Grade 6 Flight Scientists in School Visit

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Response Question of the Week #1: Can air be pushed around?

This podcast is a response to an experiment conducted in class, which was inspired by the SIS instructor. Students were divided into groups and conducted a specific experiment while completing the Scientific Method template. This also ties into responding to Question #1 in our Question of the Week blog. Their findings and reflections are shared here. Enjoy :o)

http://gr6flightquestion.blogspot.com/

Monday, February 23, 2009

Experiment #4

Our experiment was really cool! We got to make paper airplanes and Ms. Wang let us throw them across the classroom. However, she did give us steps on how to direct our paper airplanes by moving the flaps on the wings up or down and by turning the rudder on the tail left or right. For example, if both of the flaps are down, then the plane will nose dive. If the flaps are one up and one down, the plane does a barrel roll. If the rudder is turned to the right, the plane will turn right. This new learning was great because we had better control on how to fly our paper planes and where it would land.

Stephanie, Troy, Salim, Randy, Matthew & Kyla

Monday, February 2, 2009

The Q-Chart

It's great that everyone is finding value in the use of open-ended questions to encourage meaningful responses. The Q-Chart is a useful tool in creating such open-ended questions. I have posted it here as a reference for everyone when creating your own questions throughout the blog.

Friday, January 30, 2009

Experiment #3

On January the 22nd 2009, we had a Scientists in School visit. Ms. Wang introduces us to the properties of air and principles of flight. We had 1 experiment about high and low pressure. Our materials used included ping pong balls, cone shaped paper cups and scissors. We first cut a small hole on the bottom of the cup, and then we placed the ping pong ball in the cup. Our goal was to blow the ping pong ball out of the cup from the bottom where we cut the hole. We all failed because it was fast moving air blowing up into the cone and there was low pressure on the bottom and high air pressure moving across the top of the cone. When we blew across the top of the cone or on top of the ball in the cone, the ball came out because there was low air pressure on the top and high air pressure pushing the ball on the bottom. This experiment was really cool.

Why is it important to learn about high and low air pressure when related to flight?

ERIC, Dan Yang, Gloria, Salena, Victoria, Eric, JESSICA

Experiment #2

The purpose of the experiment was to angle the propeller blades so that they would spin fast when the air from the blow dryer was directed at the propellers. We thought that if there were 2-4 propellers it would move quickly. If there were 8 propellers is would move really fast and if there we 10 or more it would start slowing down because there would be less space for the air to spin it and too much weight for the propeller to spin. The materials used were a blow dryer mounted to a base, wooden spools covered with play-doh, a wooden plane and wooden propeller blades. All of this equipment was provided throught the Scientists in School program. We put the plane into the blow dryer holder base and than we stuck blades into the spool and finally we put our propeller on the nail on the

nose of the plane. When we turned the blow dryer on the propeller spun. Our results were that the closer the blades were to a 45o angle the better it would spin. The lesser number of blades used also made it easier to spin, if too many blades were used the propeller got too heavy and spun slowly, if at all. A heavier propeller also meant more fuel waste so that the plane can support the weight. You must balance the weight of the propeller with the number of blades to make it go fast. A 2-3 propeller is the most efficient for a small plane to fly.

Keiko, Chloe, Wyatt, Selah, Jack and Nick

Experiment #1

One of the experiments we took part in during the visit from Scientists in School involved the use of food colouring, and water in a bowl. We learned in the food coloring experiment that hot air is lighter than cold air. We used water instead of air because water and air are similar substances. We used cold blue food coloring to represent cold air and hot red food colouring to represent hot air. When we poured the food coloring in to the water bucket, the red

food coloring rose to the top whereas, the blue food coloring sunk to the bottom. Again, this is a good example of food coloring acting as hot and cool air pressure. When the water temperature evened out, the two colours blended together and turned into purple. Therefore, when air is hot it rises and when air is cold it drops.

Why do you think this information would be valuable for our flight unit?

Kaiden, Michaela, Malik, Christopher, Jessica and Ryan

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Students Interview SIS Instructor

sis interview 2.mp3

Friday, January 23, 2009

Scientists in School Air & Flight Visit

Our Grade 6 classes have been very fortunate to receive support from the parents and the parent council through enrichment opportunities by inviting scientists into the classroom to engage students in hands-on activities. This month Ms. Wang, an instructor for Scientists in School guided students through a half day workshop focussing on Air and Flight. Students investigated various properties of air and principles of flight through experimentation. Ms. Wang graciously agreed to a brief interview carried out by a few students which will be posted soon. Also, student group representatives will include a summary and reflection of their learning over the next few days in this blog. Enjoy :o)

Click the link below to return to the main blog:
http://gr6flight.blogspot.com/