Over the last four weeks Year 1/2 Red have been lucky enough to have Kim Johns, a pre-service teacher working with us. During this time Kim has taught a Physical Science Unit about Forces.
The students studied the forces push and pull, gravity, friction and buoyancy. They looked at how the forces worked and where we use them in our everyday lives. They carried out experiments where they composed a hypothesis, decided what would be constant and what they would change (variable).
Here are some of the things the children discovered.
Floating and Sinking
The golf ball sunk because the particles were closer together, so the ball was more dense than the water. - Isabella Lao
The lemon floated because it has less density than the water. The golf ball has more density than the water. - Luca Grieg
Push and Pull
When you use a vacuum cleaner you use the forces of push and pull because you push it away from you and then pull it back to you. The vacuum also uses the pull force to suck the dirt up from the carpet into the catcher. - Matthew Pelekani
Friction
When you walk on the ground the bottom of your shoes create friction with the ground. When a car drives on the road there is friction. Friction helps you to slow down like when you go down a slide. - Ella Bond
Today the students carried out a floating and sinking experiment using plasticine. They were each given a ball of plasticine. Most students correctly hypothesized the ball would sink. Their challenge was to find out if changing the shape of the plasticine would affect its buoyancy.