Engineers’ Week 2022
Rockets
2nd Class pupils in the Sycamore and Horse Chestnut classrooms constructed rockets using 2-D and 3-D cardboard shapes. The children explored the use of cylinders, cones, triangles, squares and circles and how best to construct a rocket using same. Children engaged in problem solving skills such as how to create a cone shape from a piece of card. They identified the best way to glue the cone to the top of the rocket through trial and error. They also discovered how to position the triangular card to enable the rocket to ‘stand’ by cutting higher through the ‘body’ of the rocket.
Aerodynamics
The Ivy Classroom(First Class) were given a task for Engineer’s Week –
“The Irish government have asked you, an engineer to design and prototype an airplane that will be used to fly/carry refugees to safety, these refugees have been stranded at sea for days and are very scared, they need your help! Your plane should remain in the air for the furthest distance. How can your plane be improved to fly for longer, what features will your plane have?”
The pupils made planes using various shapes of planes by folding the paper in different ways. They designed a few shapes and to see which flies the furthest.
They learnt that there are four main forces, called aerodynamic forces, that enable a paper plane to stay in the air:
1. Thrust (When you throw the plan forward).
2. Lift (Lift is a force that acts on the wings and helps the plane to move up. Big wings increase lift)
3. Gravity (Gravity is the force that pulls the plane down. The right materials can create a lighter aircraft that stays up longer)
4. Drag (Drag is the opposite of thrust and it makes the plane slow down).
Towers
5th Class (The Arbutus Classroom ) were tasked to create a solid tower using spaghetti and marshmallows. Only 1 group got a tower standing with spaghetti and marshmallows!
Bridges
For Engineer’s Week, 5th Class (The Birch Class) were tasked with creating the longest bridge they could make that would borne the weight of their Starlight workbook for 1 minute. Pupils really enjoyed the task and were very creative in their approaches.
Tall Towers
In 3rd Class (Apple Class), our STEM challenge was to try to build the tallest tower using only 20 paper cups in a 5-minute period. Firstly, each group brainstormed and discussed how they may approach this challenge and they shared ideas of different methods that they could try. Then, we began our timer and each group got to work! After trying a few different methods, the groups discovered that they needed a wider base to help their tower to stand. We had great fun!
Forces
For Engineers week, The Ash Classroom(4th class) explored and experimented with ‘Forces’. We learned about how levers work, pulley power and about wheels and axles. We watched a documentary about ‘simple machines’ and were inspired to make some of our own. We have a lot of budding engineers in our class!
Up Periscope!
The Arbutus Classroom (5th class) built periscopes when studying light, they explored the effects of mirrors on the passage of light. They used cereal boxes and mirrors to construct their periscopes.
‘House of Circuits Workshop’ – delivered by the Lifetime Lab, Cork.
The Ash Classroom (4th) and the Birch Classroom(5th class) worked as engineers this term when they took part in a ‘House of Circuits Workshop.’ This was a fun, hands-on exploration of electrical circuits delivered by the Lifetime Lab, Cork. Individual kits were delivered to our school for each child. The girls got to explore, discover, and build up their understanding of electricity and simple circuits. The girls really enjoyed this fun and exciting workshop!
Check out these websites for some great engineering resources and experiments to try at home: