Exploring Science

Over the last week students have been using their scientific knowledge to create real-life designs of different machines.

Grade 4

Over the last month the Grade 4's have been learning the ins and outs of simple machines. We have used our mini-books to organize our thoughts and our research. Grade 4's are becoming experts in Managing and Evaluating Information. We have watched videos about machines, researched them, designed them in 3D and looked at a variety of real life examples. It was time for students to put their design thinking to the test and create their very own simple machine that would not only include one or more of the machines we have learned (wheels and axles, pulleys, drive train, chains, levers - just to name a few) but would also work!
Students researched different designs and eventually came up with their own. We have everything from balloon powered cards to dog food feeding machines!
Students will be able to describe how their machine works and show it off to the class next week during Science Presentations. I can't wait for you to see these machines when they bring them home.

   
      

                         

Grade 5

As we continue our weather unit the Grade 5's have been looking at the movement of air. How location can contribute to the flow of air and the temperature. This week students began designing a machine that would help them determine the direction of wind and how strong the force of the wind was. In a group we talked about why this might be important and students had so many insightful answers. For example, one student replied "if we lived somewhere that there were tornados we might need to know which direction it was coming from and use the wind speed to determine how fast it would get to us." We have tested many of our devices and have encountered many obstacles in our quest for the perfect machine. We have learned that while some machines we made can detect wind from one direction if it is coming from a different way it doesn't work properly. We will be continuing to trouble shoot our devices next week before final testing and presentations.
Students will bring the devices home to share with their families and predict the weather at their houses!