Primary 3 have been exploring movement and energy during a recent STEM project when a member of Sentinus introduced the concept of Moveable Toys. The children were challenged to work together in small groups to create their own buggies using K’nex, which they would then test on ramps with different surfaces- cardboard and carpet. They, firstly, made predictions on things like which surface the buggies would furthest on as well as how the size of wheels would effect the distance travelled.
This project provided many challenges to the children; physically using and connecting the K’nex, collaborative working, making and justifying their predictions, problem solving, measuring distances, to name but a few.
The children concluded that the buggies went furthest on the cardboard ramp since it was a smoother surface and created less FRICTION. They also discovered that buggies with smaller wheels went further, again because they were lighter and caused less friction.
Going forward, the children were interested in trying to make the buggies move on flat surfaces. We will look further at the topic of forces and energy to answer these questions.
