Playground Exploration: An Opportunity for Incidental Learning of Mechanical Principles.

The article focuses on the incidental learning of mechanical principles that occurs on playgrounds. Many children experience principles of mechanics long before their first formal exposure in a science class. On the playground, they experience translatory and rotary motion, forces such as gravity, and attempts to overcome gravity with muscular effort. These efforts result in work and the expenditure of energy. Playing on swings, merry-go-rounds, slides, and teeter-totters helps children understand concepts illustrated by Newton's laws of motion. Unknowingly, they learn about inertia, acceleration, ground reaction forces, and leverage.