This year for Engineering
week, 4th Class took a trip to Bray Library to meet with a local
Bray Engineer to learn about the important role of being an engineer. We
learned that in order
for structures to be built, many engineers are needed. These include – civil,
electrical, energy, mechanical, plumbing, structural and technological
engineers.
We focused
on structural engineering and had the opportunity to take part in a fun STEM engineering
activity: ‘The
Marshmallow Challenge’.
The objective
of ‘The Marshmallow Challenge’:
To construct a tower as high as
possible using only uncooked spaghetti and marshmallows.
The tallest tower would need to
be able to stand unassisted.
Instructions:
4th class were divided
into groups.
They had only 20 minutes.
Each group could only use the
materials provided.
They could not use any other
materials to assist in the support of their tower.
Spaghetti could be broken into smaller
pieces.
The task was challenging but 4th class
were extremely creative engineers and the results were very impressive.
Conclusion:
After the task was complete we talked about the
following:
If the placing
of the marshmallows affected the strength of the tower.
What other
materials could be used.
If the size of
the base affected the strength of the tower.
Whether all
groups worked in the same way.
All the groups worked really hard and designed amazing towers
in all different ways. The groups all agreed that teamwork was very important
for this task. Well done 4th Class!
Each year St Peters has a proud tradition in
exploring all the rudiments of the wonderful world of STEM/Science and of entering
the ESB Science Blast. This year was no different.
As an innovative 6th class we have a great interest in sports and fitness and so chose to look at how we could improve our general health .
Researching under the science stand of Living Things, this idea then evolved and became more specific as we looked into which type of training improves our 10 metre sprint times the most.
We began the hard work in October and worked
diligently over 16 training sessions to our final sprint race.
We had some challenges to overcome due to the
weather, injury, and issues with the batteries for the rechargeable sprint
gates and timer.
We became aware of and learnt from mistakes like
not crossing the beam and not pushing off the wall.
But overall, as we are sure you will enjoy reading
below, we are all the luckier for taking part in the ESB Science Blast. We
thoroughly enjoyed conducting and participating in our experiment and look
forward wholeheartedly to continuing this yearly tradition.
Our minds are more curious, hearts so full and our
brains are even more inspired.
Here is our entry, we hope you enjoy it and would
be delighted to receive any feedback you can provide to further our future endeavours
in the world of Science and STEM.
Warm regards,
6th Class, St Peters PS, Bray.
Question?
Which
type of training improves our ten metre sprinting time the most?
Hypothesis
We
predict that all groups will improve their time and the plyometric group shall
improve the most.
Resources : Timing gates, Hand held
digital recording device, Mat, Measuring tape, 10m flat surface, Parachutes, Hurdles
Designing
our fair test :
We
started by revising what we already know about our bodies and the importance of
healthy eating and exercise.
We
identified some ways that all of us exercise in school, at home and in our
communities eg. Walking, soccer, PE, Fit Fridays, Cross Country, Rugby, Boxing,
Athletics
We noted
each others experience of training, the different ways you can train and all
the sports we’re involved in as a group.
As part
of our research, we invited the U23 Munster 100 metre sprint champion Amy
Cronin to come and speak with us.
Next we
split into 5 groups; Walking, Repeat Sprinting, Plyometrics, Parachutes and
Stretching.
We
decided that our walking group would be our control group. The walking group
would walk at a normal pace around the school yard.
The
repeat sprinting group would sprint 10metres x 4 with 1 minute break between
each run.
The
plyometrics group would have 2 tasks to do; hop over a hurdle on each leg x 4
and a standing jump x 4.
The
parachute group would complete : 4 x 20m runs with a parachute, 20 seconds
break in between and 2 x 20m runs without a parachute
The
stretching group would stretch their calves, quads and hamstrings.
To make
sure that this test was fair we made sure that we always wore runners, that we
always timed our runs on a flat 10m surface and that we always ate the same
food on the day of our run.
Procedure
Next, in
October we timed ourselves using timing gates placed 10m apart and recorded our
runs on a digital handheld device. These times were very important as they gave
us exact information about the times each group was achieving.
From
October to February we trained in our groups weekly, fitting in 18 sessions. We
always trained together as a whole class. Each group had a leader who directed
us through our exercises.
