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Cover Story

Cover Story - Spanish Version

Mini-Lesson

Comprehension Quiz

Teacher's Guide and Worksheets

Science in Motion

By Claudia Atticot

What do you get when you cross a scientific law with hip-hop music, a giant Velcro wall and a huge soccer ball? FMA Live! The national science-education road show uses live performers, music videos and hands-on demonstrations to bring scientific principles to life. FMA stands for "force = mass x acceleration," which is the great scientist Isaac Newton's second law of motion.

FMA Live! was created through a partnership between NASA and Honeywell, a technology company. Launched in 2004, FMA travels around the country, giving middle school students lessons on Newton's laws of motion and gravity. "FMA Live! connects science to everyday life and shows that it can be fun, interesting and engaging," Tom Buckmaster, the president of Honey-well Hometown Solutions, told TFK.

During the show, students and teachers interact with actors on stage. Megan Chism, 12, from Vista View Middle School, in Fountain Valley, California, participated in this year's tour. She kicked a giant soccer ball into a net to show that force is determined by mass multiplied by acceleration. In other words, force depends on how big an object is and how fast it's moving. FMA Live! changed Megan's opinion of science. "I didn't really like science," she admits. "But I like it better now that I saw the show."

Ethan Escamilla, 11, from Lake View Elementary School, in Huntington Beach, California, learned that "an object won't stop unless another object, like the Velcro wall, stops it," he says.

FMA Live! has traveled 23,000 miles and reached about 70,000 students. This year, the tour will entertain kids in more than 40 cities. Even Isaac Newton might agree that this show is one unstoppable force.

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