joining forces ks2 resources - winchester …€¦ · · 2014-09-22joining forces ks2 resources...

JOINING FORCES KS2 RESOURCES

Welcome to the KS2 Teacher Resources for Joining Forces.

Joining Forces is a collaborative partnership between three UK science centres -

Intech in Winchester, Techniquest in Cardiff, and Hands On in Oxford. The partner-ship has been funded by the DfES.

The project was developed to help pupils and teachers with the transition from pri-

mary to secondary schools by developing a linked experience. Year 6 pupils visit one of the science centres and participate in a show, and then revisit with their

secondary schools in Year 7 to watch a new show that follows on from the first.

This booklet is for the KS2 session. It includes pre- and post- visit activities based on the forces concepts covered in the Joining Forces show. Each activity has links

to the national curriculum and uses materials that are easily accessible from any local supermarket.

The layout for each activity includes a short introduction, details of what you will need, and how to do the activity. These are followed by a list of ideas on how you

could extend the session. At the back of the booklet there is a glossary of the ac-tivities, which provides a little bit more information on the science involved, how it

relates to real life, and recommended websites.

Activities in this booklet range from worksheet style word searches to competitive challenges. Each activity is designed to be simple, enjoyable and easy to run.

Good luck and have fun!


Super Slime

Science Concept:

Applying a force to an object creates a change in that object. This can be a change of speed, direction, or in the case of this slime, a change in state from a fluid to a

solid.

Curriculum Links:

Sc4 – 2d, e Sc1 – 1b; 2j, l

Sc3 – 1a, e; 2a

You will need:

Corn flour or custard powder

Food colouring Containers to hold slime, and water

Mixing utensils Water

How to make it:

Add a drop of food colouring to your water.

Pour some flour into a container. Gradually add water to the flour, mixing

together slowly, until it is at a good slime consistency (approximately three parts flour

one part water).

Extension Activities:

1. Ask the pupils to try mixing really fast, and then really

slow. It is easier to mix the slime slowly because you are

using less force and therefore giving the flour particles time to roll over each other.

2. Ask the pupils to punch the slime using lots of force and then

try it in slow motion. The slime will harden on impact of the punch, but when done slowly the pupil’s hand will sink right into

the slime. When the slime is punched the flour particles lock together and act like a solid.

Key words: force, push,

pull, speed, particles

Did You Know?

Something about your local science

centre


Friction Climbers

Science concept:

Friction causes forces to exist between objects moving across surfaces. The friction

climber uses friction to hold a picture momentarily to a section of string, while the alter-

nate side is sliding up the string. This allows the picture to climb up the string.

Curriculum Links: Sc4 – 2c, e

Sc1 – 1a, b; 2a, d, g, j, k, l

You will need: Cardboard

Straws

String

Scissors

Tape

How to make it:

Draw a picture on a 10cm/10cm piece of cardboard.

Cut out the picture.

Cut two 3cm pieces of straw.

Tape the straws to the back of the picture, so it looks like it is making an arrow pointing towards the top. Leave

about 1cm gap between the tops of the straws, and 4cm gap between the bottoms.

Feed around 1 metres of string through the straws.

Get a friend to use a pencil to hold out the loop in between the two straws.

Alternatively pull each end of string. This will move the climber up the string towards the pencil.


1. Have the pupils draw pictures of their favourite animal. Using long pieces of string race

the animals to see which is the fastest.

2. Have the pupils’ chose from a range of different types of string to see which one pro-duces the most/least friction. If you have too much friction then the straw can’t move up

the string very well, but if you have too little friction then the alternate straw can’t grab

onto anything to stop it from sliding.

Key words: force, push, pull, friction,

surfaces, motion, investigation


Magnet Board Games

Science Concept:

Forces of attraction exist between magnets and magnetic materials. We can use this force to alter speed and direction of magnetic materials, even guiding them

through a maze.

Curriculum Links:

Sc4 – 2a, e

Sc1 – 1 a, b; 2 a, l

You will need:

Magnets

Paper Pencils

Paper clips/drawing pins Cork

Decorative materials

How to make it:

Draw a maze on the paper.

