Our first field day, and our first graduation. Every Lost Planet Air Cadet is now a full-fledged Lost Planet Airman or Lost Planet Airwoman--(I'll find a way to graduate the two students who were unable to attend the field exercise today).
It was an amazing, and amazingly hot day for our first true field exercise. The cadets truly proved themselves worthy of becoming Lost Planet Airmen and Airwomen. For this investigation we threw darts, using the atlatl. The atlatl is an ancient dart throwing device, which dates back at least 15,000 years, and possibly much further.
This investigation was fun, but it was also educational. While our study of the Paleo/Archaic Natives of the Lower Pecos is technically a social studies investigation, we made sure science and math were involved. The atlatl is an ancient weapon technology used on every continent except Antarctica. We will be discussing how the the atlatl is a simple machine (a third grade lever), and how the dart stores potential elastic energy. We will also graph and analyze the data we recorded today.
This year's sixth grade class may be small, but they excelled in this first field exercise. In the previous three years I've conducted this field event, throwing a dart 60 or more meters put you in first, or at worst, second place.
This year five students threw a dart more than 60 meters. And one student, for the first time threw further than 70 meters--a new Anson Middle School 6th grade record.
In the next three posts welcome our new graduates--No longer Lost Planet Air Cadets--but full-fledged members of Squadrons One, Two, and Three.
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