This half term we are learning about forces, such as air resistance, water resistance and friction, levers, pulleys and gears.

We started our science topic by asking the children to recall what they already knew about forces.  Then we gave them some equipment and asked them to demonstrate a push, a pull, slowing down, speeding up, changing direction and a non-contact force.  

Air resistance

The children were challenged to investigate air resistance using paper helicopters, which they made.  They had to choose an enquiry question, carry out a fair test and then record their findings.

Water resistance

To investigate water resistance the  children were given blu tack and containers of water.  They had to decide on different shapes of blu tack to test against each other and record which was the fastest.

Friction

The children were tasked with finding the best material for a zip wire! They have to make a small zip wire in the copse and test three different materials to see which one had the least friction and therefore gave the fastest zip wire.

Pulleys

Today the children explored how a pulley can help to lift.  They used a force metre to measure how much force was needed to lift a water bottle, then they measured the force needed if a pulley was used.