This term we have been exploring forces. Using this knowledge and understanding we spent the morning designing and constructing our own bottle rockets.
The pupils were working in pairs to design a rocket that they thought would be aerodynamic and light, but withstand enough pressure to create optimum thrust (and distance) for launch day.
We are looking forward to finishing the project at the beginning of the next term and seeing who’s rocket performed the best on launch day!
This afternoon we have been building on our understanding of forces. We began the afternoon with discussions over what forces are and how they are used to propel rockets to space. We also looked at the impact friction, air and water resistance have on movement of objects.
These discussions then created more interest on rocket launches, with questions of how is a rocket launched and what happens when it goes wrong? We watched a few video clips to gain a better understanding.
After this, it was our chance to put some of this learning into action with investigations into how size and material (friction) impact on the distance a balloon rocket travels along a “track”.
This will form the foundations for further understanding and applications of our forces investigations.
This morning we worked in pairs to see how strong we could make a bridge using only paper …
We investigated how a simple activity of adding folds or additional support structures could greatly increase the mass that one piece of paper could support.
Some then explored how this differed if we used card instead of paper.
There was a clear buzz in the classroom during the activity and it was great to see so many groups working so well together.
Well done P5/6
There has been much excitement this term for both myself and the P5/6 pupils as we have started our 4 week block of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) sessions with Emma Chittick, from Skills Development Scotland (SDS).
SDS are trying to encourage more pupils to consider future STEM careers by introducing them to ‘fun’ STEM activities through the latter years of primary school.
All pupils have been working really hard and enjoying the challenges set by Emma. So far we have used our coding skills to get our robots to orbit the Earth. Some of us were able to simulate a launch and change from a small orbit to a large orbit. This week we looked at “space junk” – we were able to programme the robots to orbit the Earth and divert around an obstacle to prevent dammage to our satellite.
I think the below comments from the pupils show how much they are enjoying this activity.
“STEM is really good” – Frankie
“STEM is really good because we get to learn with robots. I enjoy learning different things to do.” – Isabel and Kelsi.
“It’s good because it’s about robotics.” – Robert and Ronan
“We are enjoying it. It is fun” – Carla and Kayla
“It is quite hard at the moment but it’s fun.” – Robbie and Lucien
“It’s good, I love it, it’s my favourite thing to do.” – Amy
Emma Chittick came to help us with some more exciting programming on Tuesday. We had to make our robot move along a complicated route, making sharp turns, picking up and dropping ‘parcels’ and returning to base. Ms Scanlan was very impressed with what the class were able to do by the end of the session.
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