he took this long to intervene was
remarkable, but intervene he did, “Mr Steve, I know the answer”.
“Go ahead Mr Hao”.
“The lemmings never make it to the bottom because they both hit that
tree and die from the impact”.
Ah, yes. I love creative thinking. Of course, I had no idea what the
real answer was and wasn’t sure where this lesson was headed so I took
this as my cue to report that, “Mr Hao is a genius and has figured it
out. Well done! Here’s a pencil with lemmings on it as a reward.”
(Actually a souvenir from Australia illustrated with koalas).
We had a lot of fun, on top of some other craziness including my
less-than-handsome new haircut, probable perils of dating single
mothers of students, and how to observe a sea turtle underwater for
five minutes without moving or touching anything.
As I left the room a number of students chorused their obvious
bewilderment with, “Who ARE you, and what have you done with Mr
Steve?”
Later, the Physics teacher declared that this problem was far too
advanced for Grade 7. Um, no kidding. She’s still working on it.
