Year 1 Bulletin

STEM

Learning Intention: To explore how things can be pushed or pulled by different forces.

Learning Experience Overview: In our STEM lessons this term, we have been exploring

wind power, the tools people use to capture wind, and how they help us. Our previous

challenge involved creating wind-powered boats. In this session, the challenge was to

make three fans that could move a piece of paper across a table. Students could work

independently or with a partner. They were provided with paper, cardboard, and tape, and

they needed to be as creative as possible!

Whole:

During our tune-in, we discussed how, in previous STEM lessons, we had been creating

sails that catch the wind to make objects move. In today’s session, however, we would be

making a tool to create the wind to move an object.

For the session's task, students were required to make three fans capable of moving a

piece of paper from one side of the table to the other. We discussed possible materials,

including paper, cardboard, and sticky tape. Some students asked if they could use

feathers or popsicle sticks, as they felt these materials would make their fans more

effective. They were then shown the questions they would need to answer as they worked

through the experiment:

Before they began, students could ask any last questions.

Prompts:

What materials could you use to make your fan?
Will some materials work better than others?
Will the size of your fan affect how much wind it creates?
How will you create three different fans?
Will it be better to make all your fans at once, or will it be more useful to make one at a time?

Small:

After the tune-in, the students went to their tables to begin planning and designing their

fans. Once they completed their first design, they could build the fan and test its

effectiveness. To determine how effective it was, they had to move a piece of

across the table and record the number of waves it took for the paper to move. Based on

their first test results, they could redesign their second fan. This allowed them to make

changes to improve the fans' power. As they worked, they noticed that some types of

paper worked better, and that larger fans were less effective because they were flimsier.

Whole:

After the session, we had a gallery walk where students could demonstrate how their fans

worked. We discussed which features made the fans more effective and what changes

could be made to improve them further.

Some of the post-task discussions and comments that students shared included:

The thicker the paper, the more powerful the fan was.
The big sheets made very floppy fans, so they did not work well.
My first fan had a tear in it, so it took 40 waves to move the paper.
I learned how to make a fan, as I didn't know how to make one before.
I found making the fans easy because I had done it before.
It was hard to get the paper to move across the table with some of the fans I made.
It was challenging to change the fan design each time.
It was an interesting task because we hadn't done something like this before.
I thought it would be really hard, but once I started, I realized it wasn’t as difficult as I thought.

How you might like to continue learning at home:

Explore how wind can move different objects by conducting experiments at home.
Investigate the forces of motion (push and pull) and how they can move objects.
Observe how the wind moves trees on different days and discuss how there are different wind strengths.

Stef, Georgia and Cliodhna🙂

Year 1 Team

Stephanie.Lampard@education.vic.gov.au