Finally
in February, we held our last training session and our last timed run came. We
carefully measured 10metres. We carefully placed our timing gates 10m apart. We
set up our recording devices. We put our heart into running our level best. We
recorded each score on an excel document.
Afterwards
we presented our data in a pie chart.
Conclusion
The
stretching group improved by 6%, plyometrics by 5%, walking by 4% and the
parachute and sprinting group improved by 3% each.
We learnt
a lot about the importance of exercise in our everyday lives. Coaches are
always trying to research new ways to get fit, we want to do training sessions
that are both fun and health promoting. We discovered that the science of
fitness is all about F.I.T.T. – Frequency, Intensity, Type and Time.
We are
now committed to getting F.I.T.T. and always do our best to move to improve.
Recently, we were very excited to receive a visit from Sophie from Microsoft Ireland. Sophie taught us all about the importance of coding in today’s world. We really enjoy learning with technology in St Peter’s and we love to try out new tools and ways of learning.
We really enjoyed our visit from Sophie – her Minecraft workshop was fascinating and made us think about it in a whole new light!
Since Sophie’s visit, we’ve been working really hard to develop our skills. We’ve really been enjoying our work on Hour of Code – you can join in here. Thank you to Sophie and to Microsoft for such an inspiring visit!
In first class, we became engineers, we made our very own catapults! Here’s how we did it:
Firstly, we had to investigate how catapults worked. We watched different videos which showed us loads of different catapults, how they were made and how they worked! Each group then decided which catapult they wanted to make.
Each group then decided on the materials they wanted to use. They could choose from straws, lollipop sticks, bottle caps, plastic spoons, pipe cleaners, elastic bands, sellotape and plastic. For their design, they needed to choose the materials that would keep their catapult strong and easy to fire!
Then, first class set off on their task, trying different methods to make the catapults! Once one group mastered the task they set off to offer advice to other groups!
Finally, it was test time! We fired snowballs from our catapults to see who could get the longest distance, we discussed why this catapult worked so well and it turned out that it had the tightest elastic bands on it!
We spoke about being engineers, designing our catapults using various materials and demonstrated how our catapults worked at the school assembly.
Our school garden is a project we undertook as part of our Discover Primary Science and Maths project, and our sustainability project a number of years ago that has continued to be popular with pupils and classes.
Our landscaping skills have been put to to the test in planning and maintaining the garden and have even had parents in to help with plants and ideas.
Being adjacent to our infants yard, both junior and senior infants are constantly on patrol for guests who have escaped from our bug motel, ensuring they are returned to their rooms uninhibited. It is often with delight children will carry worms and critters to teachers during break time to ask if they can be returned to the garden!
We cant wait for the next few months to see all the wonderful foliage that springs up in our garden.
5th class have really enjoyed using Lego WeDo
this year to create lots of different constructions that we then program to
move 😊
We really love Lego WeDo because it’s easy to use and allows us to use our coding skills. We love taking part in STEM challenges and recently built our own models. We worked in teams and had collaborate to build our chosen creation. We used our tablets to follow the instructions and to make sure that our Lego was built correctly – although it’s important to remember you can be as creative as possible and some of us added some ‘special additions’ to our models 😊
Just before we tested the windmill model!
We know that STEM stands for ‘Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics’ and during our model challenge, we got to use all of these skills! We talked about how important the engineering aspect of this challenge was, our models needed to be able to move freely so it was important to consider where to put wheels and battery packs to allow for this. Technology allowed us to program our models to move which was the most exciting part!
Most groups decided to follow the instructions carefully and build a ‘simple’ model first, but our confidence soon grew and before we knew it we had created models of cranes that could shake and simulate an earthquake!
Programming on the tablets proved to be quite exciting as we added further instructions to control the movements of the Lego models. We loved trying new coding combinations to see which worked best and we felt confident doing this after completing a Microsoft coding course earlier in the year 😊 Coding allows us to control how the model moved and we input codes or instructions like ‘turn left’, ‘spin’ and ‘travel backwards’.
Making some adjustments to our model!
We learned that it was important to listen to our teammates and enjoyed adding in our own extra challenges, for example, building ‘roads’ for our tank model to travel on. We used paper and cardboard to do this and were very pleased when we successfully coded the model to travel along the ‘road’!
Finishing our crane model!
Our Lego WeDo models were even featured on RTÉ’s Nationwide and we’re so proud we could explain how Lego WeDo works, so that lots of other children can get involved in STEM challenges!