Guide the paper clip through the maze by holding the magnet under

the paper.


1. Create a racetrack, with some cars made from

corks with drawing pins in them.

2. Create characters out of materials such as cork, with a thumbtack in them so the movement of the magnet can control them. Design a stage out of a cardboard

box and make a show!

Teacher Demo

Add iron filings to a bottle of oil. Hold the

magnet against the bottle to see the

magnet’s field in three dimensions!

Key words: force, push, pull, magnet

attraction, magnetic repulsion, speed,


After Show Games

Word Search:

See appendix one for a copy of the Joining Forces word search puzzle. This eighteen-word puzzle is a quick easy activity that will reinforce the educational material in the Joining

Forces show.

Action Forces:

This activity combines movement with knowledge of forces. As a force is called out pupils need to perform the action for that force.

Now call out an object or action. The pupils need to decide which force is

taking place, and therefore what action they need to do. This can be good to show that at times there are many forces acting on the one object. For

example a sailboat is under a push force with the wind, friction with the water, and because it is on earth there is gravity too.

Bingo with Forces:

See appendix two for a copy of the bingo grid and worksheet. Have the pupils

number their grid randomly. You call out a number and they put the answer to that particular question from the worksheet into the grid that they have that num-

ber allocated to. When they have four in a row (horizontally, vertically or diago-nally) they can call ‘Bingo’. If they have the correct answers for each question then

they have won. You can continue to play until all the questions on the worksheet have been answered.

Force Action

Push Far end of the room

Pull Closest end of the room

Gravity Lying flat on the ground

Magnet Reaching towards the ceiling

Friction Freeze


Egg Protection

Science Concept:

There are a number of ways to decrease the force of impact on an object during a fall. Have the children create a parachute, which uses air resistance to save the egg from

breaking on impact. Encourage the children to draw a picture of their design, labelling the

direction of the forces gravity and air resistance.

Curriculum Links:

Sc4 – 2b, c, d, e Sc1 – 1a, b; 2a, b, c, e, j, k, l, m

You will need:

Plastic bags Paper String

Tape Straws

Scissors Eggs

How to make it:

Get the pupils to create some kind of protection, using only the above materials.

Go to an area where it is possible for the eggs to be dropped and cracked. The parachutes will

require close to a second story fall in order to open in time to save the egg. Drop each creation, looking to see which ones survive

the force of the crash the best. NOTE: Put the eggs in sandwich bags to stop them making a mess.

Extension activities:

1. A great way to add a touch of competition to this exercise is to have a point system.

Each group is allowed to buy up to 20 points of materials. Give each material (paper, string etc) a value. This will mean that not only do students have to decide what kind of protection to provide, but also whether they can make the sort of creation they want with

the funds they have available.

Teacher Demo

Put and egg into a cup of water

and it will sink. Now dissolve salt

into the water and try the egg

again. If there is enough salt in the

water the egg will float.


Forces Challenge

Science Concept:

Different shapes are able to withstand differing levels of force. Shapes such as triangles, domes and cylinders are used in building structures because of their ability to handle great

amounts of force. Creating a tower that is not only the highest, but can also hold the

weight of a cup of water, requires understanding of forces and design.

Curriculum Links:

Sc4 – 2b, d, e Sc1 – 1a, b; 2a, b, c, e, j, k, l, m

You will need:

20 straws per group

1m of tape per group Plastic cups

Water

How to make it:

The challenge is to make the tallest tower using only the straw and tape provided.

The tallest tower that will hold a plastic cup field with water (alternatively a 500g weight) is the winner of the challenge.


1. A great way to lead up to building the towers is to look at shapes that can withstand high levels of force. Make a bridge using two books as the side structures, with a piece of paper

across the top as the bridge. How much force can this structure take? How can we make it hold

more? The easiest and strongest shape to make is the little triangles that you get from folding the

paper back and forth into a fan.

3. Another strong shape is a cylinder. Holding a toilet roll show how it can withstand a large

amount of force on its ends but forces from the side can easily crush the role.

