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Georgia – would you use Amazing Triangles as part of this? I’ve tried the marshmallow towers with 8-10 year-olds, and they enjoyed making the triangle structures, agreed that they made a stronger shape, and then made towers without a triangle in sight!! We rested our toy red panda on the towers – and over they went!!
Karen – this engineers week resource from 2021 has a completed framework for inquiry for design a raincoat.
As you have outlined, when carrying out a design and make activity with children, the sections of the framework under Investigate change in emphasis slightly:
STARTER QUESTION > EXPLORE
PREDICTION > PLAN
CONDUCTING THE INVESTIGATION> MAKE
SHARING / INTERPRETING DATA > EVALUATEYou have done a great job of detailing how the children will follow each of those steps.
Aoife – I love the idea of including solar system exploration. You could tell the children that they have to decide which space mission is going to be built and launched– which planet will it go to? what will it try to find out?
This happens every few years in all the major space agencies – there are always more proposals than there is money – so different mission ideas are developed, but only one or two actually get built.
Denise – do you have a link to the poem: Planet Roll Call?
Have you a particular set of planet images you like? I acquired a set of planet lithographs a few years ago and have used them over and over again, as well as this simple poster from ESA:
John – did you try to model axial tilt? or have the web-cam “eyes” in different positions on the child — ie an eye from the Equator sees differently than an eye at the pole.
John – that’s a really nice was to trigger engagement – and beliefs vs “knowing” is a nice distinction.
John – the role play is a bit of fun – it’s nice to have a script to get it started. Do you have a fixed globe? and have you seen the Earth Ball globes? The Universe in a Box booklet is HUGE – and just full of activities for 4 to 8 year olds – you might let me know over the year which parts of it were most use to you.
Hi John, to avoid getting the extra formatting, see the first post in this thread.
Can you give external access to your mind map? Right now it is giving “Diagram not found!”
When discussing density with children, please keep in mind that density doesn’t appear in the primary curriculum – so use language like: light for its size, heavy for its size. Floating/sinking can get complicated, so you might want to add in the design a boat language and the design a diver language from primary science.
Joey – would you explore the appearance of the Moon in terms of the light shining on it and what we are able to see? If you have high resolution images of the Moon from a telescope, then the shadows of lunar features can be seen, and that can lead to an exploration of how the sunlight lights up the Moon – giving the shadows that cause the phases.
The surface of the Moon’s lunar dust is also quite nasty for humans – see this article.
Hi Denise – to get rid of the additional formatting see the first post in this thread.
I like how you have planned an engage section with interesting resources that will get the ideas going. The starter question for the investigation should be quite simple, and answerable from the activity the children carry out – in this case a design and make of the lunar surface might ask “which materials will be best to make a moon model?” and then the children might plan (which replaces predict) the best materials and then make (replaces the next section of the framework).
Allowing for differentiation is so vital, and I like the way you have connected distance from the Sun to how much light a planet receives — this could tie into scales in the solar system (as detailed in this space week resource).
The shadow drawing activity is always a hit — and there is the chance to really probe the children’s understanding of why it happens. When I have done this activity, children are really surprised at how fast their shadow moves.
Aisling – I love that Shadow Play video – and how it frames the questions that the little birds have — what a fabulous trigger for the children to be able to share what they know vs what the birds understand.
Great stuff Rachel – I love this bit:
To be freed, a friend must either release him by pushing his arms down or if the boys are able – they can try to use their shadow-selves to do it.
The child-centred discussion gives the children the chance to share their own understanding of what is going on, and then to check it through further activities.