Recently,
2nd class wanted to investigate different methods of transport for
Santa Claus. This was stimulated by a question I posed to the class, ‘If the
reindeer went on strike on Christmas Eve how would Santa Claus travel to
deliver presents to all the boys and girls?’ We brainstormed some alternatives
coming up with rockets, flying cars, jet-pack’s, wings etc. however a quick and
feasible alternative we agreed would be a parachute.
Task:
Design
and build a parachute for Santa Claus. The aim is to keep him and the sack of
toys safe in their parachute when landing.
Breakdown
of STEM in the lesson:
Step 1: Science
Strand:
Materials
Strand
Unit: Properties and characteristics of
materials
Children
were investigating the characteristics of materials and how they influence the
force of movement of their designed parachute. They explored the durability,
and transparency of the materials being used (tissue paper, cling film,
tin-foil).
Investigating
if;
The
materials were strong enough to hold Santa Claus in the egg-stand.
They
could withstand and catch air in them to slow down the force of movement when
being dropped from a height to ensure Santa Claus landed safely.
Step 2: Technology
Children used an iPhone
to video record the group of 4 children who were dropping their 4 parachutes at
one time. This video was then put into slow-motion to observe what
group/parachute had reached the ground slowly and safely to ensure Santa Claus
had safely landed without any difficulty.
This was essential in the
investigation process as children were enabled to see the way different designs
and different materials impacted the parachute. They were enabled to observe
and differentiate between the parachutes that were strong and safe and those
that were not.
They also used the
stopwatch app on an iPhone to measure the time taken for the parachute to reach
the ground from the height at which it was dropped.
Step 3: Engineering
Children engaged in engineering through
designing a plan to make a parachute and the actual construction of their
parachutes.
Using materials provided the children were
asked to ensure they were creating fair designs – that their parachute material
was the same size for each material used (cutting the tin foil, tissue paper
and cling film to the same size).
Children had to make sure that the length
of each string being used was the same so that the egg-stand where Santa Claus
was would not topple over. That they had created a sturdy structure for him to
sit comfortably throughout the time he would be in the parachute.
Step 4: Maths
Children were using their maths knowledge
to implement skills needed to measure length and time.
Children had to measure
the length of strings used to connect the parachute to the egg stand. They
needed to ensure the length of all 4 strings was the same length. They also
used their skills in measurement to measure the length and width of the
square/rectangular piece of material used as the parachute (tin-foil, tissue
paper and cling film) to ensure they were all the same size and that the
investigation was a fair test.
Children used the
stopwatch app on an iPhone to measure the length of time taken for the
parachute to hit the ground from the height at which it was dropped. They
needed to observe and identify what parachute was the safest by looking at the
different times it took each parachute to fall.
Step 5: Reporting:
POE Investigation Sheet
Children were required to fill out a POE –
Predict, Observe, Explain sheet throughout the experiment noting their
predictions, observations and explanations of how each material performed as a
parachute.
Children had to discuss within their
groups what parachute/material was the most appropriate material Santa could
use to build his parachute. Their result was then presented to the class by the
spokesperson in their group.
Our questions were
–Which liquid will cause our candy cane to disappear
the fastest?
To conduct our experiment,
we needed: 3 plastic cups, 3 candy canes, vinegar, warm water and cold water.
We labelled our
3 clear cups and then filled the cups with warm water, cold water and vinegar.
Then, we made
predictions. We thought the vinegar would make the candy cane disappear because
it was smelly!
We voted to put
the “hook” side of the candy cane down so that more of the candy was in the
liquid.
We put one candy
cane in each cup and watched to see what would happen.
Within 2 minutes
all three candy canes were starting to turn the water pink or red. It was
definitely magic!
We observed the
three cups and compared the reactions. Within 25 minutes, we had our results
and we could determine if our predictions were correct or correct.
The cup with the
warm water was the first liquid to make the candy cane completely disappear and
dissolve.
The vinegar cup
was the first liquid to remove all the red from the candy cane.
The cold water
removed the colour and disappeared but more slowly than other two liquids.
Next, we
recorded our observations and results. We learned lots of new vocabulary words
such as dissolve, prediction, result.
After our experiment……we found the quickest way to make a candy cane
disappear is to eat it!!!
