Aspects to be
planned for and
reinforced across
the curriculum
Literacy
Class ……Primary 6……….
Context for learning – Rocket Challenge
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Numeracy
Health and
Well-Being
Science and Technology - Forces
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Technologies
Sciences
Focus experiences and outcomes:
By investigating how friction, including air resistance, affects
motion, I can suggest ways to improve efficiency in moving
objects.
Skills development:
SCN 2-07a
 Observe, collect, measure, record evidence, taking account of safety
By applying my knowledge and skills of science and
mathematics, I can engineer 3D objects which demonstrate
strengthening, energy transfer and movement.
Social Studies
Modern
Languages
TCH 2-12a / TCH 3-12a
RME
Having evaluated my work, I can adapt and improve, where
appropriate, through trial and error or by using feedback.
Expressive Arts
TCH 1-14b / TCH 2-14b
Citizenship
`
Enterprise
`
Creativity


Confident
Individuals

Responsible
Citizens

Effective
Contributors

 Carry out experiments
 Present, analyse and interpret data to draw conclusions
 Review and evaluate results to identify limitations and improvements
 Present and report on findings
 Apply observational and exploratory skills
 Make predictions, generalisations and deductions
 Design and make a working model
 Test, evaluate, retest and adjust
Content (knowledge and understanding):
Conceptual Journey
Sustainability
Successful
Learners
children have practised;
 Asking questions and hypothesising
Links to Enterprise
Enterprising teaching and learning
Develop enterprising skills, attitudes and creative
approaches through learning and teaching across the whole
curriculum.
Work-based vocational learning
Experience and develop understanding of the world of work
in all its diversity, including entrepreneurial activity and selfemployment
 Know that forces act upon objects and can make them move
and that energy transfer is involved
 Understand that forces can have different effects e.g.
making an object move, change direction or change shape
 Revise that friction is a force where two surfaces rub
together and that it slows a moving object
 Experience the effects of air resistance and drag, a type of
friction
 Know that the shape of an object affects its movement
 Understand the term streamlining and investigate the effects
of streamlining on reducing air resistance
 Be introduced to some of the forces that affect an object at
rest e.g. gravity and up thrust
 Know that there are different ways to create thrust
 Apply knowledge gained to designing, making, testing,
evaluating, adjusting and retesting
Context :
On the anniversary of the Apollo mission the learners will work on this topic Rocket Challenge where they will learn about forces and ultimately
design, make, test, evaluate, adjust and retest model rockets. Later in the year the class will do a project called Solar System explorers which
will contain a section called Field Trip to the moon (a NASA educators pack) which follows an active learning/critical skills approach and allows
them to consider the issues around travelling to the moon, colonization, exploration and what rockets have to carry.
Possible Learning and teaching activities and assessment opportunities:
 Start the topic with an engage activity: Revise what they already know about forces. Watch a video of a rocket taking off
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nv35OPKzCQw. Divide the learners into their co-operative teams and ask them to come up with at least one
example each of types of rockets they know about then share as a class. Give each group a mind map with reflective questions and ask them to add to
it with their ideas, thoughts and questions mind map will include questions like: Which forces act upon a rocket when it is not moving, taking off,
moving? How do rockets work? Why are rockets shaped in a particular way? What do you think designers have to think about when designing, making
and testing rockets? Which different types of rockets do you know about and what can they be used for? Use this to elicit their initial
ideas/misconceptions. Share their initial thoughts in a class discussion. Introduce the topic and the challenge it will culminate in and begin the class
science journal where the class will record their thoughts, ideas and learning journey reflections. Introduce also the wonder wall where questions will
be displayed for being explored. (Engage)
 Share main learning aims of the project with the parents in a newsletter and tell them about the upcoming rocket challenge task
 Carry out some explore lessons to introduce them to forces and begin to establish a shared understanding and vocabulary. Begin a class word wall where
scientific terms that have been explored and discussed can be displayed. Continue to record ideas in the class science journal and have individual
science journals (these could be electronic to incorporate different ways of recording thoughts and ideas e.g. Vokis, audio, comic life, reports,
annotated drawings or photographs). Make use of the class question board to use some of their ideas and questions but make sure key learning points
are introduced and explored. Some of their questions could lead to asking in a parent or a Stem ambassador to give a workshop or presentation.
 Explore lesson to introduce the concepts that forces can cause a change in the motion, or direction of a body or causes a change of shape or puts stress
on an object. Forces can speed things up and slow things down. Possible explore activity, rotational activity of flying toys such as stomp rockets with
reflective questions at each station to focus the learners on the effects of forces
 A lesson on the forces acting upon a rocket when it is not moving (upthrust, gravity, pressure from the air) Get the children to carry out the magic
bottle experiment in groups and through reflective questions focus on how air pushes down on the water, how air from outside pushes on the hole, the
fact that the water is pulled down by gravity as it comes out of the hole, the table exerting a push that keeps the table upright and so on. Discuss why
the water flow slows when there is less water in the bottle. Relate this to a rocket not moving, which forces are pushing against it.
http://www.abc.net.au/science/surfingscientist/pdf/teachdemo16.pdf (do as a co-operative learning task in groups – use trays to put the bottles in and
