For several years Mr. Laskowski has assigned mobile projects to seventh graders towards the end of the school year. For this project seventh graders have to create a mobile of fourteen balanced distinct objects based off a chosen theme. Students work with partners to accomplish this goal and have a target of balancing two objects each science class.
The project has been a difficult project, as students face many obstacles. One reason is that “objects kept falling apart,” Justin Hamlin ‘17 remarks. Other obstacles include wooden levers breaking, strings not swinging, strings loosening, mobiles unbalancing, and the objects breaking. Mr. Laskowski speaks of unfortunate events of grading finished mobiles of prior seventh graders, such as entire mobiles crashing and objects loosening from their positions.
The mobile project also requires students to have creativity in addition to balancing skills. Students need to create a complex and dense mobile of a specific theme containing objects of varying material and appearance. None of the material, even levers and string, are provided by the school. The objects must be store bought, found in students’ homes, or made within class. Mr. Laskowski prohibits all seventh graders from making objects at home unless they have a good reason to as well as granted permission from Mr. Laskowski. He wants the mobile project to be done in class rather than at home like most projects assigned by other classes.
The BACC Rag 