Flying High – HHJS Science Week 2013

Classroom Investigation Ideas

The focus of all the investigations the children do this week should be the
development, practice and application of science skills. The balloon
page at the back of the log book has levelled statements about
investigative skills; the children should be encouraged to think about
when they have achieved each of these, and then colour in the
appropriate balloon.

1) Paper spinners this is a ‘must do’ as is the basis for the inter-class
challenge

2) Paper aeroplanes

3) Falling asteroids – making craters

4) Ring wing gliders

5) Falling paper shapes

6) Flying paper rectangles

7) Parachutes

8) Nature’s parachutes – dandelions

9) Bishop’s hats

10) Feel the force – air resistance

1) Paper spinners
Resources: Paper spinner template,
sugar paper, paper clips,
scissors

Give each child a copy of the spinner template and draw their
attention to the lines – dotted lines are for folding and solid lines for
cutting. They should cut and fold the spinner and put a paper clip at
the bottom of the spinner. They should hold the top of the spinner
between their fingers and let it fall to the ground.

The children can then be encouraged to think of all the factors that
might affect how fast the spinner falls (length of wings, width of wings,
length of tail, width of tail, number of paper clips, height of drop, etc.)

They can then design a fair test to find out how one factor affects the
time the spinner takes to fall (probably best for children to work in pairs
and use two spinners – one test and one control – and compare these
when dropped at the same time, rather than time with a stopwatch)
After the children have had time to explore/carry out a fair test, give
them the question: “How can we make the slowest spinner?”
Explain that as a class, they need to produce one spinner, that falls as
slowly as possible. This will then be their class entry to the competition
between all classes which will happen on Friday.
The rules are:
• the spinner itself has to be made only from one layer of
paper/card
• the weights have to be paper clips
• the basic design should be based on the one provided (ie will
open out as a rectangle), but adaptations to this are allowed
• no glue or tape
• no restrictions on the number of paper clips you can use
• no restrictions on size or proportions of the spinner
Paper spinner template and folding/cutting instructions

FOLD along the dotted lines

CUT along the solid lines

FOLD the two wings in opposite

directions

PAPER CLIP the tail of the spinner

2) Paper aeroplanes

Resources: Sheets of paper, paper clips, stopwatches

Website: Paper Aeroplanes

http://www.paperaeroplanes.com has lots of different kinds of paper

plane designs with clear picture instructions for making them. The
children can make two or more designs and test them against each
other. This is a good opportunity for them to recognise that repeating
tests several times will mean that they obtain more reliable results. They
should be encouraged to think about what it is about a particular
design that makes it a better plane.

NB ‘better’ could mean will fly higher, further, for longer, more reliably
etc. – the children can define their own criteria for this.
3) Falling asteroids - making craters

Resources: Trays/bowls of sand, marbles – 3 different sizes, rulers

Look at the notebook file in science week resources to introduce how

the craters in the moon were made (see also the background
information for teachers slide at end)

Give the children time to discuss why they think some moon craters are
bigger than others. If they were going to make their own craters with
marbles and sand, how would they do this?

Allow time for the children to explore dropping marbles into dry or
damp sand and then, as a group, discuss what they observed. Did they
notice how crater size was influenced by a) height of drop b) marble
size and c) using damp or dry sand? N.B. Drop heights of 15 and 30 cm
are sufficient to show up differences in crater size.

Ask the children, working in small groups, to pick one of above factors
to test further. Talk about fair testing and the need to only change one
thing at a time e.g. if marble size is the factor chosen then the height of
the drop and the type of sand should be kept the same each time.

The children also need to decide how will they measure their craters.
The easiest measurement to take is the crater diameter – but some
children might also suggest crater depth (which of course is also likely to
vary but not so easy to measure). The children should be aware of
differences in results and the need to repeat their test several times.

If they want to do more ….. Try making craters using different materials in
the trays; you could try sugar, flour, play dough or something else?
Predict which will be best for crater-making and test this out.
4) Ring wing gliders

Resources: Straws, masking tape, strips of paper

The children need to cut two strips of paper, one slightly shorter than the
other and make them into rings and attach them to the ends of the
straw as shown. This is a ring wing glider. They should try flying the glider
with the smaller ring at the front. Once they have made it work, they
can be encouraged to think what else they could explore, e.g. what
happens if:

• they try flying it with the bigger ring at the front

• they vary the diameter of one or both circles
• they vary the width of the strips of paper
• they vary where on the straw they attach the circles

They could either do this as an open ended exploration, or as a fair test.

5) Falling paper shapesare some extra things that you can

Resources: Pieces of paper, rulers, scissors, stopwatches (optional)

Get the children to think about different things that fall through air – e.g.
parachutists, diving birds, sycamore seeds, butterflies, and also things
like balls. Ask the question, does the shape of an object give a clue as
to how it will fall through the air?

The children can take 4 pieces of A4 paper and change the shape and
size of three of them by folding one in half, one into quarters and
scrunching one into a ball. They can then compare how long each
(including an unchanged flat sheet) takes to fall to the ground. This is
best done by dropping them at the same time from the same height
rather than trying to time with a stopwatch. This will be a fair test as the
mass of each piece of paper is the same – this is why it is important to
use whole sheets of paper for each shape.