to capture any spilt water.
 Elicit the learner’s ideas about gravity by asking them to draw and annotate their ideas about the Earth, the moon and a rocket. Use explore activities to
help them construct new understandings. Have a couple of lessons called; Do you agree with Galileo, where they discuss what they think about falling
objects and weight, then find out what he thought and then investigate their ideas using balls of the same size but different weights dropping them
and timing them rolling down slopes. They could also drop objects of different shapes e.g. flat and scrunched up paper and discuss why they fall
differently. Show videos of astronauts on the moon and explain that everything exerts gravity but the more mass an object it has the more gravity
exerts. Discuss the differences between gravity on the Earth and on the moon. Ask them to draw a new annotated drawing explaining what they have
found out. Finish by watching the Galileo experiment carried out on the moon and ask the learners to predict what will happen. Discuss the results and
what is going on. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5C5_dOEyAfk
Possible Learning and teaching activities and assessment opportunities:
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Explore the effects of air resistance by running in the playground with and without open umbrellas. Revise their work from earlier topics on friction, what it is and the
differences between different surfaces and discuss how air rubbing against a moving object creates a type of friction called air resistance. Run with umbrellas open behind
and discuss drag. Look at examples of drag being used to slow moving objects down e.g. the shuttle upon landing, parachutes, dragsters.
Use some of their ideas for investigations where they change a variable, measure a variable and keep others the same. These could include: parachutes to investigate design
on drag, creating fizz pop rockets with paper of a certain weight added to the front with different shapes e.g. square, nose cone, to investigate the effects of streamlining.
http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/kids/rocket.shtml
Explore different types of thrust and how weight to fuel ratio is important, could do this with a water rocket demonstration and discuss why the rocket takes off, what
creates the push and varying the amount of water in the rocket to see what difference this makes to weight and take off. Investigate how rockets work on websites
Elaborate – use the NASA DIY podcast get the learners in co-operative groups to work on a vidcast of a given length to explain to primary 7 about rocket development.
Look at the genre of explanation as entertainment and identify some of the features. When giving the children the task give them certain criteria e.g. length, engaging the
audience with words, music and visuals, building in a way to check your audience have understood what you have presented to them in your explanation vodcast. Give the
primary 7 class a rubric to help them give formative feedback to the groups on their vodcasts.
Revise what they learnt in an earlier topic about forces diagrams and get them to draw some forces diagrams showing differing strengths of forces. Discuss the idea of
balanced and unbalanced forces in relation to stationery and falling objects.
Introduce the concept of newtons and the difference between weight and mass. Give them the task of analysing another classes results on an investigation where they
measured force in newtons (Scholastic Handling Science Data)
Elaborate stage – the challenge – give the learners the opportunity to discuss what we have learnt so far about rockets. Discuss with them the steps a designer of a rocket
might have to go through before the final model is ready to fly to the moon. Establish the stages of the design process. Give them an opportunity to draw sketches for the
rocket they will build at home. It must be no bigger than 20cm and can be powered by water, fizzy tablets or air. Get them to explore possible materials and discuss
weight, strength, waterproofing and other properties. Ask them also to consider balance, Go over safety rules and print in bold on the homework sheet. Include a risk
assessment sheet for them to fill in with parents. In co-operative groups get the children to share their plan with a face partner and then the face partner must say what
they like about the idea, and any thoughts, questions or advice they have.
Homework task where they build their rocket, test, adjust and retest and then record results and evaluate.
Testing day where rockets are tested, observed and their performance is assessed and evaluated by the class
Evaluate the learning journey with reflective questions and completing a second mind map so that they can compare their initial ideas and their new understandings
Pupils could record comments about their learning on their PLPs
SUCCESSFUL LEARNERS
WITH:
 enthusiasm and motivation for learning
 determination to reach high standards of achievement
 openness to new thinking and ideas
AND ABLE TO:
 use literacy, communication and numeracy skills
 use technology for learning
 think creatively and independently
 learn independently and as part of a group
 make reasoned evaluations
link and apply different kinds of learning in new situations
CONFIDENT INDIVIDUALS
WITH:
 self-respect
 a sense of physical, mental and emotional well-being
 secure values and beliefs
 ambition
AND ABLE TO:
 relate to others and manage themselves
 be self-aware
 develop and communicate their own beliefs and view of the world
 live as independently as they can
 assess risks and make informed decisions
achieve success in different areas of activity
RESPONSIBLE CITIZENS
EFFECTIVE CONTRIBUTORS
WITH:
 respect for others
 commitment to participate responsibly in political, economic, social
and cultural life
WITH:
 an enterprising attitude
 resilience
 self-reliance
AND ABLE TO:
 develop knowledge and understanding of the world and Scotland’s
place in it
 understand different beliefs and cultures
 make informed choices and decisions
 evaluate environmental, scientific and technological issues
develop informed, ethical views of complex issues
AND ABLE TO:
 communicate in different ways and in different settings
 work in partnerships and in teams
 take the initiative and lead
 apply critical thinking in new contexts
 create and develop
solve problems