Ready for action?
Resources
Web links
Tangible Resources
Construction straws, construction sticks, Lego bricks, Lego people, desk fan, masking tape.
Preparation
Prepare materials for modelling houses.
Goals, messages & concepts
Specific goals
- To investigate the stability of different materials.
- To work collaboratively.
Specific messages
- Different materials have different properties and uses.
- Teamwork is key to investigations.
Main terms
- material properties
- stable
- unstable
- rigid
- flexible
- strong
- brittle
- heavy
- light
Practices & skills
STEM practices
- Analysing and interpreting data
- Constructing explanations and designing solutions
- Developing and using models
- Asking questions and defining problems
- Planning and carrying out investigations
Soft skills
- Dealing with uncertainty
- Learning failure is a part of learning
- Teamwork and collaboration
Management skills
- Planning
- Use of resources
Course of activity
step 1
Students will be introduced to the idea of an outdoor classroom. They will discuss what stops us from being outside in all weathers.
step 2
The class will listen to the story of the Three Little Pigs and think about the problems the pigs faced.
step 3
They will then be split into 3 different groups to make models of the pigs' houses in the classroom: one group will construct a house using straws, the second group will look at construction using sticks, and the last group will look at Lego bricks.
step 4
They will test these houses using Lego people and a desk fan to generate ‘wind’. They will measure how long the house stood up to the wind for, and what type of damage was caused.
step 5
After the experiment, the students will discuss which house was the most effective and why? They will describe the properties of each material, as discovered through the experiment. They will conclude with what the advantages and disadvantages are of each material and each property (i.e. flexible = can bend without breaking, but isn't very stable).