If they want to do more …..Get the children to investigate if they can

change the time it takes a piece of flat A4 paper to fall to the ground if
the drop it at different angles, or perpendicular, rather than parallel, to
the ground.
6) Flying paper rectanglese are some extra things that you can

Resources: Pieces of A3 paper, rulers, scissors, stopwatches (optional)

This is similar to the previous falling paper shapes investigation; this time
though, the paper is kept flat and made into rectangles of different
dimensions but with identical area. The children take a piece of A3
paper and measure and cut out 3 rectangles – one long and thin (1 x
40cm), one short and fat (4 x 10cm) and one in between (2 x 20cm). All
have the same area. The children can discuss how they are going to
test these, which could be time to fall as above or how well the paper
travels if launched through the air.

Things to encourage the children to think about:

• What they will be looking for (e.g. time in the air, amount of
fluttering or twirling, distance the paper travels sideways from
launch point, or a mixture of some or all of these)
• How they will test one shape against another
• Whether it matters how the paper shape is launched into the air
(thrown up, dropped long-end first, short-end first)
• Whether each test should be carried out more than once (yes!)

As with the falling shapes, a stopwatch could be used to time how long
the paper shapes remain in the air, but because of the relatively short
flight times, a more accurate method of comparing shapes is simply to
drop them together in pairs and see which one lands first.

If they want to do more …..Get the children to choose one of their

paper rectangles and make several of the same dimensions. Then they
can see if by small alterations to the shape whether they can make a
difference to the flight pattern (e.g. round all of the rectangle corners,
round opposite corners, create some zigzags, scrunch it up, or any other
ideas the children may have.

Or they could try adding weight in the form of a paper clip and see if
this affects how the shape moves through the air and if it matters where
they attach the weight.
7) Parachutes

Resources: selection of materials – e.g. paper, plastic bag, foil,

fabric, string, weight of some kind (could use
plasticene), masking tape

This could take the form of an open ended exploration where the
children experiment with making different kinds of parachutes and
observing what happens when they make changes.

The children could also carry out a fair test. Factors they may
investigate could be varying the material used, the shape, the size, the
weight on the end, or the length or numbers of the strings.

It is probably best to use four strings, attached by masking tape. More

than four is time consuming and less than four can make it harder for
the parachute to work.

The children might choose to use a stopwatch to time how long it takes
to fall. They may realise that it will give them a more accurate result to
drop two parachutes together and compare which one falls faster.
They should also be encouraged to repeat measurements to give a
more accurate result.
8) Nature’s parachutes – dandelions

Resources: Dandelion seed heads, hand lenses, scissors,

stopwatches

Children can observe the seed head of a dandelion using hand lenses.
Each child then removes from the head a single seed with its
‘parachute’ attached and watch what happens when they drop it.
They can time the fall with a stopwatch. Then they can explore what
happens when they make changes to the seed and its parachute (e.g.
removing one or more of the tiny ‘hairs’, cutting the ‘hairs’ shorter,
cutting off the seed itself).

The children could start this exploration by being given a question to

answer, e.g. How could you make the seed fall faster/slower?

This could also work as a fair test investigation. The children would need
to assume that each seed and its ‘parachute’ are identical to the
others.
9) Bishops’ hats
Resources: A4 paper, scissors

A Bishop's hat is made by folding and cutting a piece of A4 paper to

create an isosceles right angled triangle and then folding the
hypotenuse twice inwards thinly, before joining the ends to form a mitre
or Bishop's hat. The hat is held horizontally near the tail with the tail on
the underside of the model and released. As it falls the Bishop’s hat will
gently glide across the classroom.

This could be started as a challenge, where the children are given a

piece of paper and told they need to find a way of making it float
across the classroom. They can cut or fold the paper in any way they
wish but can’t apply any force to it when they let it go.

When they have made a hat, they can investigate what happens when
they make changes to it, e.g. bending the tail up or down.
10) Feel the force – air resistance
Resources: large squares of sugar paper, stopwatches, string

The children should be given instructions about doing this investigation.

The focus is on collecting data and interpreting the evidence. They do
not need to plan it themselves. This is partly also to ensure that they
work safely, e.g. they must be reminded about running sensibly when
they are running together.

In this investigation the children will explore air resistance by running

across the playground with and without added air resistance. The
easiest way to give them added air resistance is for them to run with a
large piece of paper in front of them. For this to work the children need
to run in pairs side by side, each holding a top and bottom corner of
the piece of paper. They should repeat this (or do it first) without the
paper, either holding both hands high and low as if they had the paper
there, or with a square of string the same size as the paper to hold.
Each pair will need another child or two to start, stop and time them.
They can swap roles after each test is complete.

The children should notice how much harder it is to run with the paper
than without. They should also obtain results that support this. They can
take the investigation further by varying the speeds, ie comparing the
size of the difference the paper makes when they are walking, jogging
and running. They should find that the faster they are moving, the
greater the difference the paper makes.

They could also do a more ambitious investigation by using a more

substantial prop than a piece of paper, e.g. blanket. If they do this,
they will need more reminders about working safely.