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2
Research
Preparation time: 10 min
Teaching time: 90 min

Playing and Researching on a Public Playground

Students will explore different parts of the playground. The session will begin with an observation of the various elements in and around the playground designed to serve the users, such as benches, waste bins, and shaded areas. Students will examine the types of flooring found on the various playground areas, before focusing on the specific playground equipment. Students will work in groups and explore each structure and area of the playground according to the research cards they prepared in the previous session.

Format

  • Group work
  • Individual work
  • Physical Activity
  • Scientific/technological inquiry

Age

  • 13-15

What

The possible connections with your curriculum

  • Physical Sciences

Who

The people who take up the teacher role

  • Teacher

Where

The locations where learning takes place

  • Classroom
  • Outdoor spaces

With

The community stakeholders to collaborate with

  • Families

Ready for action?

Resources

Downloadable Resources

Tangible Resources

A variety of playground equipment, research cards prepared by the students in the previous lesson, research and measuring tools such as balls made from different materials, stopwatch, measuring tape.

Preparation

Prepare resources, prepare paperwork for off-site visit if necessary.

Goals, messages & concepts

Specific goals

  • Observe the arrangement of a playground and analyse the how the different areas are tailored to their different functions
  • Learn physics through experiments and play on the playground facilities

Specific messages

  • It is possible to study physical phenomena in the playground, for example, factors that affect how fast you slide down a slide or spin on the carousel.
  • There are different types of flooring on a playground with different shock-absorbing qualities, depending on the type of equipment it is used with.

Main terms

  • Slope
  • Friction
  • Weight
  • Lever
  • Speed
  • Shock absorption

Practices & skills

STEM practices

  • Constructing explanations and designing solutions
  • Engaging in argument from evidence
  • Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information
  • 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 and staff will walk to the playground. Once there, they will make some observations:

  • Who is the playground designed for (for which target audience)?
  • How can you tell?
  • Are there audiences for which the playground is not intended?
  • Why and how can this be determined?

step 2

Students will then answer the following research questions:

  • Which facilities improve the visitor's experience (shade structures, garbage cans, benches, lawns, water fountains, etc.)? Think about each of those things - what would have happened if it wasn't there (for example, if there was no garbage can, the playground would most likely be dirty, etc.)?
  • Is the playground accessible for a parent/child using a wheelchair? Can a wheelchair move easily over the ground covering?  What ground covering would be best for playgrounds designed for young children?
  • In playgrounds, swings are always separated from the other equipment. Why?
  • The ladders going up the tower have relatively large spaces between the rungs. Why?
  • The equipment for toddlers is located in a separate area. Why?
  • Playgrounds are places that allow, and even encourage, risk-taking albeit in a safe way. Climbing and swinging high, spinning fast, etc. How can such things be allowed without supervision?

step 3

Explain that there are regulations for the standards that playgrounds must adhere to. The stringent standards that playgrounds must adhere to are designed to allow children to take risks in a calculated and non-life-threatening way. Every detail of the playground, including the width of the spaces between the bars of the railings, has been considered and designed so that children can play safely.

step 4

Next, students will observe the users of the playground to identify who visits and who uses the equipment – take note of their characteristics (respect them and do not interfere with their visit).

step 5

Divide into the same groups from the previous lesson and put a page outlining the suggested experiment on each piece of equipment. Each group will test its own hypotheses as well as conduct the experiments designed by the other groups. Groups will record their results and compare them with each other and with the original research hypotheses.

step 6

Discuss the experiments and the results, in particular whether their hypotheses were correct and results were consistent across the groups. Explain that while a playground is a lab, the experiments are not performed under ‘lab conditions’ and there are many variables that are difficult to control. Discuss the best way to perform experiments in these conditions. Students will then answer the following questions:

  • How can experiments still be performed in these conditions?
  • What was particularly surprising?
  • Were any other ideas identified when using the equipment that could be tried?
  • Which experiments were most suitable for the target audience?