Key words: force, gravity,

push, pull, structure, cylinder


Elastic Band Boats

Science Concept:

This activity uses pupils knowledge of elastic bands to create a forces, while combining it

with the notion that floating occurs when the forces weight and up thrust are balanced.

Curriculum Links:

Sc4 – 2d, e

Sc1 – 1b; 2a, b, c, j, k, l

Sc3 – 1e

You will need:

Thick cardboard (or Polystyrene)

Foil Tape Scissors

Elastic bands Water tray

Water Pencil

How to make it:

Using the template provided in appendix three, trace an outline of a boat on the card-board.

Cut out the outline. Cover in foil to make it waterproof. Slot the two propeller pieces together.

Fit the elastic band over the outside of the edges, going across the hole. Slot one edge of the propeller between the rubber band strands.

Wind the propellers, which will wind the elastic band. Place on water and release the propeller.


1.Test a range of objects to see if they float or sink. Remind pupils that when an object is

floating its weight is being balanced by the up thrust. If an object sinks then these forces are not balanced and the weight is not held by the up thrust.

2. Draw the objects that you have tested on the board, have children draw arrows to rep-

resent the forces.

Key words: force, push, pull, energy,

elastic bands, floating, sinking, up thrust, weight


Appendix One– Joining Forces Word Search

B M N O I S L U P E R U N B Y I

O A P U L L G A I N O I T O M B

X N E O M O R H Q I B T J E O T

M A T R S T E S I N K I N G O H

R F N F I L E U N A E L E H E E

E S O C H C E P V O C U D E M N

F S L R A S E F E E I P T Q O M

H E B F C O R T S X H T V L C P

S R R F Z E H T T P N H C T C A

O U Z I L G A A I E M R L I V R

S T I I I O O K G R E U C Z R D

S C T E N G A M A I S S P M O F

T U W R T B R T T M H T E R E G

G R A V I T Y E I E E S N N L N

A T T R A C T I O N C Y D S Y E

E S C F I K G L N T G X S Y J N

Find the following hidden words:

1. attraction

2. experiment 3. floating

4. force 5. friction

6. gravity

7. investigation 8. magnet

9. motion 10. particles

11. pull 12. push

13. repulsion 14. sinking

15. structures 16. surfaces

17. upthrust 18. weight


Appendix Two – Forces Bingo

Worksheet Questions

1. Name one type of force.

2. When we jump we are pulled back towards earth by what force?

3. What makes our hands heat up when we rub them together?

4. What was the name of the man who came up with the rules for forces?

5. Does a sailboat use a push or a pull force?

6. Does a lawn mower use a push or a pull force?

7. What force do we use when passing a ball in netball/basketball?

8. Give an example of good friction.

9. Give an example of bad friction.

10. Name an invisible force.

11. True or False. Magnets can produce both pushing and pulling forces?

12. True or False. The earth is a giant magnet.

13. True or False. Bridges use strong curves to spread out the force.

14. True or False. Arch shapes, like light bulbs, cannot handle much force.

15. Name one way of moving heavy objects.

16. What is the name of the device used in the Joining Forces show to lift the teacher?


Appendix Three – Elastic Boat Template


Glossary of Activities

Super Slime:

Children (and adults) love this slime because it acts in an unusual way. This fascination

creates plenty of opportunities for discussions on forces.

There are a number of key areas that can be covered here:

That forces act in a particular direction,

That forces can make things speed up, slow down, or change direction,

That when objects are pushed or pulled, an opposing pull or push can be felt.

A pupil punching the slime is a force in a downward direction. The interesting thing with this slime, is that the faster the downward force, the faster the particles are forced to move out of the way. This means that the particles don’t have time to role over each other

and therefore, when punched hard, form a hard solid surface.

This is a great way to show that when objects are pushed or pulled, an opposing pull or

push can be felt, as the pupils can actually see this in practice.

Can you imagine trying to walk on this slime? Elephants have evolved with feet that can

walk in mud like this slime, without difficulty. When they put their foot down in the mud it expands. When they withdraw their foot the circumference becomes smaller, which in turn

reduces the suction.

Go to: www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2XQ97XHjVw to see some people walking on this su-per slime. For a list of interactive websites on forces look at: classroom.jc-schools.net/sci-

units/force.htm

Friction Climbers:

Friction is a phenomenon that occurs when two objects rub against each other. Friction

slows moving objects and may prevent objects from starting to move.

Get the class to look closely at the friction climber in action. When you pull on a string, the creature moves so the straw on that string becomes parallel to the string and slides easily

along. The movement means the other straw is perpendicular to the string, which creates

a lot of friction, and so this side at this time, will not move along the straw.

In real life there is good and bad friction. We need friction between our shoes and the ground so that we don’t fall over all the time (like the person who steps on the banana peel). Sometimes we want to reduce the amount of friction on things to slow down the

amount of wear and tear, or to make something go faster. A water slide is a great exam-ple of reducing friction to increase speed, and to decrease the amount of wear and tear on

our bottoms.

Go to: www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/8_9/friction.shtml for an online interactive look at

friction.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2XQ97XHjVw

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/8_9/friction.shtml


Magnetic Board Games:

Magnetism is an invisible force by which objects attract or push away other materials.

Magnets are made from materials that contain traces of nickel, cobalt or iron.

In the magnetic board games the magnets are able to attract the paper clip or thumbtack,

and therefore by moving the magnet we are able to move these objects. The force of the magnet is felt through cardboard or paper, allowing us to build a stage of cardboard, or a

racetrack from paper, and be able to guide our characters or cars, while out of sight.

Magnets are used all the time in everyday life. Can you find any around your home? Try looking at your kitchen cupboard latches, knife racks, and on your fridge. Magnets are

found in many electrical devices too.

For an interactive web activity with a quiz on magnets, go to: www.bbc.co.uk/schools/

scienceclips/ages/7_8/magnets_springs.shtml

Forces Challenge:

The shape of an object affects how much force it can handle. Cylinders, triangles and

domes are all strong shapes because of the way they spread forces throughout their struc-

tures.

Get the pupils to record the shapes of the buildings around their neighbourhood. Draw

these shapes adding in arrows to show were forces occur.

This website has a nice series of interactive activities, which show why and how different

shapes distribute forces: www.pbs.org/wgbh/buildingbig/lab/forces.html

Egg Protection:

Gravity is a force that pulls matter together. Things that have more matter, like planets and moons, pull more strongly. Although gravity is a force that we all feel, it can be a hard

concept to understand. In the show the topic of gravity is introduced when a volunteer is asked to jump into the air and stay there. They can’t do this because gravity is pulling

them back to the ground.

People use parachutes to create air resistance when they jump from an aeroplane to coun-teract the force of gravity. To increase air resistance we need to increase the size of our

parachute. This activity has the children making a parachute from basic objects that will

decrease the force of impact so an egg doesn’t break from a fall.

The nice thing about this activity is that it encourages children to experiment with differ-

ent materials and shapes to creatively explore the science of forces.

For an animated space and gravity activity head to: amazing-space.stsci.edu/resources/

explorations/impact/home.html


Elastic Band Boat

Floating and sinking is a nice way of demonstrating that when an object asserts a push or a pull an opposing push or pull can be felt. If an object is able to float in water then the

force of the boat pushing down, is balanced by the water pushing up on the boat. If an ob-

ject sinks then these forces aren’t balanced.

We can increase the force applied by the water, by increasing the area of boat in contact the water. By increasing the area of boat we are increasing the amount of water that the boat pushes aside. It is this displacement of water that creates the up thrust force re-

quired to keep the boat afloat.

Look around your playground and test a range of objects that both sink and float.

For more information on floating and sinking, see: www.spartechsoftware.com/reeko/Experiments/floating.htm

http://www.spartechsoftware.com/reeko/Experiments/floating.htm

http://www.spartechsoftware.com/reeko/Experiments/floating.htm

joining forces ks2 resources - winchester …€¦ · · 2014-09-22joining forces ks2 resources...

